![]() ![]() Within this region a great variety of flora and fauna supplemented an agricultural economy. Summer temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees, and annual rainfall for much of the region is often less than 30 centimeters (12 inches). Much of this region, including the Sonoran Desert, exhibits variability in elevation, hydrology, and vegetation. ![]() The Hohokam inhabited an area of about 45,000 square miles (120,000 square kilometers). In some cases, sites such as Snaketown were abandoned by 1200. Irrigation Hohokam Between 12 Hohokam occupation was greatly restricted, and it ultimately led to the abandonment of sites. The large canal systems, essential for a successful agricultural rather than hunter-gatherer life, were well established by 700. By 300 c.e., significant changes were discernible in the cultural apparatus, which included sunken ball courts and earthen platform mounds. In the twentieth century, archaeologists focused on varied aspects of Hohokam society and culture, including canal irrigation, ceramics manufacture, settlement pattern, chronology, and the diffusion of cultural traits from Mesoamerica, as well as the institutional framework of Hohokam society, which remains poorly understood.Īlthough debate persists over the chronological sequence, a general framework suggests that the Hohokam were farming in the river valleys by 300 b.c.e. Work at the large pueblo of Snaketown Snaketown on the Gila River by Harold Gladwin and Emil Haury, among others, began in 1934, with excavations continuing into the mid-1960’. Fewkes and Frederick Hodge, excavated numerous sites in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in an attempt to understand spatial distribution and cultural traits. In 1891, Cosmos Mindeleff worked at Casa Grande, a large Hohokam dwelling near the Gila River. Pioneering archaeological work on the Hohokam began in 1888 when Frank Hamilton Cushing excavated at the Los Muertos and Los Guanacos sites in the Salt River Valley. Hohokam Adapt to the Desert Southwest (8th-15th centuries) Desert Southwest, Hohokam Adapt to the (8th-15th centuries) Southwest, Hohokam Adapt to the Desert (8th-15th centuries) Hohokam North America 8th-15th cent.: Hohokam Adapt to the Desert Southwest Agriculture 8th-15th cent.: Hohokam Adapt to the Desert Southwest Architecture 8th-15th cent.: Hohokam Adapt to the Desert Southwest Cultural and intellectual history 8th-15th cent.: Hohokam Adapt to the Desert Southwest Science and technology 8th-15th cent.: Hohokam Adapt to the Desert Southwest Other fieldworkers interpret the Hohokam as being indigenous, and their roots are traced to an archaic hunting and gathering tradition that evolved into a sedentary agricultural society. In this model, the migrants displaced an earlier indigenous culture in the southwestern desert. Some scholars have suggested that the Hohokam were migrants from the south. Agriculture Hohokam There exists no consensus among current archaeologists regarding Hohokam origins or the chronological sequence of development. ![]() The Hohokam were an agriculture-based people who successfully adapted to a desert environment not suited for food cultivation. Their successful, productive economy allowed for a rich cultural apparatus, including sophisticated ceramics, stonework, and shell jewelry, in addition to features that mirror a Mexican stimulus: ball courts and pyramid mounds. Some houses were built on top of platform mounds.The agriculture-based Hohokam adapted to a challenging desert environment, utilizing an innovative hydroagricultural economy. After 1150 the Hohokam learned from their Ancestral Pueblo neighbors to construct multistoried community houses with massive walls of adobe. After about 775 they built large ball courts, similar to those of the Maya of Mexico, and after 975 enclosed some of their villages with walls. The early Hohokam lived in villages of widely scattered pit houses made of wood, brush, and mud. Some of the more than 150 miles (240 kilometers) of canals in the Salt River valley were renovated and put back into use in the 20th century. They may have been built by cooperating villages. The canals, some as long as 10 miles (16 kilometers), rerouted the Gila and Salt rivers to water the fields. The Hohokam are famous for their complex network of irrigation canals, which was unsurpassed in prehistoric Northern America. ![]() Another important crop was cotton, which they used to make cloth. They supplemented their food supply by hunting and gathering wild beans and fruits. They grew corn and eventually beans and squash. The Hohokam depended on farming for most of their food. The name Hohokam is said to mean “those who have vanished” in the language of the Pima people, who later lived in the area. They lived along the Salt and Gila rivers in southern Arizona. About ad 2 the Hohokam people developed an advanced farming culture in what is now the southwestern United States. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |