A Contextual Analysis of Ritual Fauna and Socially Integrative Architecture in the Tonto Basin, Arizona

Abstract

The frequent deposition of animals in public spaces suggests a key role in public rituals in the prehispanic U.S. Southwest. Using ethnographic evidence and large-scale analysis of faunal remains in the Tonto Basin area of central Arizona, I ask whether ritual fauna cluster in socially integrative spaces and what implications this had for integrating migrant Puebloan populations with local people. The Tonto Basin area is typically considered Hohokam, but exhibits influence from neighboring Sinagua and Puebloan regions. The emergence of the Salado phenomenon and public architecture in the region is evidence of broad sociopolitical and religious change involving specific treatments and storage of fauna. I find that ritual fauna cluster in room contexts associated with socially integrative architecture suggest a centralization of ritual practice and storage. Ultimately, Tonto Basin communities targeted specific taxa for the enactment of public activities, aiding in the integration of non-local people.

La deposición arquelógica de animales en espacios públicos sugiere un papel importante en los rituales públicos en el suroeste prehispánico de los Estados Unidos. Utilizando evidencia etnográfica y una análisis a gran escala de restos faunísticos del Tonto Basin del central de Arizona, pregunto si los animales rituales se depositaron en espacios públicos y cómo esto afectó la integración de populaciones migrantes de los Pueblos con la polación local. La región del Tonto Basin se considera típicamente “Hohokam,” pero exhibe la influencia de las culturas vecinas de Sinagua y los Pueblos. La emergencía del fenómeno “Salado” y la architectura pública en la region es evidencia de amplio cambio sociopolítico y religioso que implica tratamientos específicos y almacenamiento de animales. Encontro que los animales rituales fueron depositados en contextos de habitación associados con arquitectura pública, que sugiere una centralización de prácticas rituales y almacenamiento. Por último, comunidades del Tonto Basin se enfocaron en taxones específicos para la promulgación de actividades públicas, ayudando la integración de las poblaciones migrantes.

Keywords:

• Faunal analysis
• Public architecture
• Ritual
• Tonto Basin
• Zooarchaeology
• Arizona
• Ritual storage
• Digital collections

Acknowledgments

This paper was written for a reading course with Katherine Spielmann and I am very thankful to her for encouraging me to think about faunal analysis and large datasets in new and interesting ways. She and Glen Rice have provided feedback, edits, criticism, and encouragement that made this paper possible. A big thanks to three anonymous reviewers for providing excellent suggestions and revisions that refined this manuscript. Analyses presented herein would not have been possible without training from Keith Kintigh and Curtis Marean. Discussions with Ben Nelson, Sarah Oas, and April Kamp-Whittaker also greatly enriched my thinking on these topics. Thanks also to Arleyn Simon for her assistance in providing an image presented herein and granting permissions to reproduce that image. Finally, a huge thank you to Judi Cameron for all her work collecting and synthesizing original faunal data presented herein. Any opinions and errors presented in the text are entirely my own and do not reflect the individuals listed above.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Christopher W. Schwartz http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5538-5356