kind of ball game. On the other hand, they correspond perfectly with dance floors of the Papagos, used for their Vikita ceremonies until at least the 1930s. Snaketown houses were shallow pit houses. There were hearths, small clay lined basins near the doorways. These houses were home to small groups of extended families Archaeological history Snaketown was first excavated in 1934 by the Gila Pueblo Foundation, under the direction of Harold S. Gladwin. Between 1964–1965, a second excavation was led by Emil Haury, assistant director of Gila Pueblo, with assistance from E.B. Sayles, Erik K. Reed, and Irwin and Julian Hayden. The two expeditions discovered that the site contained more than sixty midden mounds. A central plaza and two oval shaped fields were surrounded by pit houses, and an elaborate irrigation system fed the nearby fields in which beans, maize and squash were grown. The Hohokam practiced cremation, and the expedition excavated up to eight areas which could have been used as crematoria. Industries producing pottery and shell jewellery also existed and the settlement had trade links with Mesoamerican societies, evidenced by copper bells and figurines. Most archaeological excavations have been backfilled to protect the site for future research. However, a scale model of the original Snaketown community is held at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, while artifacts from excavations are housed in the Arizona State Museum. Archaeologists and Snaketown Winifred and Harold Gladwin began the intensive study of Hohokam culture with the help of Emil Haury. They eventually founded a research organization entitled “The Gila Pueblo Archaeological Foundation” that focused on the Hohokam tradition at other sites, but eventually led Haury to Snaketown, which he excavated in the early 1930s. Haury eventually returned to Snaketown in 1964 as a result of new data discovered by the works of Charles Di Peso and Albert Schroeder on Hohokam culture at other sites. This caused Haury to refine his view on Hohokam origins while also reaffirming some initial thoughts on Hohokam chronology. This was some of the latest archaeology done in Snaketown, as it was declared a national monument in 1972 and reburied by the Pima people for preservation purposes. The records for the Gila Pueblo Archaeological Foundation are held by the Arizona State Museum Library & Archives. The abandonment of Snaketown It is not particularly clear what caused the abandonment of Snaketown around 1100 CE. Haury cites over-irrigation leading to soil