EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY, ELITE FEASTING, AND THE HOHOKAM: A CASE STUDY FROM A SOUTHERN ARIZONA PLATFORM MOUND

A number of researchers have shown that the abundance, diversity, and size of prey consumed or displayed at a feast can be used by elites to solidify and/or aggrandize their social position. Expectations for archaeological signatures of elite feasting derived from ethnographic studies, archaeological research, and ecological theory-are used to assess the archaeofaunal record from selected contexts of the Marana platform mound site, located in southern Arizona. The magnitude of work conducted in the region provides a unique opportunity to address the importance of feasting as a mechanism of power consolidation among Hohokam elites. Here, we examine a hypothesized locus of elite feasting among the Classic period Hohokam (ca. A.D. 1250). A relatively high concentration of animal bone derived from a burned room adjacent to the Marana platform mound was first thought to represent debris from elite feasting. Analysis reveals a proportionate taxonomic profile that is similar to the remainder of the community and an overwhelming abundance of small game relative to large prey. Neither situation is consistent with elite feasting expectations. These results argue for a form of feasting among non-elites that likely served to promote intragroup solidarity or political support within the community.