FOUR

Activity Structures and Networks at Site PVN 144

Most of the nineteen surface-visible structures, 2.5 m and less in height, that comprise Site PVN 144 are organized into two distinct sectors, each characterized by very different organizing principles (figure 4.1). The largest buildings, Strs. 144-1/3, 5, 8/12, and 18, are arranged in a roughly circular pattern around a large patio (57 m × 71 m). Building orientations vary from 296 degrees 30 minutes to 11 degrees. Structure 144-19 was mapped as a low, amorphous construction situated within the plaza on its west side. The much smaller Strs. 144-13/15 sit atop the summit of a 0.7-m-high platform (Str. 144-16) about 95 m northeast of the aforementioned group. The remaining buildings are scattered within 50 m south (Str. 144-17) and west (Strs. 144-4, 6, and 7) of the main patio.

Roble phase materials unassociated with clear buildings were found scattered over roughly 4.1 ha around the main plaza. Twelve distinct and dense concentrations of artifacts and Pachychilus sp. (freshwater snail) shells were recorded within this area. Each of these clusters, 3–6 m in diameter, probably represents a relatively discrete trash deposit associated with Roble phase constructions erected directly on ancient ground surface. High, dense grasses covering Site PVN 144 during both the 1978 and 1996 field seasons, when the settlement was initially recorded and excavated, respectively, almost certainly hid other such concentrations from view.

FIGURE 4.1 Map of Site PVN 144

Seven of the buildings that define the main patio (Strs. 144-1, 2, 5, 8, 11, 18, and 19) were excavated, as were fifty-six test pits, ten of which were dug in as many artifact concentrations located beyond that plaza. Fully 527 m² of Roble phase deposits were cleared in and around these edifices, with an additional 26 m² dug as part of the test-pitting program. Structures 144-13/16 were not investigated and are not included further in this discussion; their distinctive arrangement and isolation from the rest of the site raise the real possibility that they were not built and used during the Roble phase.

BUILDING FUNCTIONS AROUND AND WITHIN THE MAIN PLAZA

Residential Architecture

Structures 144-1 and 2 (figures 4.2 and 4.3), located along the northern arc of the patio, are comparably extensive surface-level buildings that encompass 60.4 m² (minimally) and 87.36 m², respectively. Their perimeters are in each case defined by stone foundations that measure 0.1–0.35 m high by 0.18–0.35 m wide. These walls enclose sizable spaces divided by substantial, east-west–running medial stone walls.

FIGURE 4.2 Structure 144-1, plan

Structure 144-1’s earthen-floored interior was entered through a 2.2-m-wide doorway in the approximate center of its northern foundation. An area of intensely burned soil measuring approximately 2.2 m in diameter completely fills this entrance and extends 1.3 m outside the edifice and 0.9 m into it. The restricted distribution of this heating implies that the charring resulted from a controlled fire and was not part of an accidental conflagration. Whether that burning was integral to regularly repeated actions conducted on the threshold or was part of a onetime event, possibly associated with Str. 144-1’s abandonment, is uncertain.

The northern enclosure covers 11.9 m², while south of the medial wall are two compartments separated by a southern projection of the central wall. The southwest enclosure measures 7.6 m², with its southeastern analog covering 12.4 m². A fourth possible room seems to lie immediately east of these compartments, although it was not uncovered. Passage among these rooms was fairly straightforward: the northern example was entered through the ample doorway described earlier, and the southern enclosures were reached by passing around the east and west sides of the medial wall (these entrances are 0.65 m wide at their narrowest points). The westernmost 2.5 m of the medial wall is sufficiently broad (1.45 m across) and high (0.43 m tall) to have doubled as a wall support and bench, possibly facing into both the northern and southwestern rooms.

FIGURE 4.3 Structure 144-2, plan

Structure 144-2, 10.4 m west of Str. 144-1, also apparently faced north and away from the patio, like its eastern neighbor. Here, however, there is no foundation to impede access to the extensive northern enclosure, which covers 19.9 m². A diminutive compartment, encompassing 2.1 m², borders this room on the west, where it is built against the west flank of Str. 144-2’s medial wall. This cubicle was accessed through a 0.7-m-wide doorway in its northeast corner facing directly into the north room. The southern compartment covers 31.4 m² and was reached by moving through ample passageways on the east and the west (1.4–1.7 m across). Unlike Str. 144-1, Str. 144-2’s interior was apparently surfaced with burned earth, parts of which were covered with a 0.02-m-thick limestone plaster. As with Str. 144-1, Str. 144-2’s medial wall is sufficiently wide (0.95–1.25 m across) and tall (0.4–0.7 m high) to have served as both a bench and wall support; it certainly seems wider than necessary to sustain a perishable central dividing wall. A 0.46-m-high stone block, measuring 0.8 m across, projects 0.6 m north into the approximate center of the southern room from Str. 144-2’s southern foundation. This construction may have been used as a shelf.

TABLE 4.1 Density of major material classes by structure and artifact scatter as measured per excavated square meters

Suboperations 144AE and 144AM are tests measuring 0.5 × 0.5 m that were dug into areas lacking surface-visible signs of ancient occupation.

The recovery of bajareque fragments in some numbers from both Strs. 144-1 and 144-2 (table 4.1) strongly suggests that the upper walls of these edifices were fashioned of clay applied over a woven stick framework. The footings supporting these perishable walls consist primarily of river-rounded cobbles set horizontally and held in place with a mud mortar.

The features and arrangement of space within Strs. 144-1 and 144-2 point to the use of both buildings as domiciles. Each contains sizable rooms that could easily have accommodated the pursuit of daily routines, and each also has a centrally located bench. A potential storage receptacle is located off the west side of Str. 144-2’s bench; this function is suggested by the room’s small size (2.1 m²) and lack of interior features. No analogous facility was recorded in Str. 144-1. The range of artifacts associated with these two edifices supports the attribution of domestic functions to them (table 4.1).

TABLE 4.2 Proportions of jar and bowl rims per structure at Site PVN 144

The near-total clearing of Strs. 144-1 and 144-2 yielded substantial quantities of ceramics, 25 and 15 pieces per excavated m² (p/em²), respectively. These figures are high for Roble phase contexts at Site PVN 144, suggesting that the activities pursued in and around these constructions involved what was by local standards the regular and intense use of pottery containers. The nearly even representation of bowls and jars in the collection of rims classified by form further implies that the serving and storage of food and liquid played roughly equivalent roles in these behaviors (table 4.2).

Ground and chipped stone artifacts, probably used in food preparation, are well represented in both cases, as are fragments of bone and shell (primarily Pachychilus sp.) likely derived from ancient meals. The ground stone items are fragments of manos and metates almost certainly used in processing grains, such as corn, into flour.

The vast majority of chipped stone tools found in both buildings consist of imported obsidian (97% and 72% of the analyzed stone tool assemblages from Strs. 144-1 and 144-2, respectively). This foreign material is supplemented in both cases by a few fragments of perlite likely secured from sources in the valley (3% and 25% of the respective assemblages) and, in the case of Str. 144-2, some chert (3% of the studied collection) (table 4.3). The obsidian occurs almost exclusively as blades (98% of all obsidian analyzed from both edifices has this form). The perlite and chert consist of flakes produced through hard-hammer percussion. There is no evidence in either case that these blades or flakes were fashioned in or near Strs. 144-1 and 144-2. Use-wear analyses of the tools revealed a mix of scraping, cutting, and whittling, with cutting the most common (table 4.4). Structures 144-1 and 144-2 also yielded examples of small projectile points made on obsidian blades; one was retrieved from Str. 144-1, while seven were found in and around Str. 144-2. In general, much the same round of behaviors, involving the same types of chipped lithics, conducted at similar levels of intensity are attested to at Strs. 144-1 and 144-2, suggesting that both edifices served similar functions. This range of activities matches what would be expected of domestic chores.

TABLE 4.3 Distribution of analyzed lithic materials by material, form, and excavated context

Subop. 484, Midden 2 was not analyzed by material and form.

The recovery of incensario pieces, mostly from ladle burners, at Strs. 144-1 and 144-2 points to the conduct of similar rituals at both locales. Their greater concentration at Str. 144-1 implies that the occupants of this edifice pursued such observances more intensively than did those at its western neighbor. All in all, architectural forms and artifact distributions point to Strs. 144-1 and 144-2 as distinct houses, the members of which pursued a wide range of comparable activities, including domestic chores as well as religious rites.

TABLE 4.4 Functional assessments of obsidian blades from Site PVN 144

Special-Purpose Architecture

Structure 144-11, on the south side of the patio, has a very different form from that of its two northwestern neighbors (figure 4.4). The core of this edifice is a stone pavement covering, during its final iteration, 1.6 × 8.5 m, oriented about 349 degrees, and resting atop a 0.2-m-high earthen platform with indistinct boundaries. The stone surface supports no discernible features and is bounded on the south and the east by stone walls that are 0.15–0.2 m wide and extend 0.25 m into and below the supporting fill but do not rise above floor level. The latter constructions are fashioned of unmodified stones set on end.

What was probably the formal entry to Str. 144-11’s summit was marked by a plaster surface measuring approximately 1.25 × 2.1 m, located immediately west of the pavement and slightly south of its center point. The plaster here was resurfaced at least once; the earlier preserved version was painted red and polished, while its successor, which rests on 0.01 m of earth, was too heavily eroded to determine its original appearance. A dense concentration of Pachychilus sp. shells, mixed with other artifacts and organic materials, was found 0.15 m south of the plaster floor (Feature 1). Feature 1 measures 0.8 × 1.1 m, is maximally 0.15 m thick, and is bounded by three low, discontinuous stone walls that form a rough circle around this material.

FIGURE 4.4 Structure 144-11, plan

The 63 bajareque fragments retrieved from the environs of Str. 144-11 imply that walls of this material formerly bounded portions of the edifice. Approximately 70 percent of the recorded pieces came from the vicinities of the footings that border the pavement’s east and south flanks. Such a pattern suggests that these foundations formerly supported perishable walls. The relative paucity of bajareque elsewhere on the building tentatively indicates that Str. 144-11’s north and west sides were left exposed to view.

The generally open character of Str. 144-11’s summit, and the absence of any obvious domestic furniture upon it, distinguish this building from the more obvious residences represented by Strs. 144-1 and 144-2. The artifacts encountered during excavations at Str. 144-11 also diverge somewhat in their frequencies, although not in their forms, from those that make up the assemblages of the latter two buildings (table 4.1).

The number of pottery sherds recovered from clearing Str. 144-11 is relatively high, about 30 p/em². Not only is this a large figure for Site PVN 144, but the distribution of forms is skewed markedly toward bowls (77% of form-classifiable rims; table 4.2). Admittedly, the sample of categorized rims is small (N=22), but the discrepancy contrasts starkly with the nearly equal distribution of bowls and jars noted for Strs. 144-1 and 144-2. Pottery vessels therefore figured significantly in the activities conducted on and around Str. 144-11, and most of those containers were likely used in serving foods and liquids. Incensario frequencies fall within the range noted at Strs. 144-1 and 144-2. Insofar as these items functioned in the performance of religious devotions, small-scale rites were conducted at all three locales.

The frequency of chipped stone tools at Str. 144-11 (0.9 p/em²) corresponds well with the figures obtained from Strs. 144-1 and 144-2. Once again, most of the items are made from imported obsidian (60% of the collection), followed by perlite and chert (26% and 4% of the assemblage, respectively) (table 4.3). Ninety-six percent of the analyzed obsidian is in blade form, while three of the perlite pieces are small nodules apparently used as sources for flakes produced by direct percussion. The remaining perlite and chert fragments appear as flakes. Whereas some casual fashioning of perlite flake tools likely occurred in Str. 144-11’s environs, there is no sign of obsidian blade or chert flake manufacture here. The sorts of tasks in which these implements were used parallel those inferred for Strs. 144-1 and 144-2 (table 4.4). Once again, cutting is the most commonly recognized activity, followed by nearly equal frequencies of scraping and whittling. A single small projectile point fashioned on an obsidian blade was also retrieved from Str. 144-11. Behaviors involving chipped stone implements, therefore, were apparently pursued at roughly equivalent levels of intensity in all three locales.

The absence of ground stone tools at Str. 144-11 tentatively indicates that certain steps in food processing were not pursued here, or at least not to any significant degree. What does stand out in the comparisons is the marked preponderance of shells, largely Pachychilus sp., recovered from Str. 144-11. Nowhere in the patio do the numbers even approximate those recorded in these excavations (43.7 p/em²). The vast majority (2,054, of which 2,052 are Pachychilus sp. shells) come from Feature 1 on Str. 144-11’s west side. Here, the density is roughly 1,867 p/em³. Associated with the shell in Feature 1 are 183 sherds, 25 bones, 13 fragments of chipped stone, 2 pieces of bajareque, and 5 incensario sherds. This mix of materials suggests that Feature 1 was a trash deposit. Even if that were the case, certain aspects of the midden mark it off as something more than a collection of domestic debris: its location, on the plaza-facing side of Str. 144-11 immediately adjoining the building’s formal entryway; its composition, dominated by snail shells; and its segregation from other parts of the building by the low walls that encircle the deposit. It may be that Feature 1 contains materials associated primarily with processing Pachychilus sp. shells, and this was one of the purposes to which Str. 144-11 was devoted. The goal would likely have been to extract the animal from its casing, with that meat incorporated in meals on its own or as part of soups or stews. There is no clear evidence of burning in the vicinity of Feature 1, so any cooking likely took place elsewhere in the building or in the nearby plaza. The prominent location of Feature 1 vis-à-vis Str. 144-11 and the plaza hints at the importance of snail processing in the activities conducted in both areas.

FIGURE 4.5 Structure 144-5, plan

Structure 144-5, situated between Strs. 144-2 and 144-18, closes off the northwest corner of the plaza (figure 4.5). Excavations here revealed two distinct building phases, with the functions of each markedly different. Structure 144-5-2nd (the earliest known version of the edifice) is a 0.59-m-high earthen platform, into the summit of which were built two circular, flat-bottomed basins (Units 1 and 2). Unit 1, the better preserved of the pair, measures 2.4–2.5 m across the top (narrowing to a diameter of 1.2 m at the base), is 0.45 m deep, and has a niche set into its east wall 0.2 m above the base (figures 4.6 and 4.7). The niche is 0.22 m wide, 0.25 m deep, and extends 0.36 m from the wall of the basin into the down-sloping flank of the declivity. Unit 1’s walls consist of a 0.02-m-thick layer of fire-hardened earth, to which a few fragments of white plaster still clung when uncovered during excavation. Unit 2, 3.35 m north of Unit 1, was poorly preserved. Based on the surviving fragments of this construction, it appears to have been nearly identical in form and dimensions to its southern neighbor. Unit 2’s reconstructed diameter at the orifice is around 2 m, whereas it is 0.42 m deep; if there was a niche associated with Unit 2, it was not preserved. Both of these basins occupied nearly identical stratigraphic positions and were almost certainly in use at the same time.

FIGURE 4.6 Structure 144-5, section through the Unit 1 basin

Beginning 1 m east of Units 1 and 2, Str. 144-5-2nd’s earthen summit floor showed evidence of intense burning. The limits of this feature were not ascertained, although the fired surface covered at least 4.7 × 9.65 m. No other superstructure constructions were noted, implying that the summit was featureless and left largely open.

Several stages of renovations mark significant shifts in the use of this edifice. During the first of these episodes (included in Str. 144-5-2nd), Unit 1 was filled by a 0.2-m-thick layer of flat-laid rocks and earth, which, in turn, was buried by 0.04–0.1 m of earth mixed with what appears to have been midden materials (figure 4.6). Approximately 0.2 m of soil was introduced into Unit 2 at about this time and supported a 0.12-m-high stone wall that projected 1.35 m south into the basin from its reconstructed north margin. This construction was 0.1–0.4 m wide (narrowing from north to south) and left a 0.15-m gap between it and the southern, down-sloping edge of Unit 2. Whatever transpired within the northern basin at this time involved firing intense enough to alter the 0.06 m of earth immediately underlying the newly erected wall.

It seems likely that the fire-altered summit floor lying east of Units 1 and 2 was still exposed at this time. In fact, we cannot determine with any certainty when within Str. 144-5-2nd’s construction sequence this floor was created, except to say that it predates the final modifications made to the edifice.

FIGURE 4.7 Structure 144-5, three-dimensional rendering of the Unit 1 basin. The trench dug through the basin’s east wall and floor is shown here (original drawing by Heather Ogston).

Significant changes to the building resulted in the creation of Str. 144-5-1st. During this span Units 1, 2, and their associated constructions were covered by an earthen fill that ultimately raised Str. 144-5-1st’s height to 0.94 m. The fire-reddened summit floor lying east of Units 1 and 2 was also enveloped by earth fill at this time. Capping the final summit are two casually constructed stone walls that were likely parts of a superstructure. Unfortunately, this construction was so disturbed that we could not reconstruct its form and dimensions.

The functions served by Str. 144-5 during the various stages of its use are difficult to determine. The basins are virtually unprecedented in the Naco valley architectural corpus during any period. The firing of the walls of Units 1 and possibly 2 implies that their uses required the creation of hard, relatively impermeable surfaces. The intensity of this burning is suggested by the altering of the soil bordering Unit 1; no comparable modification of the environing earth was noted in Unit 2, but its poor state of preservation means such alterations cannot be excluded. The plaster, patches of which are preserved on Unit 1’s interior, may have also formalized the appearance of the basin and contributed to the integrity of its surfaces. No clear signs of burning are associated with the use of either basin; the firing of Units 1 and maybe 2 was apparently associated with their construction and was not a by-product of their function.

Structure 144-5-2nd’s pits would have been excellent storage facilities for durable goods. Their hard earthen walls could have repelled pests and retained food and perhaps liquids. The utility of these constructions as storage receptacles was enhanced by the addition of plaster on at least Unit 1’s surfaces. No signs of the putative curated commodities were noted, in part because of the subsequent modifications visited on the edifice.

During the next phase, it appears that Unit 2’s newly raised floor became a locus for burning that altered that earthen surface to a depth of 0.06 m. One possibility is that Unit 2 was converted into a pit kiln or oven, with the north-south–running interior wall part of a baffle designed to direct heat within the circular space. Unit 1, in contrast, seems to have been transformed into a place for trash disposal. The wide array of artifacts found here, including food-processing tools (three grinding stones along with three obsidian blades with evidence of having been used in cutting) and organic materials that likely figured in ancient meals, implies that the basin was the ultimate resting place for debris that resulted from preparing and serving food. This detritus may have been derived from cooking that went on in the northern basin.

The summit associated with Units 1 and 2 in their various iterations was extensive, open, and modified through firing. It is unclear whether the burning recorded over this exposed 43.4 m² resulted from activities pursued on it or was part of an effort to formalize this surface. Repeated use of the summit as an area for cooking may have produced the observed effect. Although it remains unclear when within Str. 144-5-2nd’s history the platform’s summit was burned, it likely remained unencumbered by superstructure construction until the final phase. In general, Str. 144-5-2nd lacks the architectural markers of a domicile. Any food preparation conducted in and around Unit 2, therefore, was probably not controlled by, or pursued for the primary benefit of, one particular house group residing on Str. 144-5-2nd.

By the final occupation stage, Units 1 and 2 had been buried, and Str. 144-5-1st seems to have become a platform supporting a superstructure defined by stone foundations that likely sustained perishable upper walls. Assigning artifacts to this interval is complicated by the absence of clear floors and well-defined building perimeters that would facilitate distinguishing between material derived from terminal debris and architectural fill. It is possible, therefore, that objects from these two contexts were intermingled following the platform’s abandonment and were combined during excavation and analysis. Bearing this caveat in mind, something can be inferred of Str. 144-5-1st’s uses from the range of artifacts tentatively associated with its final occupation (table 4.1).

The sherd density recorded at Str. 144-5-1st is comparable to the figures noted at the two known residences, Strs. 144-1 and 144-2. Unlike the form distributions identified at the first two domiciles, the Str. 144-5-1st assemblage is skewed heavily toward bowls, much as was the case at Str. 144-11 (table 4.2). This patterning implies that whereas ceramic vessels were employed in roughly similar numbers at Strs. 144-5-1st, 144-2, and 144-1, bowls assumed a larger importance in the activities pursued around and on the first of these edifices.

Frequencies of shell and bone at Str. 144-5-1st are a bit high when compared with those recorded at Strs. 144-1 and 144-2, although they are not nearly as elevated as those noted for Str. 144-11. These organic remains suggest that food was processed and consumed at this locale, much as it was in the neighboring domiciles to the east. The activities in question, however, did not apparently involve the intense or frequent use of grinding stones, no examples of which could be unambiguously assigned to the building’s final phase. Similarly, although chipped stone implements were recovered here, their densities are lower than those recorded at Strs. 144-1, 144-2, and 144-11. The collection is once more dominated by obsidian blades (72%), whereas six perlite flakes and one core of this material are also found (table 4.3). The assortment of activities in which these implements figured conforms to the same pattern seen elsewhere; that is, cutting is the most commonly identified task, followed by scraping and whittling (table 4.4). If anything, whittling seems less well represented here than it is in other excavated portions of the settlement. No projectile points were recovered from Str. 144-5-1st.

These patterns imply that the full range of domestic chores was not enacted on Str. 144-5-1st. Attention apparently focused on serving, rather than storing, foods and liquids. The processing of grain was also not practiced here to any significant degree; nor was whittling a major component of the daily round.

It is difficult to account for the relatively high densities of bajareque fragments at Str. 144-5-1st, especially given the paucity of stone foundations associated with the building’s final phase. One possibility is that the platform’s superstructure walls were largely erected directly on the earthen summit without benefit of rock footings. It is just as likely, however, that some of these foundations were obliterated by recent activities that disturbed the extant footings or that a portion of the recovered bajareque derived from destroyed buildings that were incorporated in the platform’s latest fill.

FIGURE 4.8 Plan of final phase architecture, Structures 144-8 and 144-18

Community Buildings

Structure 144-8, together with Str. 144-18, which is 2.9 m to the north, is on the west side of the main patio (figure 4.8). The first recorded activity at this locale was the burning of the earth on which Str. 144-8 would be erected. This firing altered the underlying soil to a depth of 0.04–0.07 m. Structure 144-8 began its use-life as an extensive surface-level building (Str. 144-8-3rd) covering 7 × 12.5 m. It was bounded by perishable walls 0.12–0.25 m wide set on stone foundations and, at least over their surviving bases, covered with a thin white plaster on the exterior. A 0.9-m-wide doorway in the south wall provided access to the interior. At least parts of the building’s floor were covered by more plaster. Although the evidence is somewhat unclear, Str. 144-8-3rd was apparently divided into northern and southern rooms by an east-west–running perishable wall. The northern enclosure covers 34.5 m², while its southern counterpart encompasses 31.6 m². No evidence of built-in furniture was recorded, although large portions of Str. 144-8-3rd’s interior were not fully exposed.

FIGURE 4.9 Elevation of Structure 144-8’s west side showing the stucco masks and evidence of earlier (Structure 144-8-3rd) construction (original drawing by Heather Ogston).

This early edifice was converted into a platform (Str. 144-8-2nd) that stood 0.6 m high, covered 87.5 m² at its base, and was bordered by stone facings battered back at an angle of approximately 30 degrees. The best-preserved, bottommost portions of these facings were coated with a white lime plaster. A 0.85-m-wide plaster-coated ramp provided access to the summit from the south, this incline having been built over the site of Str. 144-8–3rd’s doorway. Formal access to Str. 144-8-2nd, however, was apparently achieved by ascending a 0.7-m-wide pair of plaster-coated steps built near the midpoint of the platform’s west flank. These diminutive risers are bordered by two stucco masks built on stone armatures that represent a being distinguished by a pronounced bulbous nose, two flanking goggle-shaped eyes, bulging cheeks, and ear flares (figure 4.9). The masks are canted back at a slope of 33 degrees and measure 2.4 m north-south by 1.6 m east-west. They were frequently refurbished, having been resurfaced more than fifty times (Douglass and Mooney 2001).

The summit covers 51.7 m² and is surfaced in limestone plaster, the central 3.4 m² of which was painted red. The remaining portions of the summit floor were apparently left white. Structure 144-8-2nd’s superstructure was delimited by sizable poles set at intervals of 2.5–4.5 m along its perimeter. No footings for perishable walls were noted; nor are there any signs of built-in features, such as benches or room dividers. The summit, in short, was extensive and roofed. Whether it was bounded by perishable walls remains unknown.

The final version of the platform (Str. 144-8-1st) retained its basic shape and access features but now stood 1.1 m high. The summit had been heavily damaged prior to excavation but seems to have been extensive (50.8 m²) and floored with a white plaster. Although we cannot be as certain in reconstructing the form of Str. 144-8-1st’s superstructure as we are with the better-preserved earlier version, extant remains tentatively suggest that the summit now consisted of a large, featureless room. The sizable quantity of burned daub fragments found in terminal phase deposits implies that the superstructure was bounded by perishable walls.

Widespread disturbance suffered by Str. 144-8 prior to excavation means that tying materials recovered from this building to specific construction phases is very difficult. We have adopted a conservative stance in making such assignments (listed in table 4.1). No objects could be definitively assigned to Strs. 144-8-3rd and 144-8-2nd.

Despite the uncertainty attendant on associating artifacts with distinct phases of Str. 144-8’s use, it is clear that this building yielded very few pottery sherds compared with most other constructions investigated at Site PVN 144. At 2 p/em², this is by far the lowest density noted in any portion of the main plaza except for Str. 144-18. Even if all the sherds, regardless of context, recovered from Str. 144-8 were included, the number would only rise to 5 p/em².

Modern activity on Str. 144-8 and in its vicinity may have inadvertently removed some pottery fragments, along with other artifacts, from the investigated area. Whereas this possibility is likely, it seems implausible that the impact of these disturbances alone was sufficient to reduce sherd yields to the noted levels. Figures for chipped stone artifacts, although low, were not dramatically different from those recorded elsewhere around the plaza, and the quantities of bajareque fragments were actually higher than those noted in other patio locales. It is unlikely that ceramic pieces were selectively removed from Str. 144-8 in the course of recent activities, leaving other artifact categories relatively undisturbed. While sherd densities were probably higher prior to the modifications visited on Str. 144-8, therefore, they were likely lower than those attested to at other, better-preserved Site PVN 144 buildings. This pattern implies that ceramic vessels were less intensively used in and around Str. 144-8-1st than they were at most of the other investigated edifices.

The proportion of bowl and jar rims in the Str. 144-8-1st assemblage matches that seen for Strs. 144-5-1st and 144-11 (table 4.2). In all three cases, bowls comprise over 70 percent of the collection, implying that serving food, drink, or both played a larger role than did storing these commodities at the edifices in question. While the Str. 144-8-1st figures must be treated with caution, the pattern identified here is suggestive and tentatively implies that, despite their different forms and dimensions, Strs. 144-5-1st, 144-8-1st, and 144-11 hosted activities in which the serving of comestibles played a significant part.

Incensario fragments, pieces of chipped and ground stone, and organic remains such as bone and shell are likewise relatively rare here. The composition of the chipped stone tool assemblage also diverges from that seen elsewhere at the settlement (table 4.3). On the one hand, obsidian blades do not dominate the collection to the extent seen at other buildings. These implements comprise slightly more than half of the total assemblage (58%), whereas perlite and chert are, correspondingly, more common than seen elsewhere (32% and 10% of the collection, respectively). In addition, very few of the analyzed fragments were apparently used, with only one blade showing evidence of cutting. Three casual perlite cores were also found here (table 4.4). The Str. 144-8 assemblage is characterized, however, by a locally unusual concentration of small projectile points made on obsidian blades (four in all). It is not so much that Str. 144-8-1st yielded more of these implements than any other building but rather that their proportions are unusually high (36% of all blades were fashioned into points here, versus 15% for Str. 144-2, the investigated building with the largest number of points at Site PVN 144).

This pattern tentatively points to several conclusions. Obsidian was, for whatever reason, less readily used at Str. 144-8-1st than it was in other portions of the settlement; perhaps it was not considered appropriate for the activities conducted there. Further, those scraping, cutting, and whittling tasks in which chipped stone implements were employed elsewhere around the main plaza apparently figured little in the activities pursued on this extensive edifice. In contrast, either projectile points were used relatively often here or this area was a favored place for storing and displaying them. Similarly, the relatively dense concentration of perlite cores at Str. 144-8-1st may point to the fashioning of simple flake tools in the immediate area. Most of those implements, however, were probably used in other locales, as indicated by the paucity of perlite flakes (three in all) in the analyzed collection.

The one artifact class abundantly represented in the Str. 144-8-1st excavation collections is bajareque, which at 3 p/em² is the highest density for this material noted anywhere at the settlement. The general prevalence of these burned wattle-and-daub fragments in all contexts implies that walls in the three construction phases were fashioned primarily of this material. It may also suggest that these constructions were regularly burned, possibly prior to initiating the next building effort.

Overall, materials associated with Str. 144-8-1st, and with Str. 144-8 in general, point to the conduct here of a select range of domestic and ritual activities, all at fairly low levels of intensity. The absence of clear domestic furniture, especially benches, coupled with the artifact data implies that Str. 144-8-1st and its predecessors were not used as residences. Instead, the large rooms found in each of the edifice’s iterations tentatively indicate that the building served throughout its history as a gathering place for substantial numbers of people. The formal entrance—complete with flanking sculptures—provided for Strs. 144-8-1st and 144-8-2nd, and the use of plaster for flooring and exterior surfacing in all three versions, hint at the importance of these meetings to those involved. The general paucity of artifacts associated with Str. 144-8 in at least its final manifestation implies that the gatherings did not involve activities, such as food preparation, that left behind considerable material residues.

Structure 144-18, immediately north of Str. 144-8, was the tallest structure recorded at Site PVN 144. Although it stood roughly 2.5 m high when originally mapped in 1978, by 1996 most of Str. 144-18’s summit had been planed off, and much of the edifice’s east side was razed down to the base. Consequently, little can be said about Str. 144-18’s building history and uses, although its final basal dimensions and overall form can be reconstructed (figure 4.8).

During the surviving construction stage, Str. 144-18 was a stone- and earth-filled platform that covered 7.7 × 10.7 m and was bounded on all sides by stone walls coated with limestone plaster. Extrapolating from the relatively well-preserved western flank, these basal facings were canted back at an angle of approximately 33 degrees, much like the bottommost portions of Strs. 144-8-2nd’s and 144-8-1st’s perimeter walls. Formal access to the summit was likely from the west, where what may be the bottommost riser of a staircase projects 0.35 m beyond Str. 144-18’s basal line. This possible staircase is located south of the building’s center line and is bounded on the north by a stucco mask that covers 1.2 × 2.6 m. Although heavily damaged, this feature has the pronounced nose seen on the masks that border Strs. 144-8-2nd’s and 144-8-1st’s western stair. Most likely, all three masks were originally very similar in construction and appearance, probably representing the same entity. No comparable mask was noted on the southern edge of Str. 144-18’s putative stair. Fragments of limestone plaster, some of them painted red, were found on and around surviving portions of the platform. The summit may have originally been floored with this material, as was the case in the last two known versions of neighboring Str. 144-8.

Overall, Str. 144-18 resembles its southern counterpart in the use of a stucco mask to mark a formal western entry and possibly plaster flooring in its summit room(s). The sloping basal zones of the platform’s perimeter facings also link it to building practices seen at Strs. 144-8-2nd and 144-8-1st.

The range of materials found in terminal debris contexts around Str. 144-18, as well as their relative densities, generally match those observed for Str. 144-8-1st. Frequencies of pottery sherds are once again fairly low, as are those of incensarios, chipped and ground stone, and bone and shell. Unlike the case for Str. 144-8-1st, the prevalence of bajareque in the Str. 144-18 assemblage is relatively muted, more in keeping with the densities of this material recovered elsewhere around the patio. The sample of nine form-classified rims (six of which are from bowls) retrieved from Str. 144-18’s environs is too small to serve as the basis for advancing even tentative inferences concerning the relative importance of food serving and storage in the suite of activities conducted here.

Structures 144-8-1st and 144-18, therefore, can be jointly distinguished from other buildings at the settlement by what they lack. They also stand out for what they share in their chipped lithic assemblages (table 4.4). The distribution of activities represented in Str. 144-18’s analyzed blade collection closely matches the pattern inferred for Str. 144-8-1st. Specifically, signs of scraping, cutting, and whittling are in this case totally absent, with the one clear tool form a single diminutive projectile point made on an obsidian blade (comprising 16% of the blade assemblage). In addition, as with Str. 144-8-1st, obsidian is not nearly as dominant in the lithic collection here as it is elsewhere at the site; 29 percent of the assemblage consists of this material, while perlite and chert make up 67 percent and 4 percent of the assemblage, respectively (table 4.3). The recovery of two cores, one perlite and the other chert, from Str. 144-18’s environs also points to the fashioning of casual flake tools in the area. Unlike Str. 144-8-1st, however, the thirteen perlite flakes found here may indicate that at least some of those tools were also employed nearby.

To be sure, we are working with a sample heavily impacted by the recent destruction of the investigated edifice. All we can say, and that with trepidation, is that the surviving artifacts associated with the final use phases of Strs. 144-18 and 144-8 point to the performance of the same restricted array of domestic and ritual behaviors at the same low levels of intensity in both cases. Structure 144-18’s greater height, however, may suggest that it served somewhat different purposes than did Str. 144-8-1st.

FIGURE 4.10 Structure 144-19, section

Trash Deposit

Structure 144-19 appears on the surface as an amorphously shaped earthen mound that stands 0.45 m high and covers roughly 7 m × 15 m (figure 4.10). It is located in the main plaza, about 15.5 m northeast of Str. 144-8. The loosely consolidated, dark brown soil that constitutes Str. 144-19’s core (Unit 1) contains sizable quantities of artifacts (tables 4.1 and 4.3). This deposit is 0.49 m thick at its approximate center and extends for 11.1 m northeast-southwest (the northwest and southeast sides of the feature were not uncovered). Unit 1 lacks clear margins demarcated by boundary walls, its edges simply petering out. The large amount of cultural material found within Unit 1 (72 p/em², 200 p/em³), coupled with its amorphous shape and lack of clear construction, implies that it was not the hearting of a building but rather an accumulation of trash generated by activities that occurred in the main plaza. Presumably, this debris would have eventually been removed outside the patio, but the residents never completed that chore before the settlement was abandoned. In fact, the Unit 1 trash may have been intentionally left in place for a time as a tangible reminder of the events that produced it.

The Unit 1 artifact assemblage stands out in comparison with the material recovered from other parts of the main plaza in several respects. First, there is, by local standards, a very high concentration of pottery sherds here. The preponderance of bowl rims within the small form-classified sample (table 4.2) weakly suggests that the majority of ceramic containers represented by the recovered sherds were used to serve food and drink. Incensario fragments are also unusually well represented. In fact, a little under half (43%) of all incense burner pieces recovered from terminal debris contexts around the main plaza were found in Unit 1.

The relatively large chipped lithic collection generally conforms to patterns recorded elsewhere at Site PVN 144. Obsidian blades dominate the Unit 1 collection (84%), with perlite and chert far more sparsely represented (10% and 6%, respectively) (table 4.3). Once again, cutting is the most commonly represented activity, followed by scraping and whittling, in that order (table 4.4). Scraping is somewhat better represented here, however, than is the case elsewhere at the settlement. The three small projectile points found in these excavations comprise 9 percent of the analyzed obsidian blades from Unit 1, a relatively high figure that still falls easily within the range seen throughout the main plaza except at Strs. 144-18 and 144-8-1st.

While some bone, including a fragment of antler, was retrieved from this deposit, Unit 1 is notable for its complete lack of shell. Especially obvious is the absence of the carapaces of Pachychilus sp. that are nearly ubiquitous in Roble phase deposits, especially in middens, throughout Site PVN 144. Also missing are representatives of the ground stone artifact class. It appears, therefore, that grinding foodstuffs and processing crustaceans and snails for meals did not commonly take place within the main plaza, although the products of those efforts may have been consumed there.

Bajareque densities within Unit 1 are high; only those recorded at Strs. 144-5-1st and 144-8-1st within the main plaza show more elevated levels. The relative prevalence of these pieces may hint at the former existence of perishable constructions that were set up in the plaza, at least some of which were burned and their remains included with the rest of the trash.

Taken together, these figures strongly imply that the behaviors in which the recovered materials functioned generally mimic those seen at other excavated locales around the patio. Those activities involving pottery vessels, incense burners, and chipped stone may have been more intensively pursued here than elsewhere, whereas those in which snails and grinding stones were involved seem to be underrepresented.

These figures imply that Site PVN 144’s principal patio was an area in which a limited range of activities was carried out at high levels of intensity. At least some of these behaviors involved the use of relatively large numbers of ritual objects, specifically incense burners, as well as ceramic serving containers and chipped stone tools.

Main Plaza Summary

There is strong evidence for the differential distribution of activities among various locales associated with the main plaza during its final period of construction and use. Two sizable residences, Strs. 144-1 and 144-2, bordered the patio’s northern margin, each containing central benches that overlooked ample rooms. These edifices’ large sizes, coupled with the evidence for plaster floors in Str. 144-2, imply that they were homes to people of elevated rank within the Site 144 community. Artifacts associated with these constructions point to the performance of the same domestic chores using the same materials in each of them.

A pair of community buildings flanks the plaza on the west (Strs. 144-8 and 144-18). Structure 144-8 underwent at least three building episodes, rising from an extensive surface-level edifice to an approximately 1.1-m-high platform. Throughout these renovations, Str. 144-8 was characterized by ample, plaster-floored rooms that contained no surviving built-in furniture. The western entrance to its last two versions (Strs. 144-8-2nd and 144-8-1st) was also flanked by two of the three stucco sculptures recorded in the Naco valley during any period (the third is on neighboring Str. 144-18). Structure 144-18’s poor state of preservation when investigated makes assessment of its form and functions difficult. What we can ascertain from the extant architectural fragments is that the platform’s final version was sizable (ca. 2.5 m high), that it was decorated with at least one stucco mask on the west, and that the summit and at least parts of the basal facings were coated with lime plaster. The relative paucity of artifacts retrieved from both buildings, taken together with their distinctive architectural arrangements, suggests that they were not residences. Instead, their extensive, largely unencumbered rooms likely served as venues for meetings of influential individuals from Site PVN 144 and perhaps Naco and Site PVN 306. The importance of such putative gatherings was highlighted by the elaborate ways these facilities were decorated.

Structures 144-5 and 144-11 were, at least during some episodes in their histories, devoted to the performance of a limited range of specific activities. Structure 144-11, on the plaza’s eastern edge, consists of one sizable, largely open and featureless room sitting atop a 0.2-m-high earthen platform. Associated with this enclosure is what appears to be a formally prepared trash deposit composed almost exclusively of large quantities of Pachychilus sp. shell. Whatever else was going on at and around Str. 144-11, the processing of riverine snails was significant to the building’s function. The location of the midden, overlooking the main plaza and adjoining Str. 144-11’s formal entrance, implies that these activities were accorded a place of some prominence and may have been closely linked to events that transpired in the plaza.

Structure 144-5 seems to have begun its use-life (Str. 144-5-2nd) as an extensive earthen platform, into the western portion of which were built two flat-bottomed basins lined with fired earth and, at least in one case, plaster. Structure 144-5-2nd’s ample summit was apparently open, featureless, and burned over much of its extent. Although the building’s functions are unclear, it seems likely that the pits were used to store food, liquid, or both. The adjoining summit may have been a staging ground for processing these comestibles, its burned surface possibly resulting from the lighting of many cooking fires over a protracted span. Subsequently, the northern basin was converted into a firing facility, an oven or kiln, while its southern analog was used as a trash receptacle. Burning on the summit may have continued during this interval. By the time Str. 144-5-1st was erected, all evidence of the basins and the fired earth summit was buried beneath a mantle of fill. Structure 144-5-1st was not apparently converted into a residence. Instead, it seems to have served some specialized function associated with food serving.

Although very different in form, Strs. 144-11 and 144-5 seem to have been associated with aspects of food storage and preparation throughout their known histories. It is possible that at least some of the meals derived from these activities were consumed in the main plaza. The debris from one or more of those feasts, represented by Unit 1 of Str. 144-19, contains a disproportionately high density of ceramic containers, most of which may have been bowls suitable for food serving. These gatherings were apparently accompanied by rituals, as signified by the locally unprecedented concentration of incense burners in that same deposit.

The dimensions of Strs. 144-8 and 144-18, along with the scale of food processing represented by Strs. 144-5-2nd and 144-11, seem out of proportion to the size of the domestic unit that resided around the plaza. These facilities were almost certainly designed to accommodate and feed more people than likely lived in nearby domiciles. As is argued in chapters 6, 8, and 10, these edifices and the plaza they define probably supported gatherings of those who participated in different ways in a single network that encompassed all occupants of Naco and Sites PVN 306 and PVN 144.

Site PVN 144’s main plaza, therefore, was a locus of residence for a few and a gathering place for many. A particularly influential subset of those living in the basin may have convened in the rooms of Strs. 144-8 and 144-18, while all members of the broader community periodically assembled in the plaza itself. Whereas the former meetings generated few tangible remains, the latter apparently combined feasting with ritual. Supporting those large-scale meals were specialized facilities in which food and drink could be stored and processed at considerable scales. Consequently, the main plaza seems to have served as a point of intersection in which people participating in the multiple networks of house, household, site, and settlement cluster convened to enliven and reinforce their membership in extensive webs, in part by eating and worshipping together.

NON-PLAZA MATERIAL PATTERNS

Excavations conducted outside the main plaza took the form of fifty-six test pits, eight of which were dug within an equal number of surface-visible artifact scatters; the remaining forty-eight probes were set in areas beyond the patio that lacked signs of obvious construction or occupation. In two of the latter tests, Subops. 144AE and 144AM, relatively dense concentrations of Roble phase materials comparable to those found within most artifact scatters were uncovered. Materials from Subops. 144AE and 144AM are hereafter included when discussing the artifact scatters. No architecture was revealed by these tests, although artifacts, mostly of Roble phase date, were dispersed over an area measuring approximately 41,000 m².

The artifact scatters visible on ground surface average 3–6 m in diameter, and the investigated examples are uniformly thin (at most, 0.5 m thick; only the Subop. 144AE deposit is over 0.4 m thick). They contain large quantities of cultural material (417 to 2,119 p/em²; table 4.1) set in fine-grained soils that range in color from dark to yellowish brown. Such densities indicate that these artifact scatters represent middens, while their shallowness suggests that they accumulated over relatively short periods of time. Tests dug beyond these concentrations revealed much lower artifact frequencies (no materials at all were recorded in thirteen probes), indicating that each artifact scatter was relatively distinct and not part of a continuous sheet midden. Analyses of material recovered from excavations in ten of these trash deposits suggest that their contents resulted from a varied set of overlapping, but not uniformly distributed, activities.

Turning first to what is not well represented in the studied collections, only a few fragments of ground stone and incensarios were recovered from the deposits. In a sense, this is hardly surprising, as members of these artifact classes are rarely unearthed in most excavated contexts at Site PVN 144. Still, representatives of other material categories were commonly found in the studied deposits. Hence, the paucity of incense burners and grinding implements here is likely a result of the relative unimportance of grain processing and ritual in the activities of those who generated the investigated trash.

In general, ceramic frequencies are high in all but one of the studied deposits, ranging from 295 to 936 p/em² (Op. 484, Midden 1 yielded no ceramics). These figures far exceed the numbers obtained from the Site PVN 144 main plaza, where the greatest ceramic density is attested to within Str. 144-19’s Unit 1 (61 p/em²). There is no clear patterning in sherd densities across the excavated middens save that Artifact Scatter 16, with the highest concentration of chipped lithics (73 p/em²), also has the lowest density of pottery fragments (295 p/em²). Operation 484, Midden 1 represents an even more extreme expression of this negative correlation; no pottery sherds were found here, while the density of chipped stone was the second highest among the artifact scatters (40 p/em²). Such patterning may hint at some specialization in the suite of activities that employed stone tools in the immediate areas of both deposits. Very likely, those jettisoning trash within Op. 484, Midden 1 were exclusively engaged in tasks that employed lithic implements. Otherwise, sherd densities do not seem to correlate in any identifiable way with the frequencies of other artifact classes.

Three principal patterns are identified in the distribution of vessel forms in the studied collections: those in which bowls predominate (Artifact Scatters 16 and 21), one in which jars are more numerous (Op. 144AE), and two cases where the major form categories comprise nearly equal proportions of the assemblages (Artifact Scatters 18 and 19; table 4.2). Based on these data, it appears that ceramic vessels were widely and fairly intensively used throughout the area surrounding the main plaza, the behaviors in which they functioned involved serving and storing comestibles, and the relative importance of these two general activities varied across the investigated area.

Densities of shell, most deriving from Pachychilus sp., are generally far greater in the recorded artifact scatters than in plaza contexts. The only exception is Feature 1 on Str. 144-11’s west side. Here, shell densities fall above the upper end of the range of variation noted for the excavated trash deposits (table 4.1). Outside of this general contrast between plaza/non-plaza settings, there are notable differences in shell densities among the investigated middens. They range from a low of 6 p/em² (Artifact Scatter 16) to a high of 1,964 p/em² in Op. 484, Midden 1. Such variation once again hints at behavioral distinctions among the people who deposited debris in these distinct middens. Whereas everyone who used the excavated trash deposits seems to have been consuming meat from snails and, to a lesser extent, freshwater clams, they may not all have been doing so to the same extent.

Patterning in the chipped stone tool and debris collections demonstrates both unity in the materials represented and dissimilarity in the density of lithic items and the degree and nature of tool use across the investigated middens. Imported obsidian, primarily in the form of blades, is the most commonly represented raw material identified in all studied collections (table 4.3). Locally available perlite and chert, usually in the form of flakes, appear in much smaller numbers, if at all. In fact, obsidian dominates these assemblages more decisively than is the case within the main plaza; three of the seven analyzed midden collections had nothing but obsidian in them, and obsidian comprised 73–94 percent of each of the remaining four studied assemblages. Whatever else this pattern might signify, it suggests that foreign obsidian was easily available to those living and working in the environs of the Site PVN 144 main plaza.

The density of chipped lithics within the investigated collections does differ markedly. This variation falls out in these general categories: middens with 11–17 p/em² (Artifact Scatters 18 and 27 and Op. 484, Midden 2), those with 24–29 p/em² (Artifact Scatters 17, 19, and 21 and Subop. AE), and two examples with 40 and 73 p/em² (Op. 484, Midden 1 and Artifact Scatter 16, respectively); the Subop. 144AM deposit alone yielded no chipped lithics. It appears, therefore, that there was considerable variation in the intensity and frequency of the tasks that employed chipped stone tools.

The manner and extent to which these implements were used also differ across the investigated middens (table 4.4). Tools found in Artifact Scatters 16 and 21 exhibit the characteristic pattern found in most other excavated contexts at Site PVN 144, in which cutting is the most commonly attested form of use, followed by scraping and whittling. The chipped implements retrieved from Artifact Scatters 17 and 19, on the other hand, showed no signs of use or significant modification. Interestingly, the densities of chipped stone tools and debris in Artifact Scatters 17, 19, and 21 are very similar (ranging from 27 to 29 p/em²). It does not appear, therefore, that the absence of observable use-wear correlates with differences in ease of access to the relevant raw materials. Based on the available evidence, therefore, it seems that chipped lithics were deposited in trash deposits in approximately equal frequencies in both those areas where the tools were clearly employed in a variety of tasks and those where they were used little, if at all. The possibility that the seemingly pristine lithics recovered from Artifact Scatters 17 and 19 are the residues of stone tool production is negated by the lack of other evidence for such fabrication there. These two deposits may therefore represent the detritus of activities in which chipped stone implements were employed for such short durations that signs of use were not inscribed indelibly on their surfaces.

Frequencies of burned wattle-and-daub fragments also vary among the investigated middens, from none recorded in Artifact Scatters 16, 144AE, and 144AM and Op. 484, Midden 2 to a high of 118 p/em² in Artifact Scatter 21. The remaining deposits yielded numbers ranging from 2 to 8 p/em². The behavioral implications of these differences are unclear. Most probably, bajareque fragments signal the presence of perishable buildings in the immediate vicinity of the trash deposits in which they were found. Those scatters that lack wattle-and-daub pieces might therefore not have been associated with any standing architecture. Just as likely, however, the observed discrepancies reflect whether nearby buildings were burned prior to abandonment.

The excavated deposits described here represent discrete collections of trash that resulted from activities pursued in their immediate environs. Although the behaviors involved varied somewhat from place to place, they all fell within the general domain of domestic chores involving ceramics, lithics, and various forms of fauna. Most likely, therefore, the studied artifact scatters are the material residues of distinct house groups, the members of which engaged in much the same range of tasks using the same sorts of materials, to somewhat different degrees. The one possible exception is Op. 484, Midden 1, with its high preponderance of chipped lithics and faunal remains but no ceramics. If this sample fairly represents the range of behaviors conducted nearby, then its skewed patterning points to the pursuit of a specialized set of activities in its immediate vicinity, possibly the processing of meat primarily from riverine snails.

GENERAL SUMMARY

Patterns noted in the form and distribution of Roble phase architecture and artifacts at Site PVN 144 point to differences in the behaviors of the site’s occupants. In general, however, these variations are relatively continuous, with few definitive breaks. It appears that everyone at the settlement used much the same portable objects for much the same purposes, although the behaviors in question varied somewhat in their intensities and scales. For example, rituals that employed incensarios are attested to at all investigated structures around the main plaza and at four of the areas associated with as many investigated middens beyond that patio. The dense concentration of incense burner fragments in the Str. 144-19, Unit 1 deposit within the plaza, however, implies that this extensive open space was a major center for religious observances involving relatively large numbers of incensarios wielded, presumably, by considerable numbers of people. Similarly, Pachychilus sp. shells are found widely within and outside the main plaza but are particularly concentrated at Str. 144-11 on that patio’s east side and in five of the artifact scatters beyond the plaza. Such a distribution suggests that processing snails for consumption was likely occurring throughout Site PVN 144 but was especially concentrated in a few locales.

The observed material patterns, therefore, hint at a situation in which intra-site unity was encouraged in part by common participation in the same range of basic domestic and ritual activities that employed the same array of materials. Differences among people were marked not by their engagement in tasks in which few others took part. Instead, distinctions were signified by variations in the scale and intensity with which widely shared actions were pursued by those residing in different parts of the settlement. The relative uniformity of material remains and the behaviors in which they were employed, therefore, were likely underlain by values and understandings at least nominally shared by all members of the Roble phase Site PVN 144 community.

More pronounced interpersonal differences are expressed through site planning and architecture. One such distinction is between those who lived around the main plaza and others who resided beyond it. The latter, represented now solely by their middens, did not live in plaza-focused clusters. Instead, the artifact scatters identified on the surface and through excavation seem to have been dispersed across the landscape with no clear or coherent plan. This statement must be treated as provisional. We already know that some middens were not visible on ground surface (for example, those revealed in Subops. 144AE and 144AM). Still, concerted efforts to locate, through survey, artifact scatters near those we did identify failed to reveal them, suggesting that settlement away from the main plaza was widely dispersed (a pattern also noted at Roble phase Site PVN 306, where it was far easier to recognize artifact scatters). It is likely, therefore, that most of Site PVN 144’s Roble phase residents lived in discrete houses, relations among which were not signaled by their proximity.

Site PVN 144’s main plaza represents a larger, more inclusive form of organization. The arrangement of its component buildings around a central patio implies that those who resided here shared a sense of themselves as members of a distinct household composed of at least two houses, materialized in Strs. 144-1 and 144-2. The close spacing of these residences bespeaks comparably intimate social connections, a relationship confirmed by their conduct of nearly identical activities using the same forms of material culture.

Not all of the structures surrounding this space were residences, however. Two were apparently set aside to host gatherings of some importance to the community-at-large (Strs. 144-8 and 144-18), while two more were seemingly devoted to the conduct of specialized activities including, but probably not limited to, food and liquid storage (Str. 144-5-2nd), food processing (Strs. 144-5-2nd’s second version and 144-11), and possibly pottery firing (Str. 144-5-2nd). The goods produced and curated in these locales almost certainly exceeded the needs of the patio’s immediate residents, who in any case were apparently supporting themselves through their own labor. Instead, the large scale of these behaviors, coupled with their conduct overlooking the plaza, implies that their products were intended for use by the relatively large numbers of people who convened in that extensive open space. Evidence provided by Str. 144-19, Unit 1 suggests that such putative gatherings involved religious ritual and feasting.

What we hypothesize from the information in hand is that by the Roble phase, Site PVN 144 was a focus for activities by which multiple overlapping sociopolitical networks were enacted. At the smallest scale, these webs included those sharing a common residence, whose ties were instantiated and reaffirmed every day through regular and oft-repeated interactions. Domiciles associated with the middens identified beyond the patio, as well as Strs. 144-1 and 144-2 on that plaza, were focal points of such webs. The common projects in which these individuals cooperated involved domestic chores, including food preparation, storage, and consumption, as well as religious rites pursued at fairly low levels of intensity.

Participants in several of these house nets comprised one household, the members of which lived in close proximity to each other on the margins of the central plaza. As with the houses, this net was enacted through intense participation in daily tasks, this time by near neighbors. A wider, site-wide network was enlivened through activities pursued in and around the main plaza. This large open space could accommodate sizable numbers of people and was easily reached through wide passages between the surrounding buildings. As noted earlier, however, the plaza likely also hosted gatherings of local worthies and their clients drawn from throughout the settlement cluster composed of Naco, Site PVN 306, and Site PVN 144. Once gathered, the reality and emotional significance of the connections that linked different houses, households, and sites were created and reinforced through common participation in rites of intensification that involved shared meals and religious devotions. Food and beverages for those feasts may have been derived from storage facilities set on the plaza (Str. 144-5-2nd) and prepared at prominent places surrounding that arena (Strs. 144-11 and 144-5-2nd). By juxtaposing sites of storage, processing, and consumption within a dramatic setting hedged round with substantial edifices at the settlement, abstract ties of affiliation could have been made vibrantly and vitally real to those taking part (Goffman 1974; see chapter 8).

Coordination of these large-scale tasks may have been facilitated by the network of local leaders drawn from Strs. 144-1 and 144-2, Site PVN 306’s EPP, and Naco’s northeast principal plaza (see chapters 3 and 5), who gathered periodically in the ample, lavishly decorated settings provided by Strs. 144-8 and 144-18. Given the sizes of the rooms provided for such purposes, it seems that the emphasis was on including numerous people in the decision-making process. If the artifacts associated with these edifices are any guide to the behaviors that took place within them, the putative meetings do not seem to have been occasions for lavish feasting. That sort of behavior was apparently reserved for the larger gatherings in the plaza to the east.

This reconstruction undoubtedly simplifies a complex reality. One factor that likely disrupted this seamless interlocking of parts was power. Although questions of power are reserved for chapter 6, the nets described in the present chapter were not based solely on egalitarian principles. The two recorded domiciles on the main plaza are also the most substantial residences known for the site. The considerable effort that went into building and, in the case of Str. 144-2, decorating these edifices sets them apart from the largely perishable buildings associated with the middens beyond the plaza. The activities pursued in the ample and imposing spaces provided within Strs. 144-1 and 144-2 may have been roughly the same as those conducted elsewhere at the center, but they were enacted in settings that distinguished them and their practitioners from everyone else. Similarly, as large as the rooms within various iterations of Str. 144-8 were, they could not have held all members of the settlement cluster’s population. Consequently, it seems likely that certain Naco cluster residents were regularly singled out to be participants in gatherings that transpired in relatively lavish surroundings while others were excluded from them. No matter who was invited, the guest list encompassed a subset of all those who inhabited the valley, a network of influential people operating within a broader web of interacting houses and households. The common project that united these influential individuals most likely involved the acquisition, maintenance, and display of some forms of power. We return to this point in chapter 6.

Site PVN 144, therefore, provided venues for the instantiation of variably overlapping interaction nets, the members of which had differing affiliations expressed in distinct contexts. Every day, people actively participated in the lives of their individual houses. They were also involved in a more extensive net that linked them to others within and beyond the site, although the significance of these more abstract ties may have been brought home only occasionally during large-scale ceremonies held in the main plaza. Intersecting these general networks were affiliations that at least periodically singled out individuals who together played significant roles in coordinating the actions of large numbers of people, possibly the society-at-large, in common actions. To be sure, these are just the bare bones of what was certainly a multilayered structure. Even this skeletal rendition of ancient reality, however, suggests the complex and dynamic interplay of interpersonal interactions that once enlivened Site PVN 144’s Roble phase occupation.