Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2017
Valshni Village is a surface ruin fourteen miles southwest of Sells, Arizona, in the Sells District of the Papago Indian Reservation. The site is located on the adobe flats of the Baboquivari Valley near the confluence of the Valshni and Fresnal Washes. It is approximately ten miles north of the International Boundary and one-half mile east of the Papago village of Burro Pond. Its distinguishing features are five trash mounds above the desert level and many sherd concentrations.
Prior to 1938 no archaeological investigations had been carried on within the Papago Reservation other than surveys conducted by Gila Pueblo2 and the Arizona State Museum. During the winter of 1938-39, the first excavation in the area was completed at the Jackrabbit ruin under the supervision of Frederick H. Scantling. This work served to define what was called the Sells phase, which has been placed at 1250- 1400 A.D. and thus occupies a relatively late position in the local chronology.
This site was excavated during the winter of 1939-40 by the second in a series of projects concerned with archaeological investigation on the Papago Indian Reservation. These projects have been under the joint supervision of the Arizona State Museum and the CCC-ID and were conducted with the approval of the U. S. Department of the Interior and the Papago Tribal Council. This excavation was under the direction of of Dr. Emil W. Haury and under the field supervision of the writer.