In recent reports on work done in the area in southern Arizona occupied by the Salado people during the Classic period, a term new to the literature has been introduced, and a feature described which has hitherto not been mentioned by workers in the field. The term “plaster mixing bowls” or “caliche mixing bowls” is self-explanatory, but a description of the feature may be of interest to other workers in archaeology.

The Salado people, successors to the Hohokam in the Salt and Gila River Valleys, introduced the use of caliche, a limy material native to the region, in building, and erected many great structures of it, quarrying the caliche, pulverizing, mixing and puddling it in courses to form massive walls. Basins lined with caliche are very plentiful about these sites, in all levels, and associated with all wall construction.