The Gatlin Site is an archaeological site in

Gila Bend, Arizona Gila Bend (; O'odham: Hila Wi:n), founded in 1872, is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The town is named for an approximately 90-degree bend in the Gila River, which is near the community's current location. As of the 2020 cens ...

. The site preserves one of the few documented

Hohokam Hohokam () was a culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. It existed between 300 and 1500 AD, with cultural precursors possibly as early as 300 BC. Archaeologists disagree about ...

platform mounds. Associated with the mound are pit houses, ball courts,

midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

s, and prehistoric canals. Between AD 800 and 1200 it was an important Hohokam settlement at the great bend of the Gila River. The Hohokam people were early farmers in southern Arizona, where the permanent Salt and Gila Rivers flowing through the hot Sonoran Desert made the irrigation strategy possible. The site is the largest in the area and was home to over 500 people. Its importance is indicated by the presence of two ceremonial ball courts and one of the earliest platform mounds known. The mound is notable as being one of only few excavated and documented Sedentary Period platform mounds still relatively intact. The site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964. The site was discovered during surveys in advance of construction of the

Painted Rock Dam The Painted Rock Dam is an earthfill embankment dam located west of Gila Bend, Arizona. It is primarily used for flood control purposes. Description The Painted Rock Dam was constructed during a 3-year period from 1957–1960 by the United Sta ...

by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and underwent its first excavations in 1959–60. It is located on a plateau above the Gila River, on land belonging at the time to rancher Colin Gatlin. This area had long been an area of archaeological interest to Norton Allen, who identified the mound containing one of the platform mounds to be of particular interest in 1937, without realizing what it actually contained. The Gatlin Site now belongs to the town of Gila Bend, which is developing it as a regional cultural park.Gatlin Site
, Town of Gila Bend

References

External links

Gatlin Site – Gila Bend, AZ
history and archaeology
Gatlin Site photo gallery
{{National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks in Arizona Buildings and structures in Maricopa County, Arizona Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona Former populated places in Maricopa County, Arizona National Register of Historic Places in Maricopa County, Arizona Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona

See also

References

External links