Abstract
The Hohokam, an irrigation-based society in the American South West, used the river valleys of the Salt and Gila Rivers between 500 and 1500 AD to grow their crops. Such irrigated crops are linking human agency, water sources and the general natural environment. In order to grow crops, water available through rain and river flows needs to be diverted to land where the plants are grown. With a focus on the Gila River, this paper uses the potential harvest of maize (a main Hohokam crop) as a proxy for evaluating the influence of natural water availability and climatic changes on irrigation options for maize. Available climate variables derived from tree-ring proxies are downscaled. These downscaled data are used as input for a crop growth model for the entire sequence of Hohokam occupation along the Gila River. The results of the crop model are used to discuss the potential influence of climatic variability on Hohokam irrigation and society. The results will show that climatic change alone cannot be used as an explanation for developments in Hohokam irrigation. Societal development resulting in growing population and extensive irrigation systems increasing pressure on water sources over time would have been a key factor to include to understand Hohokam society between 500 and 1500 AD.
Highlights
Water is and was vital for societies, and as such its manipulation has been a key for societies to emerge and prosper
The intimate linkages between human society, human agents and their water environments are expressed in ancient irrigation systems, like those of the Hohokam in the American South West discussed in this paper
In this study we focus on the process of human adaptation under climate variation in the context of Hohokam irrigation on the long term between 450 and 1450 AD
Summary
Water is and was vital for societies, and as such its manipulation has been a key for societies to emerge and prosper. The intimate linkages between human society, human agents and their water environments are expressed in ancient irrigation systems, like those of the Hohokam in the American South West discussed in this paper. The evolution of ancient canals provides a distinctive insight into human adaptation under strategies in response to climate. An irrigation canal is an intentional modification of the environment, performed with awareness and attention of human beings; at the same time, irrigation systems create human activities and social relations. Ancient irrigation systems are highly suitable to study these dynamics, given their importance for societal evolution as main producers of food for the population. The variation in human population is generally assumed to be correlated with the variation in food productivity in early agrarian society, with crop yields variation linked to water availability
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