Cline Mesa Data: Provenience (Sites, Features, and Strata)

The Cline Mesa archaeological sites are part of an extensive settlement complex called the Cline Terrace Complex at the northwestern end of the Tonto Basin, along the eastern bank of Tonto Creek. The Arizona State University, Office of Cultural Resource Management, Roosevelt Platform Mound Study (RPMS) divided the Cline Terrace Complex into three management groups: the Mound, Bandolero, and Indian Point management groups. The Cline Terrace Mound group included the Cline Terrace mound, which is the largest site in the complex and located at the center of the complex, and seven nearby sites. The mound group sites are treated in a separate report volume and the associated data are reported separately (Please see https://core.tdar.org/project/394032). The Cline Mesa sites consist of the remaining 35 archaeological sites along the terraces forming the eastern bank of Tonto Creek and extending to the creek’s confluence with Greenback Creek. Please note that these sites are not necessarily representative of the temporal range in the Cline Mesa settlement complex, as many are Hohokam Late Classic period residential sites on Tonto National Forest land. The Cline Mesa Sites report volumes and data summarize results from the surface collections and excavations at the 35 sites in the complex.

The Cline Mesa Data tables provide a summary of the proveniences investigated and the artifacts recovered during the RPMS excavations at Cline Mesa sites in the Bandolero and Indian Point Management Groups, Cline Terrace Complex. The Cline Mesa Sites Provenience table presents a summary of the sites, features, and feature strata that were documented during data recovery in the area (Note that separate Cline Terrace Mound data tables present summaries of the mound data: https://core.tdar.org/project/394032).

The table identifies individual Cline Mesa archaeological sites by assigned Arizona State Museum site numbers. It then lists features and designated archaeological contexts - strata - at each site. Features are designated by combining two numbering systems: the ASM site number, a colon, and the feature number (Note that the "AZ" common to every ASM site number is not used in this table.). Feature numbers begin with the number "1" at each site and progress sequentially (EX: U:8:384:005 = site AZ U:8:384, Feature 5; U:8:384:006 = site AZ U:8:384, Feature 6).

Strata represent major natural or cultural depositional events such as erosional fill, roof fall, floor contexts, and sterile substrate. Strata are depicted as horizontal rows of interconnected boxes on a Harris Matrix. In this table, the archaeological contexts - strata - are identified by a combination of numbering systems: the ASM site number, a colon, the feature number, and the stratum letter designation (EX: U:3:198:006A, U:3:198:006B). Within a feature, each stratum is designated by the feature number (e.g., 10, 11, 12, etc.) and a letter that designates a particular stratum (e.g., A, B, C). The letters are assigned in descending order. Mixed levels and artifacts collected out of context are designated by a "?". Artifacts from each feature (or mixed context) are tallied according to strata.

Finally, the table provides two volume measurements for each designated context. It provides a volume of total fill for a context and a volume of screened fill for each context. These volumes may be useful for calculating relative artifact densities for archaeological contexts.