ANT 351 Lecture 9: Hohokam Pre-Classic
The Hohokam: Origins and Pre-Classic
Overview of Hohokam
-Hohokam- the ancient farming peoples who lived in the deserts of southern Arizona
from about A.D. 1 through A.D. 1450
-The culture represents ancient Southwestâs cultural âroots.â
-Hohokam culture pattern emerged very early and eventually covered a wide
geographical area, encompassing nearly 30,000 square miles.
-Other roots
oAncestral Pueblo [Anasazi], Mogollon, and Patayan
-inhabited the Basin-and-Range physiographic province
oLower Sonoran Life Zone in southern Arizona
-âcoreâ area of the Hohokam was the Phoenix Basin
oCurrently the phoenix metropolitan
- along the Santa Cruz River
ometropolitan Tucson
- Lower Verde River
-New and Agua Fria Rivers
- Hohokam-style ball, houses, and pottery as far north as Flagstaff, Arizona, south
into northern Sonora, Mexico, and as far east as southwestern New Mexico.
-The Hopi have legends that refer to ancestors in the southern Southwest in a region
referred to as the âland of the giant cactus.â
- the Hohokam: They lived in an area that roughly coincides with the Saguaro cactus
-Emil Haury, an archaeologist, referred to the Hohokam as âmasters of the desert.â
-the first years A.D. through about A.D. 1450
oabout 90 years before Spanish explorers arrived in the Southwest
-most famous for their creation of extensive irrigation canals along the Salt and Gila
rivers
o had the largest and most complex irrigation systems of any culture in the New
World north of Peru
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-Early in the Hohokam cultural sequence these consisted of ball courts and small, low,
circular mounds made of earth
-Hohokam villages are remarkable in the ancient Southwest for their stability
-continuously occupied for up to 1,500 years or more
-society was organized in a hierarchical fashion
-represent one of the largest and most complex societies in the Southwest
-there were tens of thousands of Hohokam people living in large villages scattered
throughout the Phoenix Basin
-Around A.D. 1450, the collapse of the Hohokam
oMany questions when they dropped off the face of the earth
ï§social and political organization
ï§relationship of the Hohokam to Mesoamerica
ï§relationship of the Hohokam to the Archaic
ï§relationship of the Hohokam to modern peoples
About the term âHohokamâ
-The word Hohokam is a Piman language term for âall used upâ or âexhausted.â
Environmental Context for the Hohokam
-The Hohokam culture area generally coincides with the Lower Sonoran Life Zone of the
Basin-and-Range
- The core area of the Hohokam encompasses the lower part of the Salt and the middle
part of the Gila rivers
oAlso, the phoenix basin
-peripheral areas of the Hohokam extend along the Santa Cruz and San Pedro rivers to
the south; and the Lower Verde, the New, and the Agua Fria Rivers to the north
ooccupied areas to the west into the âinteriorâ desert of western Arizona
o sometimes called the Papagueria.
-elevation of the Salt River in the City of Phoenix is about 1,100 feet
-the great Hohokam site Snaketown, along the Gila River south of Phoenix, lies at
about 1,170 feet above sea level
-lower elevations in the Southwest mean warmer temperatures and drier conditions.
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- extremely hot summers and mild winters, with sparse annual precipitation
o temperatures in excess of 120 degrees can occur
oin the hottest part of the year relative humidity during the heat of the day can be
in the single digits and seldom rises above 25%
o Winters are mild ranging around the 60s
-Growing seasons are quite long
oAround 250 days
-Precipitation is distributed in a marked bi-seasonal pattern
o winter âwetâ season of Pacific cyclonic storms and the summer âmonsoonâ
season of convective thunderstorms.
oseasonal rainfall is fairly evenly divided between summer and winter
-5 and 15 inches of annual precipitation
- Hohokam settled along the major rivers of the Basin-and-Range in southern Arizona
- especially concentrated along the Salt and Gila Rivers
obuilt massive canals
o the rivers drop gradually, having a gradient of about 10 feet per mile.
odropped about 1 to 5 feet per mile
o excellent medium for growing crops.
-two peaks of flow
o peak in the late spring lesser peak in August
-Hohokam farmers could successfully grow two crops per year
-opportunities for floodwater farming
- the interior desert areas of the Papagueria, where arroyos (drainages)
- the Lower Sonoran Life Zone is one of the most productive biomes in the world in terms
of edible plants and animals. Riverine (also known as riparian) zones
-environments adjacent to the major rivers) supported large mesquite groves or bosques
oprovided large quantities of mesquite beans
-Climatic and environmental changes during the period of Hohokam occupation
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Hohokam- the ancient farming peoples who lived in the deserts of southern arizona from about a. d. 1 through a. d. 1450. Hohokam culture pattern emerged very early and eventually covered a wide geographical area, encompassing nearly 30,000 square miles. Other roots: ancestral pueblo [anasazi], mogollon, and patayan inhabited the basin-and-range physiographic province, lower sonoran life zone in southern arizona. Core area of the hohokam was the phoenix basin: currently the phoenix metropolitan along the santa cruz river, metropolitan tucson. Hohokam-style ball, houses, and pottery as far north as flagstaff, arizona, south into northern sonora, mexico, and as far east as southwestern new mexico. The hopi have legends that refer to ancestors in the southern southwest in a region referred to as the land of the giant cactus. the hohokam: they lived in an area that roughly coincides with the saguaro cactus.
