The Hohokam: Canal Masters of the American Southwest

[Judi Lynn]

By Paul Joseph De Mola, FRGS Wed, Jan 9, 2019

Before the arrival of the Spanish, a Native American culture of the American Southwest built a flourishing civilization with a sophisticated irrigation system that rivaled the ancient Roman aqueducts.



During the High Middle Ages, whilst Western Europe was still coping with the sociopolitical disorder and economic decline which had engulfed the continent since the fall of Rome, the Hohokam of the North American Southwest were reaching their pinnacle of economic prosperity and social organization (Brown 1988: 1-61; Smith 2004: 14). Interestingly, the Hohokam or ‘those who have gone before’ are not as well known as some of their contemporaries, such as the Pueblo III era Anasazi, the Aztecs and the late-Classic/Postclassic Maya (Justice 2002: 275; Milner 2009: 680; Webster and Evans 2009: 596). Nonetheless, the Hohokam were a productive and expansive culture, whose innovations influenced subsequent Native American and post-Columbian generations (Browman et al. 2009: 320; See also Smith 2004: 23-93).

Center to Hohokam culture was their technologically sophisticated canal engineering which was utilized to irrigate numerous sub-communities (Abbott 2000: 48). At its peak (c. AD 1150-1450), the Hohokam hydraulic system was the largest of the day and provided water (and consequently food) to tens of thousands of rural inhabitants, rivaling the excellence of the ancient Roman aqueducts — an urban engineering marvel (Medchill 2012, pers.comm.; Logan 2002: 31; cf Aicher 1995: 6). Moreover, through a vast array of human-made waterways, otherwise disunified subcultural ‘villages’ were integrated into a highly complex agricultural based society (Abbott 2000: 143; Abbott et al. 2003: 15). Thus, one may argue, that the increasing needs of an agrarian society was an incentive for the centralized management of inter-communal water facilitation, which in turn resulted in a closely knit farming society that was regionally unsurpassed in crop production (cf Milner 2009: 692, 694).

How is archaeological survey and excavation changing our understanding of Hohokam agriculture and irrigation? To answer this, I shall critically discuss several examples from both the Preclassic (c. AD 700-1150) and Classic (c. AD 1150-1450) Hohokam Periods. Specifically, I will draw from a host of archaeological subcategories such as botanical, hydrological and settlement patterns, with some perspectives coming from my recent fieldwork at the Riverview Archaeological Project.

Part I: The Dry Farmers

Evolving Cultigen Patterns

Research into the selection of agricultural crops may be a rather unique reflection of the evolution of Hohokam irrigation. For example, archaeobotanical evidence has revealed that cultigens, such as the legume tepary and the herb amaranth (Fig. 1), were popular with the Classic Hohokam especially during the Sacaton-Soho (Sedentary) transition phase (c. AD 1050-1150) (Browman et al. 2009: 320-321; Elson 1998: 7; Barnes and Breternitz 1988: 54). Other agricultural genera excavated from Classic Period contexts include cucurbita (squash) and P. vulgaris (common beans) (Foster 2012: 39; Kwiatkowski 2003: 50). This is in stark contrast to their more homogenous Preclassic taste for ‘traditional’ cultigens such as maize — a species found sparingly in Classic contexts but abundantly in Preclassic phases (Browman et al. 2009: 316; cf Foster 2012: 91). Some have explained this apparent disparity between Preclassic and Classic horticulture as indicative of archaeological bias from poor sampling techniques (See Browman et al. 2009: 316, 318).

More:
https://popular-archaeology.com/article/the-hohokam-canal-masters-of-the-american-southwest/

(Apologies for the age of the article. Just discovered this topic late this evening, hope to learn more.)