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Light-rail work reveals Hohokam remains |
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Written by Xiuhcoatl
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Apr 20, 2006 at 09:03 PM |
Light-rail work reveals Hohokam remains
Jahna Berry
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 18, 2006 12:00 AM
Source: Arizona Central
A 10-person team of archaeologists on Monday carefully unearthed part
of a Hohokam village found by workers during light-rail construction in
Tempe.
The scientists found an undisclosed number of human remains and the
plaster floors of five dwellings. They also found signs of prehistoric
domestic life: part of a woven mat, pottery shards, stone tools, beads
and shell ornaments that were used for jewelry.
"These people were sedentary, like we are, and had miles and miles of
canals," said Allan Schilz, principal investigator for Archaeological
Consulting Services Ltd.
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He said the site likely is part of a larger village that may have had up to 1,000 inhabitants at one time.
Officials say Monday's scene likely will be repeated many times during
the light-rail project, which is expected to be completed in 2008. As
rail construction rips up city streets across the Valley to make way
for 20 miles of track, the archaeological digs along the way help
illuminate part of the region's past.
Monday's find is a swath of Tempe land near "A" Mountain. Now covered
by shops, streets and Arizona State University, the site once was home
to a large Hohokam farming community for generations. They probably
tended fields of corn, squash, cotton and other crops in fields south
of University Drive, experts say.
It's not uncommon for construction in the area to turn up remnants of
those old communities, experts say. The Hohokam inhabited the Valley
between A.D. 1 and A.D. 1450 and perhaps are best known for the
sophisticated canals that settlers later used for irrigation.
A few weeks ago, workers near "A" Mountain were putting in a new storm
drain. "Through the trench, we could clearly see the house floor," said
Schilz, who oversees archaeology work for the light-rail project.
People also were buried at the site. The human remains - officials
won't say how many were found - will be turned over to the Salt River
Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
"We see them as ancestors," said Shane Anton, cultural preservation
program supervisor for the community. "We would not like things dug up.
But that's private, city land, federal land and state land. Those
projects are going forward."
The community plans to rebury the remains in an undisclosed location,
Anton said. "We want to return them, respectfully, to the ground."
It could be a few months before the items at the Tempe site are carbon
dated, archaeologists said. For now, it's difficult to tell if some of
the houses existed at the same time, like a neighborhood, or if the
houses were built years apart. At least one of the houses was built on
top of an older foundation.
Many of the artifacts will go to the Tempe Historical Museum.
"If you consider people lived here for as long as a 1,000 years, you have a lot of things going on," Schilz said.
The site was buried underneath a street that has served as a road since
the 1800s. The site was paved over but remained relatively undisturbed.
Each find helps scientists learn more about the Hohokam, Schilz said.
"We knew it was here," Schilz said of the village. "We are trying to fill in a piece of the puzzle."
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Archaeology 