THE HOHOKAM CULTURE
GENERAL REMARKS
While the inhabitants of the Plateau were developing the culture
described in the previous section, other groups in other parts of the
Southwest were evolving along somewhat different lines. The next basic
culture to be considered is that of the Hohokam, the people of the
Desert Province whose center lies in the Middle Gila Basin and which
includes the drainages of the Salt and Gila Rivers of southern Arizona.
_Hohokam_ is a Pima word which means “those who have vanished.” The
ancient agriculturists, to whom this name has been given, lived in this
semi-arid land for many centuries, and, through the use of canals, made
a remarkable adjustment to an unfavorable environment. For a long time
it was thought that they represented a regional variation of the Pueblo
pattern, for the more spectacular ruins contained great communal houses
of Pueblolike construction. Associated with these were small crude
houses of wattle and daub construction. The large Pueblo houses were
thought by some archaeologists to be temples or palaces, and the small
houses were believed to be the homes of serfs or peons. When it was
noted that different kinds of pottery were associated with the different
types of houses, it became apparent that the situation was more complex
than had been thought. Archaeological excavations finally brought the
true explanation to light. During the first part of the fourteenth
century, Pueblo people moved into the homeland of the Hohokam, bringing
with them the techniques and traditions of their own culture which
differed in many respects from those of the original inhabitants. The
two groups lived together, but, to a great extent, each preserved the
elements of its own culture.
There were certain similarities between the culture of the Hohokam and
that of the Pueblos, but there were many differences. Both were
agricultural people, but they used different types of corn and
beans,[12] and there were certain differences in their farming
techniques. Pottery was widely made in both societies but there were
marked differences in manufacturing techniques and in color.
Architectural development was entirely different. There were many
differences in minor arts; for example, shell work was very highly
developed among the Hohokam, and bone was used for tools much less than
by the Pueblos. Probably there were physical differences between the two
people, but our information on this subject is very scanty, for the
Hohokam did not bury their dead, as did the Anasazi, but practiced
cremation.
There is a strong possibility that the Hohokam developed from the
ancient food-gathering culture, known as the _Cochise_, which had
flourished in this same general region for many centuries.[54] The
possibility has also been mentioned that the Hohokam may have come to
southern Arizona from the east with an already established pattern.[27]
Of course, the culture continued to evolve, but almost all of the basic
traits which characterize it were present in the earliest times of which
we have any record.
[Illustration: Fig. 41—Map of the Southwest showing sites referred
to in Chapter IV.]
1. Casa Grande
2. Grewe Site
3. Los Muertos
4. Roosevelt 9:6
5. Snaketown
6. Tonto National Monument
The question of dates for the Hohokam is, unfortunately, far more
complicated than in the case of the Basketmakers and Pueblos. The wood
available for house construction was usually cottonwood or mesquite,
woods which are not suitable for tree-ring dating. Through stratigraphic
studies it has been possible to find the chronological place of various
phases in relation to each other, but the establishment of an absolute
chronology in terms of the Christian calendar is quite difficult, since
it must be based almost entirely on cross-checking of pottery between
Hohokam and Anasazi sites. There is a considerable divergence between
the dates suggested by different archaeologists, or even by the same
archaeologist at different times. There is nothing to criticize in the
fact that an archaeologist may give one date at one time and an entirely
different one at another. Archaeologists, like all scientists, are
seeking for the truth, and as new evidence is uncovered old estimates
must often be changed and new ones made. First estimates placed the
beginning of the culture in Arizona at about 300 B. C.[27] Later this
date was revised upward by 900 years.[28] According to the most recent
publication on the Hohokam, which contains approximate dates which will
be used throughout the following discussion, this culture in the Gila
Basin is believed to date back to about the beginning of the Christian
era.[57]
There were several stages of development in the Hohokam, just as there
were in the Anasazi culture with its six principal stages, ranging from
Basketmaker to Historic-Pueblo times. The first is known as the
_Pioneer_ for this was the formative stage of the culture. The
_Colonial_ period which followed was, as the name implies, one in which
colonies were established. During the next period, to which the name
_Sedentary_ has been given, the culture was fully developed. The term
_Classic_, which is applied to the following period, is really a
misnomer, for the cultural peak of the Hohokam had passed. It was,
however, a time of high cultural development during which Pueblo and
Hohokam people lived side by side in the Desert Province. Little is
known of the Hohokam following the end of the Classic period when, about
1400 A. D., the Pueblo people moved away, but it is possible that the
present Pima Indians may be descendants of the ancient Hohokam or that
at least some Hohokam blood flows in their veins. A people with a
variant form of the Hohokam culture who lived farther south may have
been the forerunners of the present Papago Indians.
THE PIONEER HOHOKAM
The Pioneer period, according to recent estimates, began about the time
of Christ and lasted for some five or six hundred years. It is possible,
however, that these dates may have to be revised again, as more
information becomes available. At present, unfortunately, this earliest
period is known from only one site. This is a large site, called
Snaketown,[27][28][31] which lies in the Gila Indian Reservation twelve
miles southwest of Chandler, Arizona. It was occupied from Pioneer until
Sedentary times, and has yielded a tremendous amount of information. It
is extremely fortunate that this important site has been excavated with
exceptional care and has been splendidly reported upon.
The Snaketown area is more arid than most other places occupied in
prehistoric times and contains a stream that is now only intermittent,
although it was probably perennial during the prehistoric period.
Lumbering in the mountains and overgrazing have doubtless contributed
materially to the desiccation of the region, but even in prehistoric
times it must have been extremely dry. There is no evidence of the
construction of irrigation canals which were so characteristic of later
phases, but it seems possible that they may have existed at this time,
although in a less well developed form, for without irrigation it would
have been almost impossible for prosperous villages to arise in such a
poor environment. Little is known, however, of the agricultural
attainments of the people at this time. In fact, no corn has yet been
found which may be attributed to this period, although it is certainly
reasonable to suppose that it was being cultivated. The scarcity of
bones of food animals indicates that meat did not play a very important
part in the diet. Turkey bones are extremely rare. It is believed that
turkeys were never domesticated by the Hohokam.
All Hohokam houses were earth lodges with much the same general plan.
They were single-unit structures, usually with depressed floors.
Entrance was through a covered passage or vestibule, normally in the
middle of one side. Walls were constructed of poles, brush, and mud. The
roofs, which consisted of rafters overlaid by smaller timbers, were
supported by upright posts set in the floor. During Pioneer times houses
were larger than in any other Hohokam period and in some cases were up
to thirty-five feet square. Some archaeologists believe that the largest
houses may have been occupied by more than one family.[31]^c Others feel
that it is more probable that they were ceremonial structures.[30]
During most of the time, four or five roof supports were employed, but
there was one phase early in the period when a great many posts set in
rows were used and it is hard to see how such a house could have been
lived in at all. So much skill was required to erect these houses that
they certainly must not represent the people’s first attempt at
housebuilding, and there was undoubtedly an earlier phase for which
evidence has not yet been found.
No material has been found which may be attributed to a pre-ceramic
period, unless the Cochise culture proves to be ancestral to the
Hohokam. Pottery is found in even the earliest Pioneer levels. The
Hohokam did not have any corrugated pottery. All their wares were smooth
and were produced by the paddle-and-anvil technique. When this method is
used to shape and finish a piece of pottery, a round or mushroom-shaped
object, known as an anvil, is held inside the vessel to receive the
force of the blow, while the exterior is struck with a wooden paddle.
Air was permitted to flow over the pottery while it was being fired,
producing an oxidizing atmosphere.
There are important differences between the pottery making methods of
the Hohokam and those of the Anasazi. As has been previously noted,
among the Anasazi, the final step in the finishing process was to shape
and smooth the vessel through scraping with a gourd or pottery spoon,
and most pottery was fired in a reducing atmosphere.
The earliest Hohokam pottery found is simple but well made. At first
only plain undecorated wares in gray, brown, or red were produced. The
temper contained flecks of mica which show through the surface. Bowls
were usually red. Jars, which had a capacity of about two gallons, were
normally gray or brown. Before long, painted decorations began to be
applied. Designs were simple rectilinear or curvilinear forms. Hatching
was widely used. Decoration was in a maroon-red paint on a grayish
background, and the red portion was sometimes polished. As time went by,
the background became a buff color rather than a gray. Because of this
distinctive color combination, the term _Red-on-Buff_ Culture was
originally applied to the Hohokam.[32] During Pioneer times, some
polychrome ware was made and it is believed that this may mark the first
appearance of the use of multiple colors in the Southwest. This pottery
has red and yellow designs on a gray background. In many cases grooves
were incised on bowl exteriors before the paint was applied. Even after
painted pottery was introduced, it never made up more than twenty per
cent of the total pottery of the Pioneer era.
Figurines, depicting human beings, as well as bowls and jars, were made
of clay. These are known from the earliest times. They are quite similar
to those of the Mexican Plateau, and it is thought that they may have
been introduced from there, together with the knowledge of the
cultivation of corn. These figurines have ridgelike noses pinched up
from the base, and eyes and mouths represented by slits and dots. These
were always modelled rather than made in molds. Some have funnel-shaped
heads and may have served as containers. Figurines were usually fired,
but this was not invariably the case.
Even from the earliest times the Hohokam appear to have cremated the
dead, a practice which anthropologists always deprecate. These ancient
people could hardly know how much they would inconvenience certain men
in the twentieth century by their funerary habits, and undoubtedly they
would not have cared. Bones and ashes are rarely found in the Pioneer
period but some have been recovered from pits and trenches. The actual
cremation is not believed to have taken place here. There were offerings
of crushed burned pottery, and late in the period some stone objects
were used.
[Illustration: Fig. 42—Hohokam figurines. a. Pioneer period. b.
Colonial Period. c. Sedentary Period.]
From the earliest times the Hohokam were skilled workers in stone. Two
distinctive traits were: the manufacture of “palettes” and of stone
jars. The palettes have been so called, although we are not sure of
their actual function, because the center portions contain traces of
ground pigment and there is usually a slight depression which might have
resulted from grinding and mixing. They are the most common of Hohokam
funerary offerings. In Pioneer times, they were much simpler than in
later periods. At first they were plain stone slabs, but, by the close
of the period, they were being made with raised borders. The polished
stone vessels were sometimes plain, sometimes incised, and in one case
the incisions had been filled with paint. Late in the period carved
life-forms appeared. One effigy represents the figure of a man squatting
and holding a shallow basin. Other stone implements include manos and
metates, mortars and pestles, and highly polished grooved axes with
raised ridges on either side of the groove. As has been previously
noted, there was a scarcity of projectile points. Most of those which
have been found are light enough to suggest the possibility of the use
of the bow and arrow. There are also some heavy, stemmed points which
may have been dart-points or knives.
Some stone was used in the manufacture of ornaments, although shell was
more abundantly utilized for this purpose. Beads and pendants were
carved from stone, and there was some use of turquoise, particularly in
mosaic work. No ear plugs have been found in levels earlier than those
of the Sedentary period, but they are shown on Pioneer figurines, and it
seems reasonable to suppose that they may have been worn at that time.
Shells provided many ornaments. Whole shells were utilized as beads by
grinding off the ends to make it possible to string them; some disc
beads were made. Bracelets were made of shell. They were usually thin
and rather fragile and were not carved until late in the period.
Bone was much less widely used by the Hohokam than by the Anasazi, but
one distinctive type of object was made of this material. This is an
incised bone tube, usually decorated with rectilinear designs but
sometimes utilizing curvilinear patterns and occasionally life-forms.
There are some indications that these tubes were painted. Their use has
not been determined.
Pipes were not made by the Hohokam in any period. Since these people
were not as dependent on the vagaries of the weather as were the
Anasazi, who depended to a great extent on flood irrigation, it is
entirely logical that cloud symbols should not have been as important to
them.
THE COLONIAL HOHOKAM
The Colonial period, which lasted from perhaps 600 to about 900 A. D.,
is better known than the Pioneer, for it is represented at two other
excavated sites in addition to Snaketown. These are Roosevelt 9:6, at
Roosevelt Lake, Arizona,[48] and the Grewe Site which lies just east of
Casa Grande National Monument.[120] By the end of Colonial times all of
the distinctive traits which characterize the Hohokam were fully
developed, and some had even begun to decline. The most spectacular
accomplishment of this period, and for that matter of the whole culture,
was the construction of a great system of irrigation channels which
diverted water to the fields from the rivers.[57] At their first
appearance, the canals were so well developed that it seems impossible
that this marks the first attempt at such a project. Possibly the system
had been developed in Pioneer times, or, perhaps, it had been perfected
elsewhere first, but evidence to bolster either theory is still lacking.
By 700 A. D., the canal system was well established and became
increasingly bigger and more complex until the peak was reached between
1200 and 1400 A. D.
The whole project is really amazing when one considers the tremendous
amount of work which went into the construction and maintenance of the
canals. The latter must have required almost as much effort as the
original excavating, for silt was constantly being deposited. Canals
were up to thirty feet wide and ten feet deep, and in the Salt River
Valley they have been found to have an aggregate length of 150 miles. It
staggers the imagination when one stops to think that this tremendous
engineering feat was carried out with only the crudest of stone and
wooden tools. The scope of such a project and the end toward which so
much effort was directed tell us a great deal about the people who
planned it. Undoubtedly such an undertaking indicates strong leadership
and careful organization. Great numbers of people must have
participated, and it undoubtedly took much careful planning to direct
their labors. There must also have been some centralization of
authority, since the canals served various settlements and these groups
must have had some organization to direct their efforts toward the
common good.
Here, as among the Anasazi, however, there is no evidence of a ruling
class with a higher standard of living than that of their subordinates.
The scope of the canal project suggests comparisons with the erection of
the huge pyramids of Egypt or the great temples of the Maya. There is a
tremendous difference, however, in the ends toward which all this vast
human effort was directed. In Egypt, men slaved to construct tombs for
despotic rulers, and, in the land of the Maya, they labored to erect
temples, doubtless for the greater glory of the priesthood as much as
for the gods who were worshipped. In the arid reaches of the Hohokam
homeland, however, the canals, which were built and kept open with so
much labor, were for the benefit of the people.
[Illustration: Fig. 43—Hohokam house of the Colonial period.]
[Illustration: Large ball court at Snaketown, Colonial period.
(Courtesy Gila Pueblo.)]
The homes of the people continued to be simple structures consisting of
single units. They were much like those of the Pioneer period but were
smaller and rectangular with rounded corners. Usually they were
constructed over a shallow pit, but some had elevated floors supported
by stones. A fire pit lay in the floor just in front of the entrance. It
is not known whether there were smoke holes or not. Walls were formed of
slanting poles, and the interiors were lined with reeds. The roof rested
on a central ridge pole supported by two main posts. There is evidence
of outside kitchens, small brush structures containing a fire pit, much
like those still used by the Pimas.
Houses and kitchens were not the only structures which were erected at
this time, for ball courts made their first appearance during this
period. These were large unroofed, oval areas, oriented east and west,
and open at both ends. They were up to two hundred feet in length and
were surrounded by walls believed to have been between fifteen and
twenty feet in height and possibly higher. The earth banks, which formed
the walls, sloped and were about twenty degrees off the perpendicular.
The floor, which was well below ground level, was formed from smooth
caliche deposits. Two stones set in the ends and one in the center
apparently served as markers. They were very accurately placed and the
one in the middle lies in the exact center. These are very much like the
ball courts of the Maya, except that the latter had stone walls. There
are a number of theories as to where these courts first originated. They
may have been developed by the Maya and copied by the Hohokam, or they
may have reached the Maya from the Hohokam. A third possibility is that
both people received the idea from some still unknown source.
There is no way of knowing just what game was played by the Hohokam, but
it is reasonable to suppose that it was much like that played in the
courts farther south, and we know something of the rules from ancient
manuscripts. The game was played with one, two, or more players on each
side. The object was to knock a ball through rings set in the walls.
Hands and feet could not be used, and the ball could be struck only with
the knees, thighs, or buttocks. No rings have been found in the Hohokam
courts, but it is probable that they would have been made of wood or
some other perishable material, since the earth walls would hardly
support great stone rings such as are found in some of the Mayan courts.
It is quite possible that the game was connected with religious rites,
as it was among the Maya.
Much red-on-buff and plain brown or buff pottery was manufactured. Most
of the decorated vessels have designs formed by the repetition of small
elements. These are often enclosed by small circles, and there was also
a wide use of borders or fringes of short, oblique, parallel lines. The
small elements included both geometric and life forms. There was a
marked transition from the more rigidly formalized designs of the
Pioneer period to the freer designs of later times. The practice of
incising pottery declined and finally disappeared altogether. Firing
clouds, which result when vessels come in contact with fuel while being
fired, are quite common, and give the pottery a mottled appearance. Many
figurines were made. They almost always depicted females. Early in the
period they were made all in one piece, but later the head and body were
made separately. The heads became more true to life. Clothing, leg and
ankle bands, and, sometimes the eyes, were indicated by appliqué.
[Illustration: Fig. 44—Red-on-buff Hohokam vessel of the Colonial
period. (Courtesy Gila Pueblo.)]
Pottery and figurines served as offerings for the dead. Small sherds
were still common, but whole vessels also began to be used. There were
three types of cremations. Sometimes bones, ashes, and offerings are
found in pits dug into the caliche and it appears probable that the
actual burning took place there. In other cases they are found in
trenches. Sometimes burning took place elsewhere and later the burned
remains were placed in small holes close together. In addition to
objects made of clay, stone projectile points and palettes are usually
found in the cremations.
Palettes, which were the most consistent offering, were made of thin
schistose rock. There is a clear differentiation between the center
portion and the border which is ornamented with grooves. Some have
sculptured edges in the form of birds, snakes, and other animals. There
are also effigy types in which the outline of the palette is in a
life-form. Palettes were most numerous early in the Colonial period and
later declined in importance. One extremely interesting feature of many
of these objects is that on the mixing surface of heavily burned
palettes from cremations is found a vitreous substance which, on
analysis, proved to be a lead mixture. It is not certain whether the use
of lead ore was intentional or accidental, but in any case the Hohokam
never learned to exploit this as metal. It has been suggested that the
change in the lead mixture from a dull color to a brilliant red with
metallic globules may have been observed as the palettes burned on the
funeral pyres and that it came to have a ceremonial significance. It is
entirely possible, however, that the palettes had simply been used for
grinding a compound containing lead, which was used to provide pigment,
prior to the burning. They may have been used to mix facial or body
paint.
Some of the most remarkable stone work found in Hohokam sites consisted
of mosaic plaques or mirrors inlaid with angular pieces of iron pyrites
which had a reflecting quality. These were common funerary offerings,
and as a result most of the specimens obtained are badly damaged. None
the less, one can still appreciate the amazing work which went into
their construction. These plaques or mirrors range between three and
eight inches in diameter. On one surface are thin sheets of iron pyrites
crystals carefully fitted together. How these thin plates were obtained
is a complete mystery, for pyrites crystals are usually cubic and so
hard that they cannot be scratched with a knife. In some cases the
crystal encrustation covered the entire face, in others edges were
beveled. Edges and backs were sometimes decorated with something which
resembles cloisonné work, although the technique differed. First a base
coat of a gray material was applied, and then this was covered with a
thicker layer of some black substance. A design was cut into this with a
sharp implement, and then the sunken portion was half filled with thick
white paint. Next, paint in a variety of colors was added to fill the
depression, or, in some cases, was even built up slightly above the
level of the black background portion.
These mirrors are almost exactly like those found in sites in Central
America. It is thought that the best examples found in Hohokam sites
were imported from the south,[59] although it is possible that some
crude imitations may have been made by the Hohokam themselves. The
material necessary would have been available to them, for sizeable
pyrites crystals are found near Tucson.
Many stone vessels were made. They were usually carved in bas relief and
both realistic and life-forms were used. Desert reptiles were the most
common figures. Other objects made of stone included abraders for use in
shell work, metates which were not very precisely shaped, a few stone
finger-rings, and projectile points. These were long slender points
which were barbed and serrated.
[Illustration: Fig. 45—Hohokam carved stone vessel of the Colonial
period. (Courtesy Arizona State Museum.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 46—Hohokam ornaments of carved shell. (Courtesy
National Park Service.)]
Shell was very widely used. A few needles made of shell have been found,
but this was apparently not considered a utilitarian material and it was
most often used in the manufacture of ornaments. Shell beads and
pendants continued to be used, and many bracelets were made. These were
made of Glycymeris shells which are nearly circular and, when cut in
cross-section, provide a suitable arm band. Carving did not reach its
peak until the following period, but fine bracelets were produced.
Birds, snakes, frogs, and geometric forms furnished the designs. The
most frequent motif is a bird-and-snake combination. The snake’s head is
in the bird’s mouth and the body of the snake forms the band. This quite
probably had some special ceremonial significance. Carved rings, which
first appeared at this time, are usually in the form of snakes. They
were never as abundant as bracelets. There was some mosaic work with
shell, but this art did not fully develop until later. Birds and snakes,
often in combination, were the usual subjects for carving on bone.
THE SEDENTARY HOHOKAM
During the Sedentary period, which lasted from about 900 to 1200 A. D.
there was some withdrawal from the outlying districts and a greater
concentration of population in a smaller area, although there was also
some northward extension of the culture. There was some regional
specialization during the latter part of the period, for the inhabitants
of the upper or eastern portion of the Gila Basin developed somewhat
differently from those of the central area. This was possibly the result
of the influence of Pueblo people who lived in the Tonto Basin about one
hundred miles to the northwest, and it presaged the changes which were
to occur in the next period when some of these people moved into the
Hohokam area, bringing with them their distinctive culture.
Houses in the main area were roughly rectangular in outline, but the
ends were somewhat rounded and the sides slightly convex. Floors were
encircled by low, mud rims, six inches or less in height, which were
probably designed to keep water out of the houses. Some had
parallel-sided entrance ways, but others had a bulbous vestibule with a
low step at the end. Late in the period, in the eastern part of the Gila
Basin, there were some rectangular surface houses with walls of adobe,
containing sporadic stones, over a pole framework. In some cases,
villages were enclosed by walls and are referred to as _compounds_. This
name is taken from the term which is applied to the walled or fenced
enclosure of a house or factory in the orient.
The irrigation system was enlarged and improved. Ball courts were still
being built but they seem to have been considerably reduced in size by
the end of the period. They were oriented north and south and the ends
were closed. One interesting find, made in a Sedentary site with an
estimated date of 1100 A. D., was a rubber ball buried in a jar.[52]
Analysis showed the rubber to be of American origin, unvulcanized and
unrefined. There is no way of proving that this ball was used in playing
the game for which the courts were designed, but it seems entirely
possible that it was.
At this time some Hohokam people moved north into the Flagstaff area.
They introduced ball courts and other distinctive traits of their
culture.[86]
[Illustration: Fig. 47—Red-on-buff Hohokam jars of the Sedentary
period. (Courtesy Gila Pueblo.)]
In the field of pottery, forty per cent of all that was produced was of
the red-on-buff variety. There was a great elaboration of designs and
some appear to have been taken from woven fabrics. Panels, negative
designs, and patterns tied together by interlocking scrolls, were all
common. There was a great variety of shapes which included three and
four-legged trays. Jars increased tremendously in size, and a few had a
capacity of almost thirty gallons. Bowls were also quite large. Some
plain buff ware was manufactured, but it was not common. Less than one
per cent of the total pottery assemblage consisted of bowls with heavily
slipped and polished reddish brown interiors and mottled brown or gray
exteriors. From the eastern area come bright red bowls with
smoke-darkened, black interiors.
Figurines were of two types. For the most part they consisted of heads
which were apparently attached to bodies made of cord-wrapped fiber.
These have not survived, but their presence is indicated by impressions
in the clay of the heads. The faces are quite realistic and probably
represent an attempt at portraiture. Other figurines, made of buff clay
and painted with red, show full figures, seated, with hands resting on
the knees.
It is most unfortunate that practically none of the textiles produced at
this time have lasted through the centuries. A few fragments have been
found which give us tantalizing glimpses of a highly developed craft.
Apparently very fine cotton textiles with intricate weaves were
produced. No baskets have survived the passage of the years, but ash
casts have been found which show that the making of baskets was well
developed.
Cremation was still the accepted method of disposing of the dead,
although a few burials have been found. Apparently inhumation was tried
on a very small scale, but it did not supplant cremation. Bodies and
offerings were usually burned, and then the unconsumed portions gathered
together and put in small pits dug in the caliche. In some cases, bodies
and offerings were left in the pit in which they were burned, and the
pit covered with earth. In the eastern part of the Gila Basin,
unconsumed bones and offerings were placed in small pottery urns and
buried with a small bowl or sherd covering the mouth of the urn.
[Illustration: Fig. 48—Hohokam stone palette of the Sedentary
period. (Courtesy Arizona State Museum)]
Mosaic plaques or mirrors were still used. Palettes continued to serve
as mortuary offerings, but they had decreased in number and had greatly
degenerated. Raised borders disappeared and only incised lines remained
to differentiate the rim and the mixing surface. Some palettes have been
found in the area around Flagstaff in a site dated as late as 1278, so
the trait seems to have persisted in the north longer than in the
Hohokam province where it appears to have originated.
Stone vessels continued to be made, but they too were decadent. Carving
in relief was largely replaced by incising. Life-forms in relief, when
they do appear, are highly conventionalized. Many of the vessels are of
steatite. There were some effigy vessels, representing animals and
birds, which had shallow basins hollowed out of the backs. Metates and
mortars and pestles were well shaped. Some hoes first appeared during
Sedentary times, and it is thought that they may have been intrusive.
Stone projectile points were long and slender and beautifully flaked.
About half had lateral notches and the others were unnotched forms
characterized by deep serrations. Stone was widely used as a material
for ornaments. A great variety of disc beads were manufactured and the
first ear plugs are found in sites of this period, although, as has been
previously noted, they are seen on Pioneer figurines and quite possibly
had been worn since the earliest times. Some particularly interesting
finds include stone objects believed to have been nose-buttons or
labrets. Figurines do not show the use of nose-buttons, but they do show
ornaments just below the corners of the mouth and these may have been
worn through the fleshy part of the chin. Ornaments worn through the
nose or chin strike us as strange, for they have never won approval in
our particular society, but they have been quite common in other parts
of the world. In any case, a glimpse at a woman’s hat shop today offers
convincing proof that anything can become fashionable and socially
acceptable.
Shell work, already so well developed among the Hohokam, reached its
peak in Sedentary times. Mosaic work, in which both shell and turquoise
were used, achieved its highest development. The technique employed must
be described as overlaying, rather than as inlaying, for depressions
were not cut to receive the pieces which, instead, were laid on the
surface. Due to the placing of these mosaics in the cremation fires, we
know little of their composition beyond the fact that shell was usually
used to provide a base for the overlay. Individual pieces were cut in
the forms of animals or geometric figures. Disc beads, characterized by
large perforations, and pendants were widely made. For the latter, the
trend was away from life-forms and toward geometric figures. Many finely
carved bracelets were made. Shells with painted designs appear first in
Sedentary levels, but, due to the impermanent nature of the paint, there
is no assurance that this technique may not have been developed some
time before.
The most interesting treatment of shells is exemplified by those with
designs applied by an etching process. The Hohokam may have been the
first people to discover the technique of etching, for they were using
it about the eleventh or twelfth century and the earliest recorded use
of the process is on a coat of armor made in Europe in the 15th
century.[57] Among the Hohokam the process does not appear to have
continued beyond Sedentary times. It was probably never very commonly
used and the difficulty of controlling the medium may have contributed
to an early abandonment. Painting and etching were sometimes combined,
for an example has been found of a shell etched with geometric designs
and painted with red and green pigment.
[Illustration: Fig. 49—Hohokam etched shell. Sedentary period.
(Courtesy Arizona State Museum)]
Since shell is nearly pure calcium carbonate it is easy to see why
portions exposed to the action of acid would be eaten away, but we have
no way of being sure exactly what the technique used may have been.
Experiments conducted in the laboratories of Gila Pueblo, however, have
shown how such results could have been obtained with available
materials.[31] The problem of finding a suitable acid was first
considered. Obviously, for the ancient Hohokam, the problem could not be
solved by running down to the corner drugstore. For the purposes of the
experiment, a mild acetic acid solution was produced by fermenting juice
from the fruit of the giant cactus. Portions of a shell were covered
with pitch, a material which resists acid, and the shell immersed in the
acid for seventy-two hours. When it was removed, the pitch-covered
portion stood out in relief while the exposed parts had been partially
eaten away, duplicating the effect found on the prehistoric shells.
Bone tubes continued to be made, but they were plain and undecorated.
Other bone artifacts include daggerlike objects with carved heads, which
may have served as hair ornaments. Usually the carving represented the
heads of mountain sheep or a bird-and-serpent motif.
It was in the Sedentary level at Snaketown that the first objects made
of metal were found. These were little copper bells, pear-shaped and
split at the bottom, which very much resemble sleigh-bells. A great many
identical bells are found in Mexico and it seems probable that the
Snaketown examples were imported from there.[59] In the Anasazi area
many copper bells were imported from the south. Most of them are dated
at between 1300 and 1400 A. D., although some have been found which were
brought into Pueblo Bonito and Aztec at an earlier date.
THE CLASSIC HOHOKAM
The Classic period of the Hohokam, which lasted from about 1200 to 1400
A. D. or not long thereafter, was a remarkable era which has been
referred to as “the Golden Age of southern Arizona”. As has been
previously noted, however, _Classic_ is hardly an accurate designation
since we are no longer dealing with a pure Hohokam culture. It was
during this time that Pueblo traits and, later, Pueblo people themselves
entered the Hohokam homeland.
The newcomers, whose influence had been felt even before they themselves
arrived, were a group known as the Salado people. The Saladoans are
believed to have originated in the Little Colorado area, which they left
to move farther south into the Tonto Basin around 1100 A. D.[56] About
1300 they again moved farther south and entered the domain of the
Hohokam. They brought with them their own distinctive culture which
differed in some ways from the classic Pueblo of the San Juan area and
was far different from that of the Hohokam. They built thick-walled,
multi-storied communal houses of adobe, in walled compounds. Their
pottery included coiled and scraped polychrome wares in red, black, and
white. They practiced inhumation, or burial of the dead.
[Illustration: Fig. 50—Salado polychrome ware. (Courtesy National
Park Service.)]
The coming together of the Salado people and the Hohokam is really
remarkable. There is no evidence of an invasion nor of violence.
Instead, these two culturally different people seem to have come
together in a friendly manner and lived together in the same communities
in peace and amity. Each group, to a great extent, clung to its own way
of life, yet together they achieved a distinctive culture. It was during
this period that the canal system reached its highest development.
Doubtless the newcomers, who had had no real irrigation system before,
contributed their labor to the common project of building and
maintaining the canals which were built to serve their villages.
In the Hohokam culture proper there were certain changes. Pottery
included plain buff ware and a pebble-polished bright red ware, usually
in the form of bowls with black interiors, as well as the ubiquitous
red-on-buff. In the latter, the red paint was thinner and less
brilliantly colored than in earlier times. Jars and pitchers, the latter
an innovation of this period, were the commonest forms. Jars with a
capacity of over thirty gallons have been found. Painting was
characterized by poor brush work. Most designs were rectilinear and
practically no life-forms were used. A few figurines, representing both
human beings and animals, have been found at Los Muertos, a Classic
site, but they were too few to have been important in the culture. There
is, of course, the possibility that some were made of perishable
materials instead of clay and hence have not survived.
Most Salado pottery during this period was a polychrome ware with red,
black, and white. Red was sometimes used as a decorative color, and
sometimes formed a part of the background. Bowls and jars predominated,
but ladles and mugs were also made, and there were some effigy vessels,
usually in the form of birds. Some corrugated pottery was also made.
There was a definite decline in some of the arts of the Hohokam. Carved
stone vessels and palettes were no longer made. Pyrites mirrors are not
found in this horizon. Shell work continued to flourish, although
etching had disappeared. Heavy bracelets were made and true inlay and
ceremonial shell trumpets[5] made their first appearance. These were
west-coast conch shells with a hole ground into the tip of the spire.
Blowing into the shell through this hole produces a trumpetlike sound.
Axes, both single and doublebitted, were beautifully made, and
represented stone work at its peak. Projectile points were thin and well
made. Usually they were long and triangular. Most of them had notches
chipped at right angles but a few were unnotched. Edges were not
serrated, as they had been in earlier times. Stone implements,
presumably of Salado origin, were added to the complex. These included
adzes, picks, chisels, crushers, club heads, flakes with serrated edges
which served as saws, jar stoppers, pottery scrapers, and shaft
straighteners.
Ball courts were greatly reduced in size by Classic times and it seems
probable that the game played in them had lost much of its popularity.
This belief is confirmed by the absence of a ball court at Los Muertos,
one of the largest and most important villages. It seems likely that
provisions would have been made at such a settlement for a sport which
enjoyed much popular support. A ball court was found at Casa Grande,
another important Classic site, however, so this trait had apparently
not disappeared entirely.
It was in the realm of architecture that the greatest changes occurred.
Even in Sedentary times, in the eastern part of the Hohokam area, there
was a tendency for houses to become surface structures. During the early
part of the Classic period, surface houses, sometimes with contiguous
rooms, were built by the Hohokam. These changes were probably due to
Salado influence, although the people themselves had not yet arrived in
the area. Walls were still extremely thin and of typical Hohokam
construction, so houses were no more than one story high.
With the arrival of the Salado people, the building of multi-storied
houses with massive walls, enclosed in compounds, began. Two of the best
known of these are El Pueblo de Los Muertos. (The City of the Dead)[56]
which, before its destruction by farmers, lay a few miles south of
Tempe, Arizona, and Casa Grande,[26] a great ruin, now a National
Monument, which lies nine miles west of Florence, Arizona.
Los Muertos covered a large area and contained thirty-six communal
buildings and many small houses. It was a settlement which could not
have existed without irrigation, and ditches have been traced which
brought water to it from the Salt River. The largest single building was
a great rectangular house enclosed on all four sides by a massive wall
which reached a thickness of seven feet in some places. Some of the
outer walls of the big house achieved a comparable thickness. In
addition to the main structure, the compound contained plazas and small
house clusters. Another ruin contained two large house clusters. Here
some of the rooms had very thin walls, as do the Hohokam houses of
Sedentary and early Classic times.
At Los Muertos the Hohokam and the Salado people apparently lived side
by side, each clinging for the most part to their own traditions. This
divergence was particularly marked in the disposal of the dead. The
Saladoans usually buried their dead under house floors or in the plaza.
The body was normally extended, with the head to the east. Pottery,
jewelry, and some stone artifacts served as grave offerings. The Hohokam
continued to practice cremation. The dead were placed on wooden gratings
over shallow pits, and the grating was consumed with the body. The
unconsumed bones and ashes were placed in jars and buried in special
plots near the refuse heaps. There seems to have been some borrowing
between the two groups, for occasionally inhumations are found
accompanied by the red-on-buff pottery of the Hohokam, and a few
cremations have been found with Salado offerings or in polychrome
vessels. This borrowing, however, seems to have been sufficiently
limited to make it possible, on the basis of the numbers of burials and
cremations, to estimate what the comparative ratio of Hohokam to Salado
people may have been. On this basis, the Hohokam appear to have
outnumbered the foreign element by a ratio of three to one.
[Illustration: Fig. 51—Great House built by the Salado people. Casa
Grande National Monument, Arizona. (Courtesy National Park
Service.)]
The famous site of Casa Grande consists of a group of ruins made up of
house clusters surrounded by compound walls. Both thin-walled,
single-roomed houses and multiple-roomed structures with massive walls
are represented. Of the latter, the outstanding example is a building
known as the “Great House” which lies in an enclosure called Compound A.
The Great House is four stories high, but only eleven rooms are
represented. Originally there were five additional rooms on the ground
floor, but these were filled in to form an artificial terrace. The rooms
are arranged with one on the top floor and five rooms on each of the two
lower stories. Some rooms were entered by small doors, and others
through the roof. There were no windows. The walls of the Great House
now stand some thirty-four feet above ground level and are over four
feet thick. No forms were used, and the wall was constructed by a
process of piling up layers of stiff caliche mud. Each course was patted
into shape and then allowed to dry to receive the next course. The final
finish was obtained by plastering with a thin mud mixture made with
sieved caliche.
While the foregoing refers to the Hohokam who lived in the river
valleys, there was another group who lived farther to the south in the
desert region known as the Papagueria.[57] Here agriculture was more
limited, for the only form of irrigation was by ditches designed to
divert rain water to the fields. With a less favorable environment, the
standard of living was lowered and the reduction of leisure time
resulted in a poorer development of arts and crafts. Although the
material culture was not as rich as in the more favored river valleys,
any loss is more than compensated for, from the archaeological point of
view, by the fact that the greater aridity of this region has made
possible the preservation of much normally perishable material. The
ancient desert dwellers further endeared themselves to archaeologists by
forsaking cremation about the beginning of the eleventh century.
A remarkable site, known as _Ventana Cave_,[55] which lies in the Papago
Indian Reservation, has yielded great quantities of very fine material,
including some forty burials, and the final report of this valuable
discovery is eagerly awaited. Preliminary reports indicate that the
ancient inhabitants of this region strongly resembled the Papago Indians
who still occupy it. The early people were fine weavers and made cotton
cloth which, together with rabbit-fur blankets and sandals, provided
them with clothing.
[Illustration: Fig. 52—Child’s cotton poncho from Ventana Cave.
Desert Hohokam, eleventh or twelfth century. (Courtesy Arizona State
Museum.)]
One strong difference between the Hohokam of the river valleys and those
of the desert area lies in the fact that the Salado people did not
penetrate into the desert section and the culture of this region
accordingly remained relatively untouched. This isolation seems to have
been deliberately achieved by the desert dwellers who erected strings of
forts of rough laid stone on volcanic hills to protect their domain.
Environment may well have played a strong part in the reaction of the
two groups of Hohokam to new people. With their meager resources the
people of the Papagueria could hardly accept additions to the
population, while the more prosperous group to the north, blessed with
the water which means so much in the Southwest, could afford to be
friendly.
THE RECENT HOHOKAM
About 1400 A.D., the Salado people left the Gila country. It is thought
that some may have moved east as far as eastern New Mexico and southeast
into Chihauhua. Others from the Upper Gila may have drifted north into
the Zuñi area. We cannot be sure of the reason for their departure, but
one theory, which has been advanced, is that they may have been forced
out by the arrival of the Apaches.[27] What happened to the Hohokam
themselves we do not know. Possibly they remained in the same district
and eventually sites belonging to the period after 1400 may be found. It
is also possible that they may have moved to the inhospitable reaches of
the Papagueria which would have afforded greater protection against an
enemy.
Although there is a gap in our information, the belief is widely held
that the Hohokam may have been the ancestors of the present Pima Indians
and possibly the Papago, related tribes who speak mutually intelligible
dialects of the Piman language. The most convincing argument for this
theory is that the Pimas were well established in the Gila Basin, the
old Hohokam homeland, when they were discovered by the Spaniards in
1530. The Papago still occupy the desert region of the Papagueria. In
general, the way of life of these people was not too different from that
of the Hohokam. They were agriculturists, dependent on irrigation, lived
in one-room houses, and their pottery was somewhat similar to that of
the Hohokam. Quite possibly, other racial strains are present and other
groups contributed to the Pima and Papago culture, but it seems highly
probable that the Hohokam was one of the most important elements.
[Illustration: Fig. 53—Pima House in 1897. (Courtesy National Park
Service.)]
SUMMARY
We may characterize the Hohokam as follows: They were a prehistoric
agricultural people of southern Arizona who may have been the
descendants of the western branch of the ancient food-gathering people
of the Cochise Culture. They made an amazing adjustment to an
unfavorable environment through the use of an extensive canal system.
They lived in one-room houses of wattle-and-daub construction with
depressed floors and covered side passages or vestibules. Some big
houses built during the earliest period may have sheltered more than one
family or they may have been ceremonial structures. There were large
courts where it is thought that a ball game similar to that of the Maya
was played.
Pottery was made by the paddle-and-anvil technique and fired in an
oxidizing atmosphere. Undecorated plain ware was mostly buff, although
ranging in shade from gray to brown. Decorated pottery usually had
designs in red paint on a buff background. In an early period there was
a rare polychrome ware which had red and yellow designs on a gray
background. Figurines were also made of clay.
Stone work was well developed. Stone vessels, often with fine carving,
were widely made. Well carved palettes are a distinctive trait of the
culture. Mosaic plaques or mirrors, made of pyrites crystals, believed
to have been imported from the south, were often used as funeral
offerings.
Shell was widely used in the manufacture of ornaments, particularly
bracelets. It was usually ornamented by carving, but in a few cases an
etching technique was employed. Weaving was apparently well developed,
but only a few specimens have been preserved, so our information on this
point is scanty.
Disposal of the dead was by cremation. Funerary offerings were burned
with the body, and included pottery, figurines, palettes and pyrites
mirrors. Ashes, calcined bones, and offerings were gathered together
after the cremation and buried. Burial was at first in trenches, later
in pits or urns.
About 1300 A. D., Pueblo people moved into the Hohokam country and for
the next hundred years the two groups lived together. There was some
amalgamation of the two cultures, but in most important respects they
remained distinct in spite of the closeness of the association. About
1400 A. D. the newcomers moved away. We have no clear information as to
just what happened to the Hohokam after that time, but it is possible
that they may have remained in the same general vicinity and have been
the forerunners of the Pima and Papago Indians who occupied that
territory at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards.