Shelltown and The Hind Site: A Study of Two Hohokam Craftsman Communities in Southwestern Arizona, Volume 1, Part 1
Creators: name: Jelinek, Lauren
Publisher: name: Northland Research, Inc.
Year: 1993
Subjects: subject: Casa Grande National Historic Site
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/62159/casa-grande-national-historic-site
subject: Sonoran Desert National Monument
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/76784/sonoran-desert-national-monument
subject: Table Top Mountain
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/76834/table-top-mountain
subject: Santa Rosa Wash
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/54419/santa-rosa-wash
subject: Gila Bend Mountains
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/16684/gila-bend-mountains
subject: Hohokam
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5633/hohokam
subject: Hohokam
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/21/hohokam
subject: Shelltown
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/3904/shelltown
subject: Hind site
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/5713/hind-site
subject: AZ AA:1:66(ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/5714/az-aa166asm
subject: AZ AA:1:62(ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/5715/az-aa162asm
subject: Funerary and Burial Structures or Features
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/301/funerary-and-burial-structures-or-features
subject: Resource Extraction / Production / Transportation Structure or Features
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/272/resource-extraction-production-transportation-structure-or-features
subject: Archaeological Feature
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/339/archaeological-feature
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: Shell Craft Production
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/600/shell-craft-production
subject: Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/251/domestic-structure-or-architectural-complex
subject: Midden
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/347/midden
subject: Settlements
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/252/settlements
subject: Hamlet / Village
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/254/hamlet-village
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: 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: 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: Fire Cracked Rock
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/5/fire-cracked-rock
subject: Ground Stone
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/7/ground-stone
subject: Human Remains
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/9/human-remains
subject: Shell Craft Production
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/134853/shell-craft-production
subject: Craft Production
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/134107/craft-production
subject: Environment Research
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/13/environment-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: Site Evaluation / Testing
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/10/site-evaluation-testing
subject: Systematic Survey
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/12/systematic-survey

description: Shelltown (AZ AA: 1:66[ASM]) and the Hind site (AZ AA: 1:62[ASM]) were small, surprisingly uncommon prehistoric settlements inhabited by members of the Hohokam culture in south-central Arizona between the early 8th and late 10th centuries A.D. Although they seem relatively large now – the Hind site is approximately 20 acres and Shelltown is a protean 178 acres – neither site appears to have been occupied by more than a couple of extended families at any one point in time. However, at Shelltown, in the late decades, there may have been a more concentrated grouping, perhaps approaching the character of a true village of small stature. During most of these site’s occupational histories, their population probably consisted of no more than a couple of nuclear families. It is even more likely that many of the occupations represented a single nuclear family, apparently all on an intermittent basis. There is not much evidence to suggest permanent residence at these sites, although opinions differ on among the research team members. The material record at each of the sites indicates that they were likely seasonal encampments. At The Hind site, occupation occurred from about A.D. 700 to A.D. 800, and again sometime in the middle A.D. 800s. At Shelltown, use of the site spans the early to late middle A.D. 800s, and A.D. 925- 1025. Shelltown and the Hind site are not unique, however, in their magnitude, organization, or antiquity. Similarly-sized and arrayed sites are exceedingly common in the Hohokam culture area, although known sites of any type dating to the 8th and 9th centuries are less numerous than sites inhabited after A.D. 900. What makes these two sites rare is what happened at them apart from the normal routine of subsistence activities and other everyday actions. These sites were inhabited by specialized craftsmen --jewelry and ornament makers –perhaps at a scale seen nowhere else in the American Southwest. Their output was astonishing in its variety: bracelets, pendants, effigy figures, beads, and rings made from as many as 36 separate species of marine shell obtained from the waters or beaches of the Gulf of California or, in lesser degree, the Pacific Ocean; mosaic inlays and pendants of turquoise, muscovite, pyrite, copper ores, and galena; pendants and beads ground from schist and slate, or simply adapted from a quartz crystal. This document is Volume 1, Part 1 of the report. Please see https://core.tdar.org/document/378269 for Volume 1, Part 2.