Hohokam is the name applied to one of the four major prehistoric archaeological traditions of the American Southwest. Variant spellings in current, official usage include Hobokam, Huhugam and Huhukam. The culture was differentiated from others in the region in the 1930s by archaeologist Harold S. Gladwin, who applied the existing O'odham term, to classify the remains he was excavating in the Lower Gila Valley. Prehistory (Greek words προ = before and ιστορία = history) is the period of human history prior to the advent of writing (which marks the beginning of recorded history). ... Bold textSUCK ON THAT MUTHA FUCKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... The Southwest region of the United States is drier than the adjoining Midwest in weather; the population is less dense and, with strong Spanish-American and Native American components, more ethnically varied than neighboring areas. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Harold S. Gladwin was an American archaeologist, anthropologist and stockbroker born in New York City. ... Oodham (often referred to by the names of its two nearly-identical main dialect groupings, Papago (Tohono) and Pima (Akimel)) is an Uto-Aztecan language of Southern Arizona and northern Sonora where the Tohono Oodham and Pima reside. ...

The Hohokam may be the ancestors of the modern Pima and Tohono O'odham peoples in Southern Arizona, and local oral tradition. The Akimel Oodham or Pima are a group of Native Americans living in an area consisting of what is now central and southern Arizona (USA) and Sonora (Mexico). ... The Tohono Oodham are a Native American tribe formerly known as the Papago who reside primarily in the Sonoran Desert of the southwest United States and northwest Mexico. ...

Overview

The Hohokam tradition is believed to have been centered on the middle Gila River and lower Salt River drainage areas, and extended into the southern Sonoran Desert in what are now Arizona, Sonora, and Chihuahua. They built extensive irrigation canals without the benefit of modern engineering or equipment. There is evidence the Hohokam cultivated varieties of cotton, tobacco, agave, maize, beans and squash, as well as harvesting native plants. Their reliance on an agricultural system based on canals, vital in their less than hospitable desert climate, may have led to their apparent lack of participation in warfare. They also had far-reaching trade routes with ancient mesoamerican cultures to the south, and show cultural influences from these southerners as well. Finds and features from settlements, such as Snaketown, include ball courts, platform mounds and some mesoamerican decorative elements on pottery. The Gila River, a tributary of the Colorado, is shown highlighted on a map of the United States The Gila River (Oodham [Pima]: Hila Akimel) is a tributary of the Colorado River, 630 mile (1,014 km) long, in the southwestern United States. ... The Salt River, a tributary of the Gila, is shown highlighted on a map of the United States and Mexico The Salt River (Oodham [Pima]: Onk Akimel) is a tributary of the Gila River, approximately 200 mi (322 km) long, in central Arizona in the United States. ... Sonoran Desert wildlife Mountains in the Sonoran Desert 3D photograph of Saguaro National Park at dusk. ... Official language(s) English Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Area  Ranked 6th  - Total 113,998 sq mi (295,254 km²)  - Width 310 miles (500 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 0. ... Sonora is a state in northwestern Mexico, bordering the states of Chihuahua to the east, Sinaloa to the south, and Baja California to the northwest. ... This article is about the state in Mexico; for the city of Chihuahua, see: Chihuahua. ... Cotton ready for harvest. ... on tobacco usage see Tobacco smoking Species Nicotiana acuminata Nicotiana alata Nicotiana attenuata Nicotiana benthamiana Nicotiana clevelandii Nicotiana excelsior Nicotiana forgetiana Nicotiana glauca Nicotiana glutinosa Nicotiana langsdorffii Nicotiana longiflora Nicotiana obtusifolia Nicotiana paniculata Nicotiana plumbagifolia Nicotiana quadrivalvis Nicotiana repanda Nicotiana rustica Nicotianasuaveolens Nicotiana sylvestris Nicotiana tabacum Nicotiana tomentosa Ref: ITIS... Species Agave americana Agave fourcroydes Agave sisalana many others, see text Agaves are succulent plants of a large botanical genus of the same name, belonging to the family Agavaceae. ... Binomial name Zea mays L. Maize (Zea mays ssp. ... Green beans Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae) used for food or feed. ... Species - hubbard squash, buttercup squash - cushaw squash C. moschata- butternut squash C. pepo- most pumpkins, acorn squash, summer squash References: ITIS 223652002-11-06 Hortus Third Squashes are four species of the genus Cucurbita, also called pumpkins and marrows depending on variety or the nationality of the speaker. ... The Canal du Midi in Toulouse, France. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For other uses of War, see War (disambiguation). ... Mesoamerica is the region extending from central Mexico south to the northwestern border of Costa Rica that gave rise to a group of stratified, culturally related agrarian civilizations spanning an approximately 3,000-year period before the European discovery of the New World by Columbus. ... Snaketown is the name of a prehistoric Native American settlement in Arizonas lower Gila River valley near the community of Chandler in the United States of America. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Ulama game. ... A Platform Mound is any earthwork intended to support a structure or activity. ... Unfired green ware pottery on a traditional drying rack at Conner Prairie living history museum. ...

Settlements in the Hohokam tradition were rancheria-style; near arable land, with several buildings clustered together. Each large, square house had slightly excavated floors and was usually no more than one room until very late in the Hohokam sequence. Rancheria, is a form of administrative division used by Amerindian tribes to organize their social structure. ...

The Hohokam cremated their dead, placing the cremains in shallow graves, sometimes in pottery containers. The bones and containers were buried with various amounts of grave goods, including jewelry and pottery objects. Hohokam pottery used refined local clay and minerals. Functional pieces were formed using coils and then thinned and shaped through the paddle and anvil technique. Decorations were applied in a red slip, using red iron as a pigment. Decorations could be either geometric or reflect local animal forms. All pottery was pit fired using dung or wood as fuel, and showed a buff color when finished. The Gay Head cliffs in Marthas Vineyard are made almost entirely of natural clays. ... Minerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. ... In telecommunications, a slip is a positional displacement in a sequence of transmitted symbols that causes the loss or insertion of one or more symbols. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ...

Hohokam archaeological sequence

This archaeological sequence is applied specifically to the Hohokam core area which is the Gila-Salt basin near Phoenix, Arizona. Outside this region, local phase arrangements are used to more closely adjust to regional differences, often caused by communities association with their Anasazi (Ancient Pueblo) and Mogollon neighbors. Nickname: Valley of the Sun Location in Maricopa County and the state of Arizona Coordinates: Country United States State Arizona Counties Maricopa Incorporated February 25, 1881 Mayor Phil Gordon (D) Area    - City 1,230. ... Ancient Pueblo People, or Ancestral Puebloans is the preferred term for the group of peoples often known as Anasazi who are the ancestors of the modern Pueblo peoples. ... The Mogollon (pronounced mo-goi-YONE) were an American Indian culture living in the American Southwest from approximately AD 700 until sometime between AD 1300 and AD 1400. ...

Pioneer Period (AD 200-775): living as simple farmers raising corn and beans, these early Hohokam founded a series of small villages along the middle Gila River. The communities were located near good arable land with access to river water for irrigation. Wells, usually less than 10 feet deep, were dug for domestic water supplies. Early Hohokam homes were constructed of branches bent in a semi-circular fashion and then covered with twigs, reeds and heavily applied mud.

Crop and agricultural skill increased between AD 300 and AD 500 when the Hohokam acquired a new group of cultivated plants, presumably from trade with peoples in Modern Mexico. These included cotton, tepary, sieva and jack beans, cushaw and warty squash and pig weed. Evidence of other trade networks include shells from the Gulf of California. Seeds and grains were prepared on stone manos and metates. Pioneer pottery was and unembellished brown, and was used for storage, cooking and as containers for cremated remains. Materials produced for ritual use included fired clay human and animal figures and incense burners.

Colonial Period (AD 775-975): growth is the major characteristic of the Colonial period. Villages grew larger, with some evidence of social stratification in larger homes and more ornate grave goods. Mexican influence increased. In larger communities, the first Hohokam ball courts were constructed and served as focal points for games and ceremonies. Pottery was embellished by the addition of an iron stained slip, which produced a distinctive red-on-buff ware.

Sedentary Period (AD 975-1150): further population increase brought significant changes during this period. Irrigation canals and structures became larger and required more maintenance. More land came under cultivation. House design evolved into post reinforced pit houses, covered with caliche adobe. Rancheria-like villages grew up around common courtyards, with evidence of increased communal activity. Large common ovens were used to cook bread and meats.

Crafts were dramatically refined. By about AD 1000, the Hohokam are credited with being the first culture to master acid etching. Artisans produced jewelry from shell, stone and bone and began to carve stone figures. Cotton textile work flourished. This growth brought a need for increased organization and, perhaps, authority. There appears to be an elite class as well as an apparent increase in social stature for the craftsman. Platform mounds similar to those in central Mexico appear. They may be associated with an upper class and have some religious function. Trade items from the Mexican heartland included copper bells, mosaics, stone mirrors and ornate birds like macaws.

Classic Period (AD 1150-1400/1450):

Soho Phase (AD 1150-1300): a modest decrease in overall population and an apparent outside threat led to more centralized Hohokam communities. The agricultural based rancherias declined in number, and medium and large communities became increasingly dense structures with walls around their perimeters. Irrigation system had fewer canals servicing the fields, but they were larger and longer. Villages seem to have reorganized on a regional basis, with those controlling water access having greater authority. Great House structures, such as the one preserved at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, are found in larger communities. These stone or adobe buildings had up to four stories, and were probably used by the managerial or religious class. They may have also been constructed to align with astronomical observations. Trade with Mexico appears to have declined, but an increased number trade goods arrived from Pueblo peoples in the north and the east.

Civano Phase (AD 1300-1400/1450): Between A.D. 1350 and 1450, the Hohokam tradition loses coherence and many settlements are abandoned. It appears nature robbed them of their ability to produce enough food and other resources to preserve large communities. Access to dependable irrigation water became ever more difficult. Several years of major river flooding were followed by longer periods of low water. Canals were restructured further upstream to capture a greater percentage of the rivers flow. These communal efforts required increasing levels of centralization and political control. Around AD 1355, more episodes of catastrophic flooding occurred, apparently leading to the collapse of centralized authority.

Between 1355 and 1450, the Hohokam abandoned large central settlements and centralized water systems. It appears that small groups moved into the desert or traveled to more dependable streams in the wider region. Those that remained along the Gila River founded much smaller villages. These villages were inhabited by Piman-speaking tribes when the Spanish entered the region at the end of the seventeenth century.

A water well is an artificial excavation or structure put down by any method such as digging, boring or drilling for the purposes of withdrawing water from underground aquifers. ... Binomial name Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray The Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius, Fabaceae) is native to the southwestern US and Mexico and has been grown there by the native peoples since pre-Columbian times. ... pigweed can mean any of a number of weedy plants which may be used as pig fodder: Amaranthus species Chenopodium species Portulaca species Category: ... The Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez or Sea of Cortés; locally known in the Spanish language as Mar de Cortés or, much less frequently, Golfo de California) is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland. ... Incense is a preparation of aromatic plant matter, often with the addition of essential oils extracted from plant or animal sources, intended to release fragrant smoke for religious, therapeutic, or aesthetic purposes as it smolders. ... In archaeology and anthropology grave goods are the items interred along with the body. ... In telecommunications, a slip is a positional displacement in a sequence of transmitted symbols that causes the loss or insertion of one or more symbols. ... A dugout or dug-out is a shelter dug out of the ground. ... Caliche is a hardened deposit of calcium carbonate in mollisols. ... It has been suggested that Mudbrick be merged into this article or section. ... A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. ... -) :-( :-P :-*An acid (often represented by the generic formula HA) is traditionally considered any chemical compound that when dissolved in water, gives a solution with a pH of less than 7. ... Etching is an intaglio method of printmaking in which the image is incised into the surface of a metal plate using an acid. ... In the 1930s, this shelter was built to protect what remains of the Casa Grande ruins. ...

Cultural divisions

Cultural labels such as Hohokam, Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi), Mogollon or Patayan are used by archaeologists to define cultural differences among prehistoric peoples. It is important to note that culture names and divisions are assigned by individuals separated from the actual cultures by both time and space. This means that cultural divisions are by nature arbitrary, and are based solely on data available at the time of analysis and publication. They are subject to change, not only on the basis of new information and discoveries, but also as attitudes and perspectives change within the scientific community. It cannot be assumed that an archaeological division corresponds to a particular language group or to a political entity such as a tribe. Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park White House Ruins, Canyon de Chelly National Monument Ancient Pueblo People or Ancestral Puebloans are preferred terms for the cultural group of people often known as Anasazi, the ancestors of the modern Pueblo peoples. ... The Mogollon (pronounced mo-goi-YONE) were an American Indian culture living in the American Southwest from approximately AD 700 until sometime between AD 1300 and AD 1400. ... The term Patayan is used by archaeologists to describe prehistoric and historic Native American cultures that inhabited parts of modern day Arizona, California and Baja California, including areas near the Colorado River Valley, the nearby uplands, and north to the vicinity of the Grand Canyon, between AD 700-1550. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning to cultivate, generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ...

When making use of modern cultural divisions in the Southwest, it is important to understand three specific limitations in the current conventions:

• Archaeological research focuses on physical remains, the items left behind during people’s activities. Scientists are able to examine fragments of pottery vessels, human remains, stone tools or evidence left from the construction of buildings. However, many other aspects of the culture of prehistoric peoples are not tangible. Languages spoken by these people and their beliefs and behavior are difficult to decipher from the physical materials. Cultural divisions are tools of the modern scientist, and so should not be considered similar to divisions or relationships the ancient residents may have recognized. Modern cultures in this region, many of whom claim some of these ancient people as ancestors, contain a striking range of diversity in lifestyles, language and religious belief. This suggests the ancient people were also more diverse than their material remains may suggest.

• The modern term “style” has a bearing on how material items such as pottery or architecture can be interpreted. Within a people, different ways to accomplish the same goal can be adopted by subsets of the larger group. For example, in modern Western cultures, there are alternative styles of clothing that characterized older and younger generations. Some cultural differences may be based on linear traditions, on teaching from one generation or “school” to another. Varieties in style may define arbitrary groups within a culture, perhaps identifying social status, gender, clan or guild affiliation, religious belief or cultural alliances. Variations may also simply reflect the different resources available in given time or area.

• Designating culture groups, such as the Hohokam, tends to create an image of group territories separated by clear-cut boundaries, like modern nation states. These simply did not exist. Prehistoric people traded, worshiped and collaborated most often with other nearby groups. Cultural differences should therefore be understood as “clinal,” "increasing gradually as the distance separating groups also increases." (Plog, p. 72.) Departures from the expected pattern may occur because of unidentified social or political situations or because of geographic barriers. In the Southwest, mountain ranges, rivers and most obviously, the Grand Canyon can be significant barriers for human communities, likely reducing the frequency of contact with other groups. Current opinion holds that the closer cultural similarity between the Mogollon and Anasazi and their greater differences from the Hohokam is due to both the geography and the variety of climate zones in the Southwest.

The Parthenon on top of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece Architecture (from Latin, architectura and ultimately from Greek, αρχιτεκτων, a master builder, from αρχι- chief, leader and τεκτων, builder, carpenter) is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. ... Men and women wearing suits, an example of one of the many modern forms of clothing (from the 1937 Chicago Woolen Mills catalog) Clothing is defined, in its broadest sense, as coverings for the torso and limbs as well as coverings for the hands (gloves), feet (socks, shoes, sandals, boots... The word gender describes the state of being male, female, or neither. ... A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by perceived descent from a common ancestor. ... A guild is an association of people of the same trade or pursuits (with a similar skill or craft), formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards of workmanship and ethical conduct. ... Cline can refer to: Term meaning gradual change (from the Greek [klīnein], to lean) In population genetics, a cline is a gradual change of a character or feature (phenotype) in a species over a geographical area. ...

Sites

• The Hohokam Pima National Monument, near Coolidge, Arizona, preserves one archaeological area. The site is nearly 1700 acres (6.9 km²) but is not open to the public.
• Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, the preserved ruins of a three story caliche astronomical observatory, is open to the public.
• Pueblo Grande Museum and Cultural Park near central Phoenix contains preserved ruins and artifact exhibits. Archaeological finds have been recorded along the track of the adjacent Valley Metro light rail construction.

Preserved at the Hohokam Pima National Monument are archaeological remains of the Hohokam culture. ... Coolidge is a city located in Pinal County, Arizona. ... In the 1930s, this shelter was built to protect what remains of the Casa Grande ruins. ... Caliche is a hardened deposit of calcium carbonate in mollisols. ... Nickname: Valley of the Sun Location in Maricopa County and the state of Arizona Coordinates: Country United States State Arizona Counties Maricopa Incorporated February 25, 1881 Mayor Phil Gordon (D) Area    - City 1,230. ... Valley Metro, officially named the Regional Public Transportation Authority (RPTA), is the system responsible for public transit in the area of Phoenix and Maricopa County, Arizona. ...

Reference

• Plog, Stephen. Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest. Thames and Hudson, London, England, 1997. ISBN 0-500-27939-X.

External links

• National Park Service, Casa Grande Ruins
• A student project with information on the Hohokam
• Hohokam Indians of the Tucson Basin, an online book from the University of Arizona
• Hohokam stargazer may have recorded 1006 supernova
• Experts question Hohokam "supernova" interpretation