The name Hohokam, pronounced ho-HO-kum, means “vanished ones” in the AKIMEL O’ODHAM (pima) language. The core area of Hohokam culture was along the Gila River and Salt River valleys in what is now southern Arizona. Their culture thrived from about 100 B. C. to A. D. 1500.
What once was the homeland of the Hohokam Indians is torrid desert country today, broken only by the slow-flowing rivers and rugged volcanic hills. In order to make use of the sandy soil, Hohokam Indians developed a remarkable irrigation system. They dug wide, shallow canals as long as 10 miles, and, using woven mats, they made dams to redirect the water from the rivers to fields of corn, beans, squash, tobacco, and cotton.
Because of advanced farming techniques, Hohokam Indians grew enough food to support a sizable population. The principal Hohokam village—Snaketown (near present-day Phoenix)—had about 100 pithouses. East of Snaketown was point of pines, another large settlement. Hohokam houses resembled Mogollon pithouses in construction but were larger and shallower. At Snaketown, archaeologists have also found the remains of two sunken ball courts and some rubber balls.
Hohokam acid-etched shell
Trees, carved designs on the pitch, then soaked the shells in an acid solution made from fermented saguaro cactus fruit. When they removed the pitch coating, the designs were etched in the shell’s surface.
World History
