The Hohokam culture develops in present-day Arizona.
In the desert area of what is now southern Arizona and northern Mexico, the Hohokam tradition evolves and dominates the region for more than one thousand years. In the culture’s earliest years, villages are no more than clusters of several dwellings. Over time, at such sites as Snaketown (see entry for CA. 975 TO 1150), larger settlements grow up with populations exceeding five hundred. Unlike the contemporaneous Anasazi settlements in Chaco Canyon (see entry for CA. 900 TO 1150), however, these villages are probably economically and politically independent of one another.
Hohokam villages are characterized by platform mounds and large ball courts, both of which may be used for rituals. The ball courts may also function as open-air markets, where traders from surrounding settlements gather. Parrot bones, shells, turquoise, and other exotic items fTom faraway areas later found at Hohokam sites are evidence that the Hohokam people are part of a vast trade network.
The Hohokam obtain most of their food by farming corn, beans, and squash. To grow these crops in their dry lands, the Hohokam become pioneers in irrigation technology. Beginning in about 800, they build an enormous network of canals to carry water from nearby rivers into their fields. As their farming methods improve, they start to grow tobacco and cotton, in addition to their staple food crops. The Hohokam also supplement their food supply by gathering mesquite beans and cactus fruit and by hunting deer and rabbits.
After 1100, the Hohokam tradition begins to decline, possibly because of a series of floods or invasions by outsiders. By 1500, the culture has disappeared, although the present-day Akimel O’odham (formerly known as the Pima) may be the Hohokam’s direct descendants.
World History
