Did the Sinagua of the Verde Valley Settle in the Salt River Valley?

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W JTtHEN THE WRITER completed a stratigraphic survey of the Salt River valley of south central Arizona in 1939, he found himself confronted with the same perplexing occupational disease that strikes all archaeologists on completion of an excavation or survey-questionitus. The results of the survey and test trenching produced some tangible results: some problematical questions were cleared up. But in their stead appeared more complex problems. For example, why did the Hohokam of the Salt River valley obtain trade ware from the north up to about 1150 AD and then abruptly turn to the northeast for their trade?2 Why did red ware suddenly put in an appearance about this time and where did it come from? The same question can be asked in regard to several new traits that were introduced about 1150, namely, extended burials, surface walls and contiguous rooms, and the technique of smudging and polishing pottery.3 What did it all mean? The Saladoans, who lived to the north and east in central Arizona, have generally been considered responsible for the introduction of these new elements. They buried their dead; they made red pottery; they built surface walls and contiguous rooms; they smudged and polished pottery. These new traits have been thought to mark the beginnings of a contact with the Saladoans, while the main Saladoan groups did not arrive until about 1300 AD.4 The results of the survey did not fit the accepted picture too well. The new traits appeared in great quantities prior to 1300 and imply more than a mere contact with a neighboring group. Surface walls and large mounds were erected prior to 1300. Redware (and the technique of smudging) was dominant, aside from plain ware by 1300. The presence of burials with pre-1300 associations is further evidence of outsiders among cremating peoples.5 If we are to accept the