Although not the largest platform mound in Tonto Basin, the Cline Terrace Mound (U:4:33/132) is certainly one of the most complicated and visually impressive mounds that are preserved. Over 2000 visitors came to the site in the spring of 1992 when Arizona State University hosted an open house for the public to view this spectacular site.
In this, and subsequent pages, click on any photo to see a high resolution copy.
The
site consists of two main elevated areas connected by a narrow "catwalk".
The main method of construction was cobble reinforced adobe, but all visible
elevated walls of the site were faced with cut gypsum stone which was still
well preserved along the northwest wall of the mound shown here.
The
mound was encircled by a compound wall that would have been several meters
high. Access to the interior portions of the site was restricted to a single
entry way. Once inside this portal, visitors to the site would still be
prevented from accessing the elevated rooms and the inner plazas without
circumnavigating the entire mound, all the while exposed to defenders from
above.
Elevated
Rooms on top of the mound may have been residences for individuals or families
of higher status. This photo clearly shows the view available from the
top of the mound which stretches northwest and southeast to other platform
mounds, perhaps belonging to a rival kin group.
One
of the many unique features of Cline Terrace is a single elevated room
partially detached from the main mound. An east-facing doorway in the second
story led into open air over a central courtyard in the center of the site.
After the site was abandoned, the dressed gypsum wall fell outward, landing
in one piece on the plaza below. This photo shows the opening of the doorway
still intact.
Two
"L"-shaped ground-level rooms, almost perfect mirror images of
each other, were incorporated into the mound. Although hidden, both rooms
were lined with dressed gypsum, suggesting some special significance to
these features. 
One of these rooms contained many large plainware jars and may have been a storage room. The restricted access and proximity to the main platform mound may indicate that occupants of the mound might have had control of this room and of its contents.
Cline
Terrace Mound is surrounded by a number of small sites. Some of these may
be earlier, Roosevelt Phase, occupations which were abandoned in favor
of the Cline Terrace site during the Gila phase. Others might have been
contemporaneous residential sites whose inhabitants might have visited
Cline Terrace for religious, social or economic events.
One example of a residential compound is the site of Indian Point. A large number of residential rooms such as this one have been mapped and excavated. This photo from another nearby site (U:3:128) shows intact storage vessels on the floor of a cobble masonry room.
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back to the tour map.
6/24/94 - phm