An Investigation and Exploration of an Early Plaza at the Sanchez Archaeological Site in Southeastern Arizona

This thesis focused on the investigation of the plaza at the Sanchez site (AZ CC 2:452 [ASM]), a cerro de trincheras in Safford, Arizona. (AZ CC 2:452 [ASM]) is a multi-component site with residential occupation from the Early Agricultural period (2100 B.C. - A.D. 200) and the Early Pithouse period (A.D. 200 – 550) with evidence of visitation during the Two Dog/Eden phases (A.D. 1000 – 1150). Communal features are uncommon at cerros de trincheras during the Early Agricultural and Early Pithouse periods in Northwest Mexico and the American Southwest (NW/SW). Survey and surface collection were conducted at the plaza. In addition, systematic excavations were conducted to explore the nature of a potential thermal feature located on the plaza. The findings from the surface collection and excavations support that the plaza was visited and used hundreds of years after the Early Pithouse period.