Archaeological Investigations at Los Morteros: A Prehistoric Settlement in the Northern Tucson Basin Complete Report, Part I
Creators: name: Wallace, Henry D.
Publisher: name: Center for Desert Archaeology
Year: 1995
Subjects: subject: Arizona (State / Territory)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/335/arizona-state-territory
subject: Rattlesnake Pass
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/20499/rattlesnake-pass
subject: Tucson Basin
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/2758/tucson-basin
subject: Rillito Phase
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5630/rillito-phase
subject: Rincon Phase
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5632/rincon-phase
subject: Early Rincon Subphase
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/6018/early-rincon-subphase
subject: Middle Rincon Subphase
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/6019/middle-rincon-subphase
subject: Late Rincon Subphase
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/6020/late-rincon-subphase
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: Archaic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/8/archaic
subject: Los Morteros North
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/104270/los-morteros-north
subject: Los Morteros South
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/104271/los-morteros-south
subject: Los Morteros
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/81073/los-morteros
subject: AZ AA:12:146 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/105290/az-aa12146-asm
subject: AZ AA:12:147 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/105292/az-aa12147-asm
subject: Shell Mound
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/269/shell-mound
subject: Funerary and Burial Structures or Features
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/301/funerary-and-burial-structures-or-features
subject: Cremation Area
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/1869/cremation-area
subject: Burial Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/307/burial-pit
subject: Archaeological Feature
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/339/archaeological-feature
subject: Inhumation
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/947/inhumation
subject: Artifact Scatter
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/340/artifact-scatter
subject: Hearth
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/343/hearth
subject: Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/251/domestic-structure-or-architectural-complex
subject: Burned Rock Midden
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/348/burned-rock-midden
subject: Trash Midden
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/351/trash-midden
subject: Domestic Structures
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/256/domestic-structures
subject: Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/355/pit
subject: Refuse Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/356/refuse-pit
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: Pollen
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/13/pollen
subject: Shell
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/14/shell
subject: Wood
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/15/wood
subject: Textile
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/16/textile
subject: Rubber
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/178/rubber
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: Dating Sample
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/3/dating-sample
subject: Fauna
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/4/fauna
subject: Glass
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/6/glass
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: Metal
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/11/metal
subject: Artifact Analysis
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/3318/artifact-analysis
subject: Pollen Analysis
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/3351/pollen-analysis
subject: Historic Background Research
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/18/historic-background-research
subject: Data Recovery / Excavation
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/5/data-recovery-excavation
subject: Research Design / Data Recovery Plan
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/9/research-design-data-recovery-plan
subject: Systematic Survey
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/12/systematic-survey

description: Excavations at the large Hohokam ballcourt settlement of Los Morteros, AZ AA: 12:57 (ASM), in 1987 and 1988 resulted in the identification of 770 prehistoric cultural features, including 349 structures, an adobewalled compound enclosure, and at least five discrete cemeteries in the northern and southern portions of the kilometer-long site. Ninety-eight of the structures were fully or partially excavated. Also identified were a historic canal and evidence pointing to the location of the historic Point of the Mountains stage station, the Francisco Ruelas homestead, and a small Yaqui settlement dating to the 1920s. Research focused on the delineation of prehistoric settlement structure over time. The occupation was found to date from the Rillito, Rincon, and Tanque Verde phases of the Tucson Basin sequence. A large number of the structures excavated had burned with substantial floor assemblages, providing a large set of whole or restorable artifacts from well-dated contexts for evaluation. In addition, many large trash deposits were identified and excavated. Analyses of ceramics from unmixed, stratigraphically overlapping deposits led to a refinement of the ceramic chronology, with the Middle Rincon subphase split into Middle Rincon 1, Middle Rincon 2, and Middle Rincon 3 (MR1, MR2, and MR3). Some unusual types of artifacts were recovered, including painted and etched shell, painted bone, a copper bell, three fulgurites, and portions of two macaw skeletons. During the Rincon phase, the settlement was composed of a series of discrete residential loci, each including two to four courtyard groups with one to four structures apiece. Each residential locus appeared to have its own cemetery, horno, and trash disposal area(s). The residential loci were abandoned during the Late Rincon subphase, and a completely different settlement structure was established immediately thereafter, partly overlapping the previous occupation. This Late Rincon and the Tanque Verde phase occupation may have been at least partly seasonal, based on architectural and paleobotanical evidence. A shift in the use of agave accompanied this change in settlement. The compound enclosure, built in the latter portion of the Late Rincon subphase, may have been razed and supplanted in the Tanque Verde phase by two or more adobe structures that lacked an enclosing wall. New data are presented on the Linda Vista trincheras and on a masonry wall that blocks access to the hillside village. Alternatives to current models of community cohesion are presented that consider the possibility of conflict and greater mobility in settlement placement over time.