An ethnographic perspective on prehistoric platform mounds of the Tonto Basin, Central Arizona Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Elson, Mark David, 1955- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 10/10/2021 00:20:59 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/290644 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfihn master. UMI fihns the text directly from the orighud or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter fiice, \^e others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information ConqKuq^ 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Aibor MI 48I06-I346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 AN ETHNOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE ON PREHISTORIC PLATFORM MOUNDS OF THE TONTO BASIN, CENTRAL ARIZONA by Mark David Elson Copyright © Mark David Elson 1996 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 9 6 UMI Number: 9720560 Copyright 1996 by Elson, Mark David All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9720560 Copyright 1997, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Artrar, MI 48103 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ® GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Mark David Elson entitled An Ethnographic Perspective on Prehistoric Platform Mounds of the Tonto Basin, Central Arizona and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Q MaJ^ If. ?• ff- Barbara J. Mills Date ^ E. Charles Adams Date / Date // Alxc^Schlegel ^ ^^ -4 Datiuace .• / Thomas E. Sheridan Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. " //. f (o Dissertation Director Barbara J. Mills Date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have worked in the Tonto Basin since 1981 and on a more-or-less continuous basis since 1988. There are, therefore, a great number of people who have contributed, both directly and indirectly, to this research, many of whom I cannot name in the one page allotted for acknowledgments. The research presented here is directly based on work undertaken by Desert Archaeology, Inc., on the Roosevelt Community Development Study (RCD). I would first like to thank William Doelle, president of Desert Archaeology, for his logistical, technical, and intellectual support during the year's leave I took to complete this dissertation. I have worked with Bill for 12 years now and have leamed much about Southwestern archaeology from him. I would also like to thank other members of Desert Archaeology's RCD research team: Jeffery Clark, Douglas Craig, David Gregory, James Heidke, Miriam Stark, Deborah Swartz, and Henry Wallace. Spirited discussion with all of these members, but particularly with David Gregory and Miriam Stark, very much influenced the nature of this research. Various other Desert Archaeology personnel were instrumental in the RCD research and completion of this dissertation. These include Jenny Adams, Elizabeth Black, Donna Breckenridge, Lisa Eppley, Othelia (OT) Kiser, and Lisa Piper. Drafting of volume figures was skillfully undertaken by a number of people, including Ron Beckwith, Chip Colwell, Elizabet Gray, and Jim Holmlund (Geo- Map, Inc). Ziba Ghassemi provided the excellent reconstructions shown in Chapter 5. I would also like to thank the 40-member RCD field crew and staff. This group, although too numerous to name individually, spent a year living and working together in the Tonto Basin and are to be commended for recovering an excellent data base, one that will be used for many years to come. The RCD project was undertaken for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Tonto National Forest land. I would like to thank Bureau and Forest archaeologists Thomas Lincoln and J. Scott Wood for their support during the course of the project. Discussions and arguments with Scott Wood over the years have been particularly helpful in my understanding of Tonto Basin prehistory. My dissertation committee was composed of archaeologists Barbara Mills (chair), Charles Adams, and Jeffrey Dean, and culmral anthropologists Alice Schlegel and Thomas Sheridan. Discussions and comments fi-om all of these members contributed enormously to this research. Working with this committee was truly a pleasure. A number of other people provided discussion and support during this process. These include James Bayman, Trinkle Jones, Owen Lindauer, Axel Nielsen, Helga Teiwes, and William Walker. I would particularly like to thank Bill Walker for suggesting that I use ethnographic data to investigate prehistoric platform mounds. I would also like to thank Laura Stuckey for her help (and wide-ranging discussion), and for her knowledge of all the regulations that one must navigate to complete this process. Finally, I would like to thank my wife and fellow archaeologist Deborah Swartz for her love and monumental support throughout this process (and our cats Gus and Ziggy for their daily company). I trust Debbie's judgement implicitiy, and she was a major sounding board for much of what is presented here, as well as a safe haven in the storm. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 8 LIST OF TABLES 10 ABSTRACT II CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 12 Platform Mounds in the American Southwest 21 Outline of Study 26 Endnotes 28 CHAPTER 2: THE HISTORY OF PLATFORM MOUND RESEARCH IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST 29 The Early Years: Bandelier, Cushing, and Fewkes 29 The Early-to-Mid 20th Century: Haury, Hayden, and the Salado 32 The 1970s: Doyel and the Escalante Ruin 36 The 1980s: Gregory and Las Colinas 39 The 1980s-1990s: The Northern Tucson Basin and Picacho Areas 43 The Brady Wash Platform Mound 44 The Marana Platform Mound 47 The 1990s: The Tonto Basin 52 A Summary of Southwestern Platform Mound Function 60 The Question of Social Complexity 64 Conclusion 69 Endnotes 69 CHAPTER 3: ETHNOGRAPHIC AND ETHNOHISTORIC DATA 70 Methods Used in Analysis 72 The Pacific Ocean Region (Oceania) 79 Ifaluk Island 81 Yap Islands 86 Tikopia Island 95 Samoa Islands 100 Marquesa Islands 112 The Mapuche of South America 127 The Southeastern United States 141 Choctaw 152 Chitimacha 158 Natchez 162 Conclusion 173 Endnotes 173 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued CHAPTER 4: ETHNOGRAPHIC ATTRIBUTES OF PLATFORM MOUND-USING GROUPS 175 Platfonn Mound Function and Construction 178 Environment and Economy 185 Population Size 190 Social and Political Organization 191 Religious Practices 196 Conclusion 198 CHAPTER 5: ENVIRONMENT AND PREHISTORY OF THE TONTO BASIN WITH A FOCUS ON THE EASTERN TONTO BASIN 202 Environment 205 Models of Tonto Basin Platform Mound Use 211 Tonto Basin Irrigation Districts or Local Systems 221 The Eastern Tonto Basin 223 Developmental History of the Eastern Tonto Basin 229 The Roosevelt Phase in the Eastern Tonto Basin 233 Pyramid Point Site (AZ V:5:l/25) 237 Meddler Point Site (AZ V:5:4/26) 242 Griffin Wash Site (AZ V:5:90/96) 245 Livingston (Pillar) Site (AZ V:5:76/700) 248 Pinto Point Site (AZ V:5:66/15a) 252 Schoolhouse Point Site (AZ U:8:24/13a) 255 Models of Platform Mound Use in the Eastern Tonto Basin 258 Summary and Conclusion 261 Endnotes 262 CHAPTER 6: MODELING