Prehistoric Hohokam Research Articles

Chapter 5. Finding and understanding ancient irrigated agricultural fields in southern Arizona

AbstractFor over a century, archaeologists have investigated the vast network of prehistoric Hohokam canal irrigation systems in the lower Salt River and middle Gila River valleys, as well as in other areas of southern Arizona. However, documentation of the agricultural fields in which prehistoric farmers irrigated their crops generally was lacking until the last 25 years. This is largely a result of the difficulty in identifying ancient fields, since they are not visible on the surface and have been obscured or destroyed by natural landscape processes as well as historic and modern disturbances. More recent archaeological investigations have revealed ancient irrigated fields through innovative methods and excavation techniques. The fields were constructed both by Hohokam irrigators (450–1450 CE) as well as by farmers from preceding cultural traditions during the Early Agricultural period (2100 BCE–50 CE). These discoveries occurred during projects conducted in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act. In this chapter, I highlight these important studies that have expanded the view of ancient agricultural landscapes in southern Arizona.

Subsistence Practices and the Occupational Histories of the Little Green Valley: A Prehistoric Central Arizona Frontier

The Transitional Zone of central Arizona is a mountainous region dissected by rivers that created barriers and drove movement between prehistoric Hohokam groups to the south and Ancestral Peoples groups to the northeast and northwest. Although never suitable for large-scale agricultural irrigation, this region provided small areas of arable land scattered across rugged terrain rich in wild foods and alboreal resources. Archaeological data recovery related to road improvement projects throughout Arizona Route 260 allowed us to examine paleobotanical and osteofaunal remains of five archaeological sites. We relate changes in diet breadth and anthropogenic land effects modeled and described using the methods of the optimal foraging theory, with modes of use modeled using concepts from the frontier theory. We found that brief intervals of prey suppression and concomitant expansion of diet breadth between low value resources coincide with intervals of prey recovery and diet amplitude contraction between low value resources and more intensive settlement. On the other hand, ranges of prey recovery and diet breadth contraction among low value resources coincide with a reduced population and seasonal, extractive, and short-term occupations.

A New Record of Domesticated Little Barley (Hordeum pusillum Nutt.) in Colorado: Travel, Trade, or Independent Domestication

Little Barley Grass (Hordeum pusillum Nutt.) is a well-known native food domesticated in the U.S. Southwest by prehistoric Hohokam farmers in Central and Southern Arizona. This domesticated grass has recently been recovered from a late Basketmaker III community in southwestern Colorado, far from its well-known Hohokam region. Although travel or trade could explain this new Colorado record, we review morphological, ecological, and other types of evidence to consider a case for independent domestication. This case is supported by Old World molecular evidence for independent domestications of wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) in both the Near East and Tibet. Simple mutations, frequent in nature, can produce wild plant populations of possible interest to humans. Supporting evidence exists in the form of larger than usual grass pollen grains. Supplemental plausibility arguments can include prior familiarity with the domestication process, and finding modern mutations such as free-threshing grains or larger-than-normal polyploid plants. Molecular assessments of modern populations can elucidate Little Barley relationships between major regions of North America, subregions of the U.S. Southwest, and uncharred archaeological specimens. This new Little Barley example presents evidence upon which such stories are crafted, and reveals the importance of native domesticates in ancient subsistence regimes.

Construction, maintenance and abandonment of hydraulic systems: hydroclimatic or social constraints? A case study of prehistoric Hohokam irrigation systems (Phoenix, Arizona, USA)

On the North American continent, irrigated agriculture principally occurred in the semi-arid American Southwest. The Hohokam built major irrigation systems along the plains of the Salt River in the Phoenix Basin (Arizona) between the seventh and the fifteenth century A.D. Their occupation in the basin is structured around three major phases: the Pioneer Period: 600–750 A.D., the PreClassic Period: 750–1150 A.D. and the Classic Period: 1150–1450 A.D., during which they constantly coped with a constraining environment and mainly a rare resource, water. In order to understand long-term socio-environmental dynamics, hydraulic structures are ideal objects of study as they can be studied from a chronological and geoarchaeological perspective. The analysis of 60 dates (radiocarbon, OSL, archaeomagnetic and ceramic) obtained from 47 irrigation canals used from the Pioneer to the Classic Period allowed us to discuss the temporalities of irrigation networks (construction/abandonment). Characterizing and classifying the depositional environment where the dates were obtained was key to identify phases of low flow, periodic sedimentation or uncontrolled flooding. Results were correlated with regional geomorphic changes, climatic evolutions, as well as demographic data in order to discuss the relative impact of environmental shifts, settlement pattern and population pressure on water management. This approach also offers an illustration of the vulnerability and adaptation of agrarian communities to socio-environmental constraints in semi-arid environments.

An integrated socio-environmental approach to the study of ancient water systems: the case of prehistoric Hohokam irrigation systems in semi-arid central Arizona, USA

Water systems lie at the interface between nature and culture and in that perspective are a rich but under-explored research object. Their temporalities (construction, maintenance, abandonment) represent an image of a social, cultural, economic and political context as well as changing environmental conditions. This socio-environmental signature recorded in the spatial organization, sedimentary fill and profile of hydraulic structures can be reconstructed by means of a systemic cross-disciplinary approach (geoarchaeology, chronology and paleoenvironment). The principle and limits of the methods applied to this research object are presented and discussed in this paper. While they can be applied to different environmental contexts, they will be presented through the example of Hohokam irrigation systems in the semi-arid Phoenix basin, Arizona, where this approach has been applied as a whole. As water systems are structural elements of the spatial and socio-political organization of societies, this approach will provide elements to discuss the relative impact of human and/or environmental factors on landscape change and cultural shifts, and measure the long-term vulnerability and resilience of agricultural communities to regional environmental changes.

Legacies of Prehistoric Agricultural Practices Within Plant and Soil Properties Across an Arid Ecosystem

Closely integrated research between archaeologists and ecologists provides a long-term view of human land use that is rare in the ecological literature, allowing for investigation of activities that lead to enduring environmental outcomes. This extended temporal perspective is particularly important in aridlands where succession occurs slowly and ecosystem processes are mediated by abiotic, geomorphic factors. Numerous studies show that impacts from ancient human actions can persist, but few have explored the types of practices or mechanisms that lead to either transient or long-term environmental change. We compared plant and soil properties and processes from a range of landscape patch types in the Sonoran Desert of the US Southwest that supported different, well-documented prehistoric farming practices from AD 750–1300. Our results show that the types of ancient human activities that leave long-term ecological legacies in aridlands are those that fundamentally alter “slow variables” such as soil properties that regulate the timing and supply of water. Prehistoric Hohokam floodwater-irrigation practices, but not dryland farming techniques, substantially altered soil texture, which was strongly associated with desert plant community and functional composition. However, prehistoric agriculture did not consistently alter long-term nutrient availability and thus had no impact on “fast variables” such as production of seasonal annual plants that are restricted to periods of ample rainfall. In this arid ecosystem, the inverse texture model explained patterns in plant functional composition at large scales, but is less predictive of production of short-lived desert annuals that experience a more mesic precipitation regime.

Hohokam to Akimel O’Odham: Obsidian Acquisition at the Historic Period Sacate Site (GR-909), Gila River Indian Community, Arizona

AbstractObsidian provenance studies within the Phoenix Basin of south-central Arizona have become increasingly comprehensive during the last four decades. As a result, broad regional and temporal trends have been defined regarding Preclassic (ca. A.D. 650–1150) and Classic period (ca.A.D. 1150–1450) socioeconomic interactions in the Hohokam core area. However, Historic period patterns are still poorly understood, and these data are essential for understanding the relationship between the prehistoric Hohokam and historical Akimel O’Odham. The association between the Akimel O’Odham and Hohokam has been debated since Euro-Americans first visited the area in the late 1600s, yet this issue is still not fully resolved. This article presents analyses of historical obsidian from the Sacate site that suggest that long-term trends in cultural patterns within the Phoenix Basin continued unbroken into the Historic period. These continuities provide another line of evidence that the Akimel O’Odham are the direct cultural descendants of the Hohokam.

Geomorphological setting and Native American acquisition of buff-firing ceramic clays in the Lower and Middle Gila River Valley, Arizona

This study addresses buff-firing clay sources in dynamic alluvial settings along Arizona’s Gila River in the U.S. Southwest. We establish clay resource distribution relative to the geomorphic histories of the Lower and Middle Gila River based on 38 clay samples and ethnographic data from two US Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) projects. Buff-firing clayey alluvium, deposited in the Gila River floodplain 800 to 1,500 or more years ago, was a surficial ceramic raw material source for prehistoric Hohokam and lowland Patayan potters. This geomorphic unit was later removed in some places and buried by up to 3–4 m of sediment in others, reducing the availability of buff-firing clays in the Hohokam Classic period and requiring historic Pee Posh and Akimel O’odham potters to dig pits to access it. Sources were further destroyed in catastrophic floods in the late 19th and early 20th century, affecting ceramic manufacture patterns and ultimately contributing to the decline of pottery production by the O’odham living in the Gila River Valley. Our results contribute to regional ceramic ecology and should also be of interest to others investigating alluvial clay use in general or buff-firing alluvial clays in particular. The study also illustrates the value of combining geomorphic and ethnographic data to examine major changes in resource distribution and use.

The Allens' Gila Bend Excavations

The Allens’ Gila Bend Excavations Alan Ferg From 1939 to 1979 (with a few exceptions during World War II), the Allens spent up to five months each winter in the Gila Bend area, camping and excavating (see Schwartzlose’s article in this issue). American economist Thomas Sowell recently said, “All that makes earlier times seem simpler is our ignorance of their complexities” (2010). And life in camp certainly included daily chores. Ernest maintained and repaired anything that broke on the vehicles, trailer, and camp equipment. Norton was at his drafting board most days, keeping up with the preparation of maps and illustrations for Desert Magazine and any other clients he might be working for. Lenna did most of the cooking and clothes washing , and Ethel subsequently largely took over these duties after she and Norton were married in 1954. Where Lenna had kept a daily journal, Ethel often took notes. But away from city life and phones and televisions , and before computers existed, let alone were omnipresent, the pace of life in camp certainly appears to have been calmer than what most people experience today (figure 1). Evening meals were often taken with others in camp. Conversations, games, and writing and reading letters were the entertainment, along with simply enjoying the weather and the animals and the desert. Hunting and digging for artifacts was the pastime of choice (figure 2). Norton’s favorite subjects for photography were sunsets, cloud formations, and desert plants (especially saguaros and fan palms), and when these could be combined, so much the better (figure 3). And there were other events to be experienced in the desert, in ways not possible in cities and towns (figure 4). In forty seasons of excavating, and more of surface hunting, Norton and his family worked at a substantial number of archaeological sites in the Gila Bend area (see Ferg and Schwartzlose 2008: table 1). This is far more time in the field in that area than any archaeologist spent before or since. Norton stated that in all those years he never traded or sold any of the prehistoric Hohokam artifacts he excavated in the Gila Bend area, doubtless because he viewed them as having been systematiAlan Ferg is the archivist at the Arizona State Museum. Journal of the Southwest 52, 2 and 3 (Summer-Autumn 2010) : 201–235 Figure 1. Lenna Allen in camp under the big palo verde tree at the Gatlin Site. (Photograph by Norton Allen; developed July 20, 1946) Figure 2. The five sites where Norton and his family excavated most often, which yielded about two-thirds of all the artifacts they collected. C is the Citrus Site. G is the Gatlin Site. The Three Mile, Four Mile, and Twelve Mile Sites (shown as numbers on the map) were so named for their distances north of the Allens’ camp at Gatlin. This is a detail of the Automobile Club of Southern California 1947 Arizona state map. (Reproduced by permission of the Automobile Club of Southern California Archives. Site locations added by Richard A. Schwartzlose). Figure 3. Sunset with a saguaro in silhouette. (Photograph by Norton Allen; developed March 15, 1946) Figure 4. The glow from an atomic bomb test, as seen from Gila Bend, just before dawn, in 1955. Norton was in Gila Bend from January through April 1955. During this time Operation Teapot detonated seven predawn, aboveground, test blasts at the Nevada Test Site. The Turk shot, on March 7, was three to twenty times more powerful than the others, and it seems probable that this is the blast Norton saw. (Photograph by Norton Allen) 204 ✜ Journal of the Southwest cally collected (after a fashion), and they formed a cohesive, complete assemblage that should not be broken up. The maintenance of the Gila Bend collections intact was essential to their value for scientific research, and for preserving the culture history of the Gila Bend Hohokam. This was Norton’s self-appointed goal, which he spent a lifetime fulfilling. He and his family spent their own time and money to assemble this collection. After protracted negotiations, an agreement was reached in December 1994 among the Allens, the Tohono O’odham Nation, and the University of Arizona...

A Portfolio of Hohokam Life Forms in the Norton Allen Collection

A Portfolio of Hohokam Life Forms in the Norton Allen Collection Mike Jacobs The vast majority of Hohokam painted pottery is decorated with a profusion of geometric designs, both curvilinear and rectilinear. Less common are depictions of humans and animals, with recognizable depictions of plants being almost unknown. Presented here are most of the whole vessels from the Norton Allen Collection showing life forms, and a selection of sherds that show other variations. Many closely resemble the depictions found at Snaketown, and it is quite possible that some of the pots found in Gila Bend sites were traded into the area from Snaketown or other sites in the Phoenix Basin. Mike Jacobs is archaeological collections curator at the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson. Journal of the Southwest 52, 2 and 3 (Summer-Autumn 2010) : 255–276 256 ✜ Journal of the Southwest Figure 1. Santa Cruz Red-on-buff flare-rim bowl with human forms, c. ad 850–950. This large flare-rim bowl has an offset quartered layout where the quadrants depict lines of four or five hand-in-hand figures, the end figures each holding a wandlike device. The central motif depicts a line of five handin -hand figures, the end figures likewise holding wandlike devices. About 60 percent of this bowl was restored by Norton Allen, but the original fabric conforms to typical Middle Gila Buff Ware paste and temper. Documentation in the Norton Allen Collection archives indicates that Allen obtained it through trade with another collector. That the decoration on this bowl depicts a moment in a Hohokam ceremony surely cannot be doubted. The decoration probably depicts lines of choristers holding batons or wands, perhaps tipped with feathers, not unlike those described by Julian D. Hayden for the vikita of the Tohono O’odham (Hayden 1987). The vikita has been described as a harvest or world-renewal ceremony, once conducted at yearly intervals by the southern Tohono O’odham and at four-year intervals by the northern Tohono O’odham (Fontana 1987:259). But the antiquity of the vikita is unclear. No account of it is known from the Hispanic period; the earliest references are from the mid-nineteenth century from calendar sticks kept by the Tohono O’odham (Fontana 1987:260). That it could be an evolved version of a prehistoric Hohokam ceremony is possible but probably not susceptible of proof. ASM cat. no. 97-194-152, Cashion Site, height 12.2 cm, diameter 28.5 cm. (Photograph by Jannelle Weakly, ASM 2010-50-image11) Published

The Provenance and Concentrated Production of Hohokam Red-on-Buff Pottery: Implications for an Ancient Arizona Economy

Recent advancements in determining the production sources of prehistoric Hohokam pottery from the Phoenix basin, Arizona, have shown that ceramic manufacture was highly concentrated during the Sedentary period (ca. AD 950-1100). For example, nearly all of the bowls and small jars consumed in the lower Salt River valley were decorated red-on-buff pots imported from the middle Gila River valley to the south. An analysis of the sand temper in the buff wares showed that many, if not most, of these red-painted vessels were made in one locality along the Gila River, thereby supporting the idea that a reliable and efficient mechanism for commodity exchange was extant at that time, possibly in the form of periodic marketplaces associated with ritual ballgames. The pottery results imply a level of dependence on ballgame-related transactions that had not been recognized before, indicating their central importance to the Hohokam Sedentary period economy.

The process, location, and history of Hohokam Buff ware production: some experimental and analytical results

A distinctive red-on-buff pottery, found throughout central and southern Arizona, is a hallmark of prehistoric Hohokam culture. To manufacture it, Hohokam potters used a complicated recipe and controls for firing to chemically manipulate their clay and produce a light-colored fabric on which to paint their red designs. In this study, firing experiments and ceramic analysis are used in conjunction with excavation evidence to evaluate competing ideas about the buff ware manufacturing process, investigate where the pots were made, and model the developmental history of red-on-buff production.

Peopling Landscapes between Villages in the Middle Gila River Valley of Central Arizona

The prehistoric Hohokam conducted a great variety of activities in the spaces between their villages, including social gatherings and ceremonial observances as well as economic and subsistence practices. Recent full-coverage pedestrian survey along the middle Gila River in central Arizona indicates that nonresidential sites are more numerous and cover considerably greater area than residential settlements. Unfortunately, in the Hohokam region researchers are not always able to distinguish residential sites from activity areas based on features observable on the surface. In this study, quantitative measures of artifact density and diversity of surface collections from artifact scatters are used to distinguish residential sites from nonresidential sites. This is accomplished by assessing the extent to which their assemblages resemble artifact collections from known habitations, campsites, or specialized or diverse activity loci. Differences in artifact density and diversity enable many ambiguous artifact scatters to be classified into these general functional site types. Knowing the distribution of site types relative to elements of the natural and cultural landscapes can provide insight into past social and ecological or economic behaviors not offered by site-specific approaches. The study concludes that considering both the physical and cultural dimensions of landscapes significantly increases the research value of nonresidential sites for understanding the use and meaning of spaces between villages.

Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Site Patterning on the Middle Gila River, Arizona

Archaeological surveys and prehistoric settlement patterns are best interpreted when placed on a geomorphic map that defines the distribution and age of physical landforms. Survey data can thus be used to address questions of archaeological site visibility and synchronic and diachronic site patterning on the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona. A chronological series of alluvial and eolian landforms are defined on the reservation. The age of the landforms and underlying sediments has affected the preservation and visibility of the archaeological record. Further, late prehistoric Hohokam settlements (A.D. 700–1500) and their associated agricultural lands show a clear landform zonation and that the intensity of use of these landforms has changed over time.

Landscape Change and the Cultural Evolution of the Hohokam along the Middle Gila River and Other River Valleys in South-Central Arizona

Changes in river floodplain morphology can have devastating consequences for irrigation agriculturalists. Channel erosion occurred in the late nineteenth century, on the flood plain of the middle Gila River, Arizona and severely impacted the native Akimel O' odham (Pima) farmers. Prior to the Akimel O' odham, the prehistoric Hohokam also pursued irrigation agriculture along this river. Geoarchaeological investigations of the Gila River flood plain document a major period of channel cutting and widening sometime between A.D. 1020 to 1160. This channel erosion is coincident with the partial abandonment of large Hohokam villages and significant population rearrangements. It also marks the beginning of a major social reorganization when ball-courts were replaced by platform mounds as the social integrative structure and the Hohokam sphere of influence contracted. Other rivers utilized by the Hohokam—the Santa Cruz River, San Pedro River, and Tonto Creek-also experienced channel cutting between A.D. 1050 and 1150. Thus, a regional episode of channel erosion appears to have been a major factor that contributed to the reorganization seen in the Hohokam archaeological record. These synchronous landscape changes would have severely impacted Hohokam irrigation systems and food production capabilities. This undoubtedly created stresses within Hohokam society which in turn may have accelerated social, political, economic, ideological, and demographic changes that were already underway.

Hohokam Shell Middens along the Sea of Cortez, Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico

One of the important trade and ornamental items for the prehistoric Hohokam of southern Arizona was marine shell, which was obtained from the shores along the Sea of Cortez. A reconnaissance survey near the modern town of Puerto Peñasco in Sonora, Mexico resulted in the discovery of dozens of prehistoric shell middens that are probably the result of forays by the Hohokam, Patayan, and other groups to gather shell for transport back to their homeland. These middens are described and discussed in relation to shell exploitation, subsistence, and their relationship to the Hohokam shell trade between A.C. 800 and 1200.

Hohokam Roads at Snaketown, Arizona

Earlier and newly gathered data suggest that a series of prehistoric roads radiated toward the north and east from the prehistoric Hohokam village of Snaketown, south of modern Phoenix, Arizona. Evidence from aerial photographs and subsequent ground-truthing strongly suggests that an eastern road once connected Snaketown with the contemporaneous Gila Butte Site, and supporting survey data indicate that at least one use for this road was for transporting micaceous schist ceramic temper to Snaketown from quarries at Gila Butte. Previously identified “trails” bearing north from Snaketown are reinterpreted as roads along which pottery from Snaketown workshops was transported to consumer villages along the Salt River. The roads may also have formalized sociopolitical ties among communities, in the absence of common irrigation systems.

Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of human activity in Central Arizona using shell chemistry of Hohokam canal ostracodes

The prehistoric Hohokam are the only known culture to develop large-scale irrigation systems before the arrival of Europeans to the United States. Hohokam social evolution was based, in part, on intensive agriculture. To date, most models of Hohokam irrigation agriculture (i.e., hydrologic and sedimentologic models) fail to address dynamics like flow regime, seasonality, canal use and abandonment (Henderson and Hackbarth, 1939). Biota recovered from Hohokam canals often include ostracodes, carbonate-secreting microcrustaceans that are sensitive to hydrochemical changes. m(Mg/Ca)v and m(Sr/Ca)v ratios in the ostracode Limnocythere staplini can be converted into approximate temperature and salinity values at the time of calcification. Ostracode shell chemistry is becoming a powerful tool for understanding the history of canal water chemistry, intensity of land use, and human impact on soil. This study uses multiple regression models to generate the first paleoenvironmental estimates of temperature and salinity from ostracode shell chemistry. Temperature estimates suggest that most canals were used between late winter (February–March) and the premonsoonal season (May–June). Salinity estimates apparently vary over time. Both paleoenvironmental estimates are in good agreement with history records for the Phoenix area. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Botanical Signatures of Water Storage Duration in a Hohokam Reservoir

Although large-scale canal irrigation technology is commonly associated with the prehistoric Hohokam (A.D. 200–1450) of south-central Arizona, earthen reservoirs were essential for domestic water storage in areas of the Sonoran Desert away from perennial streams. Interpretations of seasonal water storage in prehistoric Hohokam reservoirs are often based on direct analogy with the historic Tohono O'odham (formerly called the Papago). This assumption of seasonal water storage is a hypothesis that should be tested rather than uncritically accepted by archaeologists. Sediments recovered with a hand-driven bucket auger from an earthen reservoir at a large Classic-period (ca. A.D. 1200–1450) Hohokam site (AZ AA:3:32 [ASM]) yielded uncarbonized seeds of an aquatic plant belonging to the genus Lemna (duckweed). The high number of Lemna seeds indicates that water may have been stored on a long-term, perhaps perennial, basis. Analyses of sediments from other reservoirs should generate further discoveries of uncarbonized seeds or other biological remains (e.g., pollen, phytoliths, diatoms, snails) and refine our understanding of prehistoric water storage facilities throughout the world.

Resource Mobilization and Hohokam Society: Analysis of Obsidian Artifacts from the Gatlin Site, Arizona

ABSTRACTArtifacts made of nonlocal obsidian were often associated with Hohokam village sites in the Phoenix Basin. Analysis of obsidian artifacts (n=75) from the Gatlin site (AZ Z: 2:1 [ASM]), a prehistoric Hohokam village in southwestern Arizona, by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence indicated that most were from the Sauceda Mountain source. In contrast, 33 percent of the projectile points and preforms were made of nonlocal obsidian, suggesting trade in finished items. Resource mobilization may have been one option for provisioning events such as funerals and other ceremonies.