Their ability to push water effectively for several 100 miles over a flat desert landscape, while evading hills and valleys complimented their legacy. ![]() Using digging sticks, the Native Americans excavated 12-feet deep canals, fanning into a larger network of smaller canals.īecause of their extensive excavation abilities, the Hohokam were considered to be engineering geniuses. As the population grew further from the river, the Hohokam began to construct canals for irrigation. Around 600 CE, the Hohokam population grew too large for sustainable living. Hohokam, (a Pima Indian word meaning ‘‘those who have disappeared’’), first appeared around 1 CE initially growing beans, squash, corn and cotton serving a very small population of less than one thousand. The Hohokam people lived in the Mesa area for nearly 1,500 years. With a population estimated to be as many as 80,000 individuals at its height, the culture flourished for more than 1000 years in the unforgiving Sonoran desert before disappearing in about 1450 CE. Networks of irrigation canals reached their greatest extent and complexity during this period: some of the more than 150 miles (240 km) of canals in the Salt River valley were renovated and put back into use in the 20th century.The Hohokan people dug a sophisticated network of canals in the Salt River Valley as a foundation for a flourishing civilization. The art of basketry was added to that of pottery, bean and squash production was added to that of corn, and subsistence agriculture continued to be supplemented by game and wild plant foods. Great multiple-storied community houses with massive walls of adobe began to be built, along with the older, more easily constructed pit houses some houses were also built on top of platform mounds. The principal effect of their presence is revealed in the advent of Pueblo architecture in Hohokam territory. They came from the upper reaches of the Salt River, lived in Hohokam territory for several decades, then withdrew and disappeared. The Classic Period of Hohokam culture is notable for the peaceful intrusion of the Salado tribe, a branch of the Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) culture. A major technological achievement was the casting of copper bells in wax molds. Corn and cotton were cultivated with ever more extensive irrigation systems. During this period a few villages were surrounded by walls, and platform mounds made their first appearance. Villages continued to consist of collections of pit houses, which had become slightly better-reinforced. The Hohokam area of occupation reached its maximum geographic extent during the Sedentary Period. Pottery improved, becoming thinner and stronger, and styles were borrowed from neighbouring peoples. Cotton was added to corn as a major crop, and irrigation canals proliferated the Hohokam began to make canals narrower and deeper in order to minimize water loss through ground absorption and evaporation. Village architecture changed little, except for the addition of ball courts similar to those of the Maya. The first centuries of the Common Era saw the development of three major farming complexes in the Southwest, all of which relied to some.ĭuring the subsequent Colonial Period, Hohokam culture expanded to influence all of what is now the southern half of Arizona. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |