DFC-AAS: October 10th – Todd Bostwick
Lecture Opportunity:
Todd W. Bostwick, PhD, RPA presents Life and Death at Ironwood Village: An Early Ballcourt Site in Southern Arizona. Excavations in 2014 for a new shopping center uncovered a Hohokam village in Marana, north of Tucson, on the east side of the Santa Cruz River. This site contained a previously unknown ballcourt, one of the earliest ever constructed by the Hohokam. Surrounding the ballcourt were nearly 100 pit houses and more than 250 burials, which dated to the late Pioneer and Colonial periods, circa AD 650 to 850. Located on a sloping piedmont that supported a dense stand of ironwood trees, archaeologists found artifacts and plant remains at the site indicating the inhabitants grew corn without irrigation canals, processed Agave plants with tabular knives, and polished wooden objects with specialized polishing stones. Ironwood Village was abandoned soon after the leader of the village died and was buried with a rich array of grave offerings in the middle of the ballcourt. Dr. Bostwick discusses the results of these excavations and shows numerous photos of the artifacts recovered from the site.
Reception and socialization at 7:00 pm, program begins approximately 7:30 pm.
