Pottery Figurines from Central Arizona

Abstract

THIRTY YEARS AGO, the late J. W. Simmons, then a resident of Prescott, Arizona, made an archaeological collection near that city. This work produced an unusually large number of prehistoric clay figurines, some 400 in all. The Simmons collection was purchased in 1933 by Gila Pueblo. In 1951, the Gila Pueblo collection, including the Simmons materials, were transferred to the Arizona State Museum where they are now located. This report is a summary of a study of the Simmons collection, presented in 1958 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.A. degree at the University of Arizona. Special emphasis is placed on the description of the figurines and their significance in Southwestern prehistory. In Mexico clay figurines have been the subject for a number of intensive studies. Their abundance, wide geographic distribution, long pre-Columbian history, and varied typology, have made them significant culture and horizon indicators. In the Southwest, although figurines are widespread, they are much less common than in Mexico. Moreover, they fall far short of those from Mexico in time depth and style variation. As a consequence, with one exception (Morss 1954), the figurines from Southwestern ruins have received little more than passing notice. The Simmons collection, which is accompanied by excavation notes, provides a remarkably good opportunity to examine a localized and intensive expression of the figurine complex. A large majority of the figurines, approximately 340, were found in the vicinity of Groom Creek Divide, within the Bradshaw Mountain 1 rectangle of the Gila Pueblo archaeological survey. This mountainous area (Fig. 1, shaded portion) is a pine woodlands region a few miles south of Prescott, where scattered house and village sites are found at elevations ranging from 5000 to 7000 feet. The figurines were found in abundance in the area bisected by Groom Creek. Simmons named 11