Maja Site: Archaeological Investigations at a Hohokam Ak-Chin Fieldhouse in the Southern Avra Valley, Arizona
Creators: name: Motsinger, Thomas N.
name: Phillips, David A.
name: Roberts, Heidi
Publisher: name: SWCA, Inc. Environmental Consultants
Year: 1993
Subjects: subject: Tucson Basin
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/2758/tucson-basin
subject: North America (Continent)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/2890/north-america-continent
subject: Arizona (State / Territory)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/79515/arizona-state-territory
subject: Classic Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/125/classic-period
subject: Historic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5728/historic
subject: Tanque Verde Phase
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/6021/tanque-verde-phase
subject: Hohokam
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/21/hohokam
subject: Huhugam
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/8166/huhugam
subject: The Maja site
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/103804/the-maja-site
subject: AZ AA:15:107 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/103803/az-aa15107-asm
subject: Probable Roasting Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/3570/probable-roasting-pit
subject: Artifact Scatter
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/340/artifact-scatter
subject: Fieldhouse
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/1828/fieldhouse
subject: Roasting Pit / Oven / Horno
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/357/roasting-pit-oven-horno
subject: Pit House / Earth Lodge
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/263/pit-house-earth-lodge
subject: Post Hole / Post Mold
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/359/post-hole-post-mold
subject: Pollen
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/13/pollen
subject: Wood
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/15/wood
subject: Ceramic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/1/ceramic
subject: Chipped Stone
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/2/chipped-stone
subject: Fauna
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/4/fauna
subject: Ground Stone
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/7/ground-stone
subject: Macrobotanical
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/10/macrobotanical
subject: Pollen and Macrofloral Analysis
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/160742/pollen-and-macrofloral-analysis
subject: Data Recovery / Excavation
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/5/data-recovery-excavation
subject: Records Search / Inventory Checking
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/8/records-search-inventory-checking
subject: Site Evaluation / Testing
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/10/site-evaluation-testing

description: This report details the excavation and analysis of the Maja Site (AZ AA:15:107 [ASM]), a Hohokam field house located on State Trust Land in the southern Avra Valley west of Tucson, Arizona. The site was completely excavated by SWCA, Inc., Environmental Consultants in December 1992 to mitigate impacts resulting from the construction and maintenance of a proposed transmission. Four cultural feature were identified, excavated, and recorded. Three features--a burned pit house, a roasting pit, and a pit of unknown function--represented Hohokam occupation of the site during the Tanque Verde phase of the Classic period. The fourth feature was a post hole dating to either the Historic or Modern period. The material culture assemblage reflects the wide variety of activities carried out at the site, including processing of cultivated and native plant resources, grinding of pigment, manufacture and maintenance of stone tools, and possibly pottery manufacture. The macrobotanical and pollen remains indicate that maize and squash or gourd were the two primary cultigens produced at the site, but wild resources such as cheno-ams and cholla buds were also exploited at food resources. The site is the only fieldhouse site to be excavated in the Avra Valley thus far. It is one of many similar sites that cluster along a physiographic zone on the northern bajada of the Sierrita Mountains. Due to several factors, this zone is particularly conducive to Ak-Chin farming. A band of slightly elevated vegetation density that is coincident with this site-bearing zone is visible in aerial photographs and satellite imagery, presenting the possibility that the locations of Ak-Chin farming sites may be predicted elsewhere in the Sonoran Desert through the use of remote-sensing techniques.