Hohokam culture
The Hohokam culture was a pre-Columbian Indian culture in the southwest of what is now the United States . In the language of the Pima , Hohokam means those who have disappeared , literally roughly used up , no longer usable . As an archaeological name for the culture in question, the term was introduced by Harold S. Gladwin , who began researching its relics in 1927.
The culture existed from around 300 to 1500 AD in central and southern Arizona , with a focus on the confluence of the Gila and Salt Rivers around what is now Phoenix , Arizona. The most famous remains of Hohokam settlements are the Casa Grande Ruins in the National Monument of the same name and the Snaketown , designated as the Hohokam Pima National Monument , a prehistoric settlement that is now in the Gila River Reservation and is not open to the public. Other finds are known from the Chaco Culture National Historical Park and the White Tank Mountains .
Features and way of life
Archaeologically, the Hohokam culture was delimited by characteristic ceramic finds during its first intensive research in the 1920s . They are characterized by multiple repetitions of small patterns in red on a yellow, gray or brown tone.
Settlements
The settlements consisted of a core of closely spaced buildings and scattered houses on the periphery. The center was grouped around large squares or around mounds of earth with a platform on top. The buildings consisted of pit houses with walls made of wickerwork and clay plaster , from around 1150 walls made of adobe clay bricks also appeared.
The places are traditionally identified with fields for the Mesoamerican ball game , but in 2009 it was suggested that they are dance floors , from which the traditions of the Papago's Vikita festival, which continued into the 20th century, emerged. The curved side lines and the low borders, as well as other features, make the courts of the Hohokam unsuitable for ball games, but correspond to the shapes of the Papago.
Irrigation farming
Food and agriculture were shaped by the climatic conditions in the lowland desert. The annual rainfall is around 180 mm. The year-round availability of drinking water was not guaranteed. Probably the most elaborate hallmark of the Hohokam culture was a sophisticated irrigation system that stretched over 1200 kilometers and irrigated an area of over ten thousand hectares.
For the Cave Creek , a tributary of the Salt River , it has been proven that the Hohokam artificially diverted the entire bed of the river in its plain in order to increase the proportion of clay in the soil, which promoted fertility for several years. According to soil analyzes, they were able to increase the value of 18 percent soil content in the typical soils of the region to around 45 percent and thus significantly increase the water retention capacity of the soil.
In the terraced fields, the Hohokam mainly cultivated corn , but also beans , pumpkins and cotton . Amaranth and barley have also been detected in isolated cases . For agriculture they only used hoes and digging sticks with tips made of bone or stone attached to them. In addition to agriculture, there was also the collection of wild fruits, especially mesquite and opuntia cacti.
While settlements were in the foreground for a long time in the archaeological investigation of the Hohokam culture, in the 21st century the space between the villages was recognized as important for land use and social aspects. The evaluation of isolated finds, which are not in the context of a larger site, showed that the Hohokam often visited various places in their settlement area in small groups or individually in order to pursue specialized tasks. The Hohokam used their region far beyond the agricultural land and the immediate vicinity of the villages and much more intensively than previously assumed. Artifacts were found almost evenly across the various landscape forms, on alluvial land in valley floors, on dry plains and on chains of hills. The specific uses are difficult to estimate; there are indications that agaves were collected as a fiber plant and as food or cultivated locally. Stone tools were also made and probably at least occasionally clay pots were also produced outside of the settlement areas.
Culture and commerce
Cremation was the only form of burial until around 1300 , in the later phase corpses were also buried directly. Investigations of a burial field at the La Plaza site in Arizona gave insights into the burial customs of the Hohokam. Among the better preserved burials were 66 burials and 52 cremations, so both methods were used in roughly comparable numbers. Around 74% had grave goods. The analysis of the remains of a woman who died at the age of about 20 suggests extensive care for members of the tribe with restricted health. The young woman suffered from a bone disease that had existed for years and eventually died of a lung disease, presumably tuberculosis , associated with vitamin D deficiency. The excellent condition of her teeth suggests that she was cared for by relatives for many years and that she was offered specially prepared, low-carbohydrate food that was almost free of any coarse-grained material. The bioarchaeologists see this as evidence of strong social ties and possibly a high status of the young woman and her family.
Due to the strong similarity of all finds in the entire settlement area, close contacts between all members of the Hohokam culture can be assumed. Family relationships, the development of climatically adapted economic forms and speculations about shared religious convictions are named as methods of cultural homogeneity.
It is believed that the Hohokam culture was heavily influenced by Central America. Both the mounds of earth with platforms and the ball game indicate close connections to Mesoamerica .
The members of the Hohokam culture obtained large quantities of mussel shells from the Mexican coasts, which were processed into jewelry. Relations also existed in the Rocky Mountains , from where obsidian was traded. Soapstone and other rare rocks were sourced from the east.
Transition to the pima
Traditionally it was believed that the Hohokam culture began in decline from the twelfth century. First droughts caused famine, in the following century a large part of the irrigation system was destroyed by floods, causing the Hohokam to lose their livelihood. It was believed that the invasion of new tribes from the north and disrupted trade ties with Mexico would eventually have forced the Hohokam to a lower level of culture.
A reassessment of the settlement patterns and a more precise assignment of the dates of individual groups of finds allows the conclusion that the Hohokam made a change in an orderly manner and without cultural breakdown, from which the Pima or, according to their own name, the O'Odham emerged . The two rivers Salt River and Gila River in the settlement area of the Hohokam have a clearly different terrain profile and thus also different drainage patterns. Climatic changes in the region mean that sometimes one, sometimes the other, showed better seasonal runoff profiles for irrigation agriculture. Before about 1100, the Hohokam settled mainly in the irrigation area of the Salt River and shifted their canal systems to the Gila River in the so-called Classical Period until about 1450. The subsequent return to the Salt River and essential elements of the farming practices of earlier times can be seen as the creation of the Pima / O'Odham.
literature
- Linda M. Gregonis, Karl J. Reinhard: Hohokam Indians of the Tucson Basin . University of Arizona Press, 1979, ISBN 0-8165-0700-7 . (full text online: Hohokam Indians )
- Helmut von Papen : Pueblos and Kivas; the story of the ANASAZI and its neighbors. 2000, ISBN 3-00-006869-4 .
- George J. Gumerman, Emil W. Haury: Prehistory: Hohokam . In: William C. Sturtevant: Handbook of North American Indians. vol. 9: Southwest. Smithsonian Institution, Washington 1979.
- Werner Arens, Hans Martin Braun: The Indians of North America: History - Culture - Religion. (from the series " Beck Wissen "). Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-50830-8 .
- Paul R. Fish: Hohokam Culture Area . In: Guy Gibbon: Archeology of Prehistoric Native America. Garland Publishing, New York 1998, ISBN 0-8153-0725-X , p. 366 ff.
- Michael H. Bertlett, Thomas M. Kolaz, David A. Gregory: Archeology in the City. A Hohokam Village in Phoenix . University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona 1986.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Old Explorer ( Memento of the original from June 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , at: The Official Website of the ARIZONA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ( Memento of the original from April 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed: April 6, 2013)
- ^ Edwin N. Ferdon, jr .: The Hohokam 'Ball Court' - An Alternative View of its Function . In: KIVA. Vol 75, No. 2, Winter 2009, ISSN 0023-1940 , pp. 165-178
- ^ Hoski Schaafsma, John M Briggs: Hohokam Field Building. In: KIVA. Vol 71, No. 4, Summer 2007, ISSN 0023-1940 , p. 431ff.
- ↑ Jonathon E. Ericson & Timothy G. Baugh, " The American Southwest and Mesoamerica: Systems of Prehistoric Exchange, " Springer, 1993, p. 103 --- John P. Andrews and Todd W. Bostwick, " Desert Farmers at the River "Edge - The Hohokam and Pueblo Grande ", Pueblo Grande Museum, 1999; to: Harvesting the Desert ( Memento of the original from January 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Pueblo Grande Museum, Archaeological Park --- Kim Whitley and Jeri Ledbetter, " Hohokam Canal System (Introduction) ", at: Northern Arizona University , at: Arizona Heritage Waters (all links accessed: July 26, 2013)
- ↑ Peter Pagoulatos: Isolated but not Alone: The Utility of Hohokam Isolated Occurrences from Florence Military Reservation, Middle Gila River Valley, Arizona . In: North American Archaeologist , Volume 35, Issue 1 (2014), pp. 55-85
- ↑ Kurt E. Dongoske, Eric S. Cox, AE Rogge: Bioarchaeology of Care: A Hohokam Example. In: Kiva , Vol. 80 No 3-4 (March-June 2015), pp. 304–323
- ↑ Chris Loendorf, Barnaby V. Lewis: Ancestral O'Odham: Akimel O'Odham Cultural Traditions and the Archaeological Record . In: American Antiquity, Volume 82, Issue 1 (January 2017), pp. 123-139, 123 f., 128, 133 f.
