Boulder Creek Fort Sight Lines

One of the myriad mysteries surrounding the ruins in this area is just what purpose the Boulder Creek fort served, and, most importantly, for whom it served that purpose.

But keeping with Wilcox' famous "Lower Verde Alliance", which posits, first, a longstanding conflict between the "Classic" Hohokam of the Phoenix area and both the Agua Fria community and that of the Lower Verde, and. second, a defensive alliance between the two against the Hohokam. The many hilltop forts can then be assumed to be lookouts, patrolling for encroaching enemies from the south and capable of signalling warning to one another over vast distances. Assuming, of course, that they're all contemporaneous.

Considering the architecture of the Boulder Creek fort, a lookout seems to me as good a fit as any. Compared to its sparse buildings, nearby Indian Mesa (which is not at all within sight) is a posh resort. There is clearly a multi room ruin on the hillside near Boulder Creek below (perhaps where the lookouts stayed when not on duty?) but, from what little is left of it, it's not as finely built or as complex as Indian Mesa's ruin.

In any case, here's a line-of-sight map from this Boulder Creek fort, including the several ruins intermediate, which can see each other as well, including a string of them between the "Pepsi Cap" fort, the "Cline Creek East" fort, and the Elephant Mountain fort far to the east.

Not shown is the "Henrie" fort, located on the south tip of Black Mesa, which had line of sight with both the Squaw Creek fort and Pepsi Cap. (The names of these places are, unfortunately, quite fluid.)