Gatlin Site

The Gatlin Site is an archaeological site on a plateau above the Gila River near Gila Bend, Arizona, preserving one of the few documented Hohokam platform mounds still relatively intact from the Sedentary Period. Between AD 800 and 1200 it was an important Hohokam settlement at the great bend of the Gila River, the largest in the area, home to more than 500 people; associated with the mound are pit houses, two ceremonial ball courts, middens and prehistoric irrigation canals. The site had attracted the interest of Norton Allen, who identified the mound in 1937 without recognising its significance, and it was rediscovered during surveys ahead of construction of the Painted Rock Dam by the US Army Corps of Engineers, on land then belonging to the rancher Colin Gatlin. Excavations followed in 1959-60. The Gatlin Site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and now belongs to the town of Gila Bend, which is developing it as a regional cultural park.

Where it is

Gatlin Site is a historic site near Gila Bend, in Maricopa County. It is one of the historic sites in this database, and appears in the statewide ranking of Arizona attractions.

How this ranking was reached

No official visitor count is published for Gatlin Site, so its score rests on public interest and tourism significance, and is capped below the level a measured attraction can reach. That is why the medium confidence above is not higher. The weighting is explained in full on the methodology page, and every axis is broken out under Facts and sources at the foot of this page.

Note on the data: No official visitor count is published for this attraction.

Sources

• Public interest: Wikimedia pageviews (en.wikipedia, human traffic), 2024
• Coordinates and designations: Wikidata(opens in a new tab)
• County: U.S. Census geography via FCC Area API, resolved from coordinates

Record last verified 2026-08-12.