The Pinto Creek Complex

The eastern end of Roosevelt Lake contains a dense concentration of Salado sites, including at least 6 known Platform mounds. The group sites investigated by ASU are located on the south side of the Salt River where it enters the Lake are know collectively as the Pinto Creek Complex.

	With its raised mound rooms, possible solar alignments, and complete lack of associated residential structures surrounding the mound, the site of V:5:76/700, also known as the Pillar Mound, presents a strong case for representing a special site used only for certain ceremonial or other social activities.
The site contained only a few rooms which were entirely excavated by ASU. Despite this virtually 100% sample, very few artifacts related to domestic activities were recovered, suggesting that there was very little, if any, residential occupation of the platform mound.
	Another nearby platform mound dating to the late Roosevelt Phase is the Pinto Point Mound (V:5:66/15a). The lighter square area in the right center is the mound itself. Within the surrounding compound wall lie ground-level rooms and plazas indicating that, unlike the Pillar Mound, the Pinto Point mound contained a resident community.
Near the end of the 1200's, smaller sites such as the Pillar and Pinto Point Mounds were abandoned and populations aggregated in the much larger mound at Schoolhouse Point. The Schoolhouse Mound (U:8:24/13a) lacked the distinctive and costly architectural features of the Cline Terrace mound but made up for the difference in sheer size. Over 400 features were recorded and investigated by ASU. One of its impressive features is the size and number of storage facilities such as this adobe granary.
	Rooms filled with large storage vessels add to the evidence that certain individuals at Schoolhouse Mound were probably in control of agricultural surpluses and that the site may have served as a center for redistribution of economic products within the Pinto Creek area.

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6/24/94 - phm