[Source: Brian Kenny] -- A new WalMart is going in at 35th & Southern (red circle). Lennar Homes (green box) is selling houses in the Vista Rio Development. Lennar may have purchased the property from Curtis Land Company of Scottsdale; Curtis may have graded, developed, and prepared the property prior to construction of homes.Nearby, on private property, there is a very large Hohokam Platform Mound. It seems that the platform mound (blue circle) will soon disappear under new development. The ground surface of the mound area is highly modified already, and the nearby structures are old and derelict, and development in the area is booming. The mound and surrounding area probably contain human remains. Several years ago, a local pothunter was working the site and selling ceramic pots and artifacts out of a cafe on Baseline Road. Human bone fragments in the backdirt spoil were found. Investigators from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office were asked to investigate the activity and the information from local informants, but the investigation never went anywhere and the issue quietly died on the vine...
Official site files haven't been checked to determine if archaeological research has been conducted recently in the area of the platform mound (or the nearby development areas). Since the platform mound is situated on private property, not much can be done even with burial laws now in place, so this is written as a bit of an obituary for the platform mound as the area converts to new land use patterns.
