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The prehistoric Hohokam conducted a great variety of activities in the spaces between their villages, including social gatherings and ceremonial observances as well as economic and subsistence practices. Recent full-coverage pedestrian survey along the middle Gila River in central Arizona indicates that nonresidential sites are more numerous and cover considerably greater area than residential settlements. Unfortunately, in the Hohokam region researchers are not always able to distinguish residential sites from activity areas based on features observable on the surface. In this study, quantitative measures of artifact density and diversity of surface collections from artifact scatters are used to distinguish residential sites from nonresidential sites. This is accomplished by assessing the extent to which their assemblages resemble artifact collections from known habitations, campsites, or specialized or diverse activity loci. Differences in artifact density and diversity enable many ambiguous artifact scatters to be classified into these general functional site types. Knowing the distribution of site types relative to elements of the natural and cultural landscapes can provide insight into past social and ecological or economic behaviors not offered by site-specific approaches. The study concludes that considering both the physical and cultural dimensions of landscapes significantly increases the research value of nonresidential sites for understanding the use and meaning of spaces between villages.

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This paper evaluates the research potential of small contract surveys conducted in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. It is argued that if the data produced by small project surveys are to be used to answer regional questions, it is necessary to treat each small survey as a sample unit within a region and to synthesize the data from several such surveys. Statistical techniques are employed to determine the representativeness of the greater Phoenix small survey sample. Preliminary archaeological results of the surveys conducted within the Phoenix area are presented and guidelines for the conduct of future surveys are suggested.