Crismon Ruin: A Hohokam Settlement at the Head of the Lehi Canal System
Creators: name: Brin, Adam
Publisher: name: Center for Desert Archaeology
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Mesa, AZ
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/77549/mesa-az
subject: Salt River
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/127/salt-river
subject: Lehi Canal System
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/82356/lehi-canal-system
subject: Red Mountain Freeway
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/80870/red-mountain-freeway
subject: State Route 202
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/82357/state-route-202
subject: Arizona (State / Territory)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/79515/arizona-state-territory
subject: Pioneer Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/111/pioneer-period
subject: Late Sacaton Phase
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/6111/late-sacaton-phase
subject: Early Colonial Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/19/early-colonial-period
subject: Civano Phase
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5620/civano-phase
subject: Middle Sacaton Phase
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/6244/middle-sacaton-phase
subject: Hohokam
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/21/hohokam
subject: AZ U:9:240 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/78494/az-u9240-asm
subject: AZ U:9:239 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/78493/az-u9239-asm
subject: AZ U:9:173 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/79165/az-u9173-asm
subject: Crismon Pueblo
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83265/crismon-pueblo
subject: AZ U:9:102 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/25654/az-u9102-asm
subject: Crismon Ruin
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/89402/crismon-ruin
subject: AZ U:9:241 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/78492/az-u9241-asm
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: Cremation
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/880/cremation
subject: Agricultural or Herding
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/273/agricultural-or-herding
subject: Canal or Canal Feature
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/275/canal-or-canal-feature
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: Hearth
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/343/hearth
subject: Adobe Room
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/1719/adobe-room
subject: Animal Burial
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/2105/animal-burial
subject: Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/251/domestic-structure-or-architectural-complex
subject: Settlements
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/252/settlements
subject: Borrow Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/893/borrow-pit
subject: Hamlet / Village
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/254/hamlet-village
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: 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: Plaza
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/331/plaza
subject: Farmstead
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/747/farmstead
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: 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: Human Remains
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/9/human-remains
subject: Archaeomagnetic Analysis
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/151026/archaeomagnetic-analysis
subject: Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectometry
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/148167/laser-ablation-inductively-coupled-plasma-mass-spectometry
subject: Petrographic Analysis
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/4090/petrographic-analysis
subject: Lehi Canal System
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/150780/lehi-canal-system
subject: Data Recovery / Excavation
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/5/data-recovery-excavation
subject: Site Evaluation / Testing
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/10/site-evaluation-testing

description: Crismon Ruin is a large Hohokam settlement located on the lower terraces of the Salt River, near the head of the prehistoric Lehi Canal System. Data recovery excavations at the site were conducted in the spring and early summer of 2001. Over 500 archaeological features were documented during the fieldwork, including prehistoric pithouses, adobe rooms, borrow pits, pits, homos, roasting pits, inhumation and cremation burials, canals, and other miscellaneous features. Most of these features composed a prehistoric village situated at the southwestern end of the site; a smaller number represented fieldhouse and farmstead locales scattered more widely across the site. Chronological analyses indicated two primary occupations of the Crismon Ruin village, one during the middle to late Sacaton phase (AD. 1000-1120) and the other during the Civano phase (AD. 1290-1390). The field locales were all middle to late Sacaton phase. A small number of historic features were also documented, but not the historic Denmark School (1884-1906), which is known to have once been present inside the project area. The historic features reflect a variety of disparate agrarian activities in this portion of Mesa. The Crismon Ruin investigations were designed to provide new insight and understanding of human use and occupation of the alluvial terrace adjacent to the Salt River. Analyses were especially focused on determining the nature of the site, discerning the range of activities conducted by its inhabitants, and defining the spatial configuration and temporal duration of its contexts. A new picture of the prehistoric Crismon settlement emerged from the research. Previously, Crismon Ruin was thought to have been a large primary village and local center for secular and ritual activities on the floodplain. Instead, the attributes of the Crismon settlement indicate a heavy focus on the practice of agriculture, and although a village was present, it was little more than a large agricultural hamlet at any point in its occupation. This finding, along with the analyses generating that conclusion, are presented in this report. Perspectives are provided about the settlement reflected in the Crismon Ruin remains, the implications of its age, and possible relationships with other nearby sites. The project findings provide an important baseline of information for future archaeological studies of sites in the prehistoric Lehi Canal System.