Feature 78
Feature 78 is a pithouse located in the west- central portion of the property. The feature was first identified during mechanical excavation as a narrow band of caliche that formed an oval; soil inside the oval was characterized by a dark organic fill. This oval structure was constructed in the house-in-pit fashion. Orientation of the long axis was nearly north to south, with the entrance on the eastern wall . The house was similar to the type described by Haury ( 1976) as S-1. The floor appeared to have been dug 0.11 m below the original occupation surface and was resting on top of the red silt stratum. Rodent activity below the house floor had caused some slumping and had allowed some cultural fill to be situated beneath the house floor. The entrance was constricted near its juncture with the house floor and a D-shaped step was present outside of the entrance. The entire entrance, riser, and step were plastered with caliche. The maximum width of the entry was 1.0 m, but narrowed to 0.60 m at its minimum width. The overall length of the 37 entry was 1.45 m .
The floor was plastered with caliche and displayed a variable depth due to slumping caused by earlier rodent activity. The eastern wall of the feature showed a distinctive lip that rose approximately 0.06 m above the nearby floor; a smaller elevation difference was present along the rest of the perimeter . No replastering of the floor was observed . The floor had been burned and large amounts of roof and wall fall were present on it. Roof and wall fall were present in all of the excavation units across the structure. The thickness of the roof and wall fall was variable, but was a minimum of 0.10 m. Charred plant materials and some small fragments of daub were present; the greatest amount of charred material was present along the western wall. Feature 116, the clay- plastered hearth, was situated 0.30 m inside of the junction of the entryway and the house floor. The western half of the hearth had slumped and as fragmented from the earlier rodent activity.
A zoomorphic ceramic censer was located at the southern edge of the structure during mechanical stripping above the feature. The censer was situated immediately above the raised floor lip, just above where the floor fill level began. The censer represented a quadruped, possibly a bighorn sheep. The censer was fragmentary with four old breaks that had removed two legs and two ears or horn curls. The long slender neck supported a small head with indented eyes; an incised line represented the mouth of the animal. This form of censer apparently was fairly rareamong Hohokam assemblages; Haury's examples of effigy censers are blockier and were often carved in low relief on stone. This specimen was molded in the manner used to make most human effigies; for example, the two leg breaks exhibited a roughened texture where clay coils had been pressed onto the body.
The pithouse appeared to have burned and contained a high density of charred plant materials; burned daub was rare, however. Oxidation on the floor was light. Soil above the feature excavation units had been mixed by plowing.