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The Hohokam (hoh-HOH-kuhm) people flourished in the Sonoran desert in the American Southwest. Their origins remain uncertain. Some scholars believe that they arose from hunter-gatherers who moved to the area from nearby mountains around 1 c.e. However, some archaeologists argue that the Hohokam migrated from present-day Mexico. They base their claims on cultural similarities between the Hohokam and groups living to the south.

The Hohokam were an agriculture-based people who successfully adapted to a desert environment not suited for food cultivation. There exists no consensus among current archaeologists regarding Hohokam origins or the chronological sequence of development. Some scholars have suggested that the Hohokam were migrants from the south. In this model, the migrants displaced an earlier indigenous culture in the southwestern desert. Other fieldworkers interpret the Hohokam as being indigenous, and their roots are traced to an archaic hunting and gathering tradition that evolved into a sedentary agricultural society.

One of four prehistoric cultures in the American Southwest, the Hohokam people, ancestors of the modern Pima and Tohono O’Oodham, lived in the fertile valleys of the Salt and Gila Rivers in what is now southern Arizona. Artifacts show that this seemingly bleak region, the Arizona-Sonora Desert, was home to the Hohokam for more than seventeen hundred years, but archaeologists are not certain where they originated. It is unknown whether they were descendants of the earlier Cochise people, who hunted and gathered in the same desert area, or if they migrated from Mexico. Much of their cultural history suggests a Mesoamerican influence; however, this could have been acquired through the extensive trade routes established by the Hohokam.

The site of Snaketown, near the city of Phoenix in southern Arizona, was the largest of the early pit house villages. With occupations dating from between 300 and 1150, it remains the best-known center of Hohokam Hohokam culture. It is situated on an upper river terrace in the Phoenix Basin, near the confluence of the Salt and the Gila rivers. The site was excavated by archaeologist Emil Haury in 1934-1935 and again in 1964-1965. This research provided detailed information on the Southwest’s first irrigation farmers. Snaketown

The Sinagua culture is known from sites in central Arizona around the Sunset Crater volcano near Flagstaff, Arizona, and in the upper Verde Valley. Its interpretation is complex, and Sinagua has been variously identified as a branch of the Mogollon tradition, Patayan tradition, or Hakataya tradition. In general, Sinagua is representative of a blending of cultural traits, either through population movements or the adoption of features from neighboring peoples. This blending is a combination of earlier local traditions with those of neighboring Anasazi, Mogollon, and Hohokam peoples.

Archaeologists have determined that the first people in the Southwest were nomadic hunting and gathering peoples who drifted into the region in small groups in the late Pleistocene period. These people, known in archaeological literature as the Cochise culture Cochise, had minimal tools and equipment, although some of their stone implements were expertly flaked into beautiful spear points and knives. There are several different groups of these “early man points,” which are identified by the localities where they were first discovered: Folsom (prehistoric site), Sandia, and Clovis. Prehistory—Southwest

All three prehistoric cultures in the Southwest were Pit house pit house builders. The Mogollon Mogollon constructed circular pit houses grouped in small villages of fifteen to twenty families. The Hohokam Hohokam built square or rectangular pit houses randomly scattered over a large area (the settlement at Snaketown covers almost a square mile). Architecture—Southwest Pueblos

Cotton (Gossypium herbaceum) has a highly complex domestication history with independent domestications in both Africa and South America. All cotton in pre-Columbian America descended from that domesticated in coastal Peru sometime before 4,000 b.c.e. Cotton spread northward through Central America and Mexico, finally entering North America in the Southwest. People of the Hohokam archaeological tradition, centered in the Sonora Desert of Arizona and adjacent Mexico, were the first North Americans to use cotton, probably around 100 c.e. They used the fiber for spinning thread from which clothing, bags, and other items were woven; they also used the seed for extracting its nutritious oil. Cotton requires a considerable amount of water for successful growing, and its cultivation probably was a spur to the development of the sophisticated irrigation developed by the Hohokam. The Pima, the Sonoran Desert tribe widely believed descended from the Hohokam, were growing irrigated cotton when the Spanish first encountered them in the seventeenth century. Cotton

Irrigation, the bringing of water to agricultural fields, was practiced widely in pre-Columbian Mexico and Peru, but it was used relatively little by prehistoric North American Indians. Most of eastern North America had adequate rainfall for agriculture, and much of western North America was so dry that agriculture was impractical. As a result, irrigation in pre-Columbian North America was restricted to the Southwest cultural area. There, the earliest known irrigation was practiced by people of the Hohokam archaeological tradition, beginning around 100 c.e. Irrigation

The Mogollon people were named for the Mogollon Mountains, the southern parts of Arizona and New Mexico where remnants of their culture were first discovered. Prior to 1930, what is now recognized as Mogollon culture was considered a regional variation of Anasazi or Pueblo culture. In the 1930’, Harold Gladwin and Emil Haury recognized the Mogollon as a separate people from the Anasazi and Hohokam, who together constituted the three primary cultural divisions of what are commonly referred to as the Pueblos. Mogollon civilization flourished between approximately 300 b.c.e. and 1300 c.e.

Pueblo architecture includes the most conspicuous built structures and environments of the geographic southwestern United States. Although pueblo occupation is normally subdivided into five main pueblo periods (I-V) that span from about 750 and 1600 CE, many of its conceptual ideas are earlier. The diverse ecological zones of the Southwest are also home to a rich group of cultures whose history spans 3,000 years. Within the region, there are three main cultural groups, but with many distinct cultural subgroups. These are: the Anasazi in the area where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah converge (the so-called Four Corners Region); the Hohokam in southern Arizona; and the Mimbres/Mogollon in southwestern New Mexico into parts of the Mexican Sonora Desert. There was a connectedness among the cultural groups that affected the ebb and flow of change with regard to identity, migration, and status, which in turn affected the built environment.

Patayan, as a designation for the ancestors of the Yuman-speaking peoples of the Colorado River Basin from the Grand Canyon to the Gulf of California, along with the surrounding upland areas, first appeared in the 1930’s, when a familiar division of prehistoric Southwest cultures emerged: Anasazi, Hohokam, Mogollon, and Patayan. Since the 1950’s, there has been support for an overall designation of Hakataya Hakataya, with Patayan to be restricted to the upland regions of Arizona and Laquish to be used for the lower Colorado Basin area. Some scholars, however, continue to use Patayan as an overall designation. Patayan

Pit houses are the earliest recognizable form of architecture adopted by semi-sedentary cultures in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Pit houses appeared in the Hohokam culture in Arizona as early as 300 Before the Common Era and in the Anasazi civilization of southwestern Colorado by 200 Common Era (CE). Associated with the introduction of domesticated crops and pottery, pit houses remained the principal architectural form until approximately 700 CE, when they were replaced by masonry and adobe Pueblo-style architecture.

The kiva first appeared in the Southwest among the prehistoric Mogollon, Hohokam, and Anasazi cultures. The Mogollon were among the first to begin building permanent houses. It is likely that they conceived and developed their architecture themselves, although other Southwest cultures may have influenced them. By circa 100 Common Era (CE), the Mogollon circular pit house consisted of a hole several feet deep, tined with poles and brush to create low sidewalls, and a single center post supported a conical roof. A short, sloping ramp on one side served as an entryway to the pit house, and a hole in the center of the roof provided a vent for the fire pit. As the Mogollon constructed their pit house villages, they usually built an extra deeper, larger structure, which served as the kivatheir ceremonial center.

Although direct evidence is inconclusive, many scholars believe that the Pima (or Akimel O'odham) are descended from the prehistoric Hohokam people of the Southwest. The Pima developed extensive canals and dams for their farmlands, and they were considered the best farmers of all Arizona Indigenous nations during early European contact in the area. The missionary Eusebio Kino, in 1687, introduced new crops, including barley and wheat, to the Pima and supplied them with cattle and sheep. A century later, in 1793, the Pima numbered about 4,000 and resided in seven villages near the Gila River. They grew cotton, corn, melons, and pumpkins and traded their spun and woven cotton cloth to the Mexicans to the south.

The Tohono O’odham are Indigenous American people that live predominantly in Southern Arizona along the United States border with Mexico. The Indigenous name is translated as “desert people.” The Tohono O’odham were named by Spanish explorers as the Papago. In 1986 the official name of the Indigenous group was changed to Tohono O'odham. Evidence of the Tohono O’odham has been collected dating as far back as eleven thousand years. Some have assessed the Tohono O’odham as descendants of the ancient Hohokam, an extinct agricultural people who had learned to irrigate the desert employing a series of canals.

Arizona’s arid climate and southwest location combined to play influential roles in its history. Lack of rain has placed water at the center of Arizona’s concerns, because without water, economic development is impossible. In the 1850s, the federal government even imported camels for a route through Arizona. The state was later than others in developing, with a population of barely forty thousand in 1880. On the other hand, the completion of a number of significant dams before and after World War II provided copious water and electric power, and the state’s warm winters attract millions of new arrivals.

Hydraulic engineering is a branch of civil engineering concerned with the properties, flow, control, and uses of water. Its applications are in the fields of water supply, sewerage evacuation, water recycling, flood management, irrigation, and the generation of electricity. Hydraulic engineering is an essential element in the design of many civil and environmental engineering projects and structures, such as water distribution systems, wastewater management systems, drainage systems, dams, hydraulic turbines, channels, canals, bridges, dikes, levees, weirs, tanks, pumps, and valves.

Situated a few hundred miles directly south of the Grand Canyon's south rim, it is easy for the industrial city of Mesa, Arizona, to feel overshadowed. Although it isn't the first stop for tourists visiting Arizona, Mesa experienced significant population growth in the 1980s, and is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States.

Plant cultivation and controlled stock breeding increased human population density and resulted in the emergence of urbanism, occupational specialization, social stratification, writing, and long-distance trade. Agriculture also necessitated the development of metallurgy, engineering, astronomy, and mathematics and transformed both religious and political systems as humans altered the environment through deforestation, terracing, and irrigation.

The extent to which climatic change has affected the genesis, development, location, nature, and the rise and fall of civilizations throughout history has been a matter of long-standing debate. The issue has gained a sharper edge and assumed a greater urgency, however, in an era of increasing environmental awareness. Any agreement among scholars seems to be on a broad scale rather than on specifics. The wider view is that the globe has been in a predominantly warming trend for the last seventeen thousand years. This thaw in the wake of the last major ice age has been proposed as the main factor that started, propelled, and sustained the spectacular advance of human civilization, notably from around 3000 b.c.e. to the present. However, when historians attempt to determine causal factors contributing to the success and failure of particular cultures, multiple factors other than climate have to be taken into account.

For at least ten thousand years, maybe longer, people have struggled to make a homeland out of the arid Southwest. Apart from archaeology, little is known of the first peoples who came into the region more than ten thousand years ago, but the ancient remains contain evidence of ways of life that have persisted to modern times among the descendants of these peoples, including adobe and wattle-and-daub structure construction.

The Mogollon (muh-guh-YOHN) culture, part of early Pueblo cultures, influenced other Southwest cultures and later merged with the Anasazi. Archaeologist Emil Haury named this tradition after the Mogollon Mountains of the central Arizona-New Mexico border. Mogollon culture developed from the earlier Cochise culture and retained many of its traits, including the gathering of seeds, roots, berries, nuts, and insects and the hunting of small game. In addition to gathering and hunting, the Mogollon people grew corn and beans without irrigation, clustered in villages in pit houses, and made coiled pottery. The vast area occupied by people of this cultural tradition can be divided into a northern mountainous region and a southern valley or desert region. These not only represent topographic differences but also differences in cultural history. Distinct subregions or cultural subtraditions identified by archaeologists are Chihuahua, Forestdale, Grasshopper, Jornada, Mimbres, Pine Lawn, Point of Pines, Q Ranch, San Simón, and Upper Little Colorado.

Mogollon culture evolved from the earlier Cochise culture, an adaptation of the widespread Desert culture of the Great Basin, which dated to 6000 or 5000 b.c.e. The Mogollon culture, which has been identified largely by the use of pit houses and brown and dark red pottery, was located in an area bordered by the Verde River on the west, the Little Colorado River on the north, the Pecos River on the east, and the Chihuahua Desert on the south. This area can be subdivided into two areas, a northern or mountainous region and a southern or valley region, which represent both topographical and cultural differences. The southern Mogollon encompasses the Mimbres branch, which is renowned for its fine pottery.

The various prehistoric periods in the New World began and ended at different times in different locations. Moreover, most human remains and ancient artifacts have disappeared, with but a few scattered human bones, stone articles, and pottery fragments remaining. There are two principal scientific techniques for dating ancient artifacts: dendrochronology, which is the study of tree ring growth in wood samples, and radiocarbon dating, which measures the amount of the radioactive isotope carbon 14 in organic material. Both these methods, however, are subject to a certain margin of error, which increases over time. Therefore, the categories and dates that have been developed by scholarly research provide only a general structure for the study of the prehistoric cultures of the New World.

About two million years ago, for reasons not entirely understood, earth’s temperature began to fall. In the north, more snow fell in winter than melted in summer, and great sheets of ice formed on the landmasses. These glaciers went through a series of advances and retreats—sliding forward under the influence of gravity and melting back under warmer climatic conditions.

Following the basic pattern of Paleo and Archaic peoples in the Southwest, the Cochise (ko-CHEEZ) culture adapted to the demands of the arid southwest by building temporary camps along lakes and streams. The earliest Cochise most likely killed large game such as the mammoth for food, and later peoples relied on vegetation and small animals for sustenance. The Cochise had a sophisticated knowledge of plants for food and medicinal uses, which was passed on to subsequent cultural groups in the Southwest. Because of their reliance on a diet of ground nuts and seeds, the Cochise migrated in the summer and fall to procure these foods.

Mid-latitude deserts are characterized by their dry environments, with distinct topographic and physical features. A suite of different organisms have adapted to living in this harsh environment, and some classic examples range from plants that have adapted to different forms of photosynthesis in order to reduce water loss during the hottest part of the day, to animals that have adapted behavioral patterns to thermoregulate. Humans have also historically inhabited these deserts, and have left behind a rich cultural legacy, even in areas no longer populated. Major threats to this ecosystem include: urbanization, desertification, erosion, and resource overexploitation. Mid-latitude deserts are deceiving at first, because they appear desiccated and devoid of life. On a geologic time-scale, when compared with temperate forest ecosystems, deserts do not jump to the top of the list for primary productivity, but are instead weathered remnants that are severely resource constrained. However, mid-latitude deserts are rich centers of life, often with organisms that have adapted to become especially suited to these harsh environments. Mid-latitude deserts are also home to a diverse range of human inhabitants, who have similarly adapted to the desert environment. While deserts can seem unforgiving, it is worthwhile to traverse the dry landscape. Some great examples of the diversity of desert dwellers can be best exhibited through environmental adaptations and defense mechanisms, ranging from the spines commonly found on cacti to the unique defense strategies employed by horned lizards. Deserts are visually stunning and extreme environments, well worth the effort of exploring firsthand.

SIGNIFICANCE: Designed for comfort, protection, and utility, American Indian clothing and decoration also often designated group affiliation, social role, and rank; it often conveyed—and still conveys—a spiritual message to both wearer and observers

Petrified Forest National Park is a US national park in Arizona. President Theodore Roosevelt created Petrified Forest National Monument in December 1906. It was designated a national park in 1962. Legislation more than doubled the park’s size in 2004.

Tucson, Arizona, is located in a desert valley just 45 miles from the United States border with Mexico. The city’s name is derived from the Pima and Tohono O’odham name Stjukshon or Chuk Shon, which means the “spring at the base of the black mountain.”

The Southwestern city of Phoenix, located in central Arizona’s Salt River Valley, is one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas and most important industrial centers. Established in 1870 and incorporated in 1881, Phoenix serves as the state capital as well as the seat of Maricopa County. Present-day Phoenix was first settled in the 1860s, on the remains of an ancient Indian irrigation system. In honor of this revival, the early settlers named their community after the mythical bird that could renew itself every 500 years.

DATE Authorized as a Ruin Reservation on March 2, 1889; redesignated as a National Monument on August 3, 1918

DATE Proclaimed a National Monument on December 9, 1924

Location: Keams Canyon, Navajo County

DATE Established as a National Park on June 29, 1906; named a World Heritage Site on September 6, 1978

DATE Established as a National Monument on November 16, 1907

DEFINITION: Artificial waterways constructed to move water from one area to another

DEFINITION: Natural occurrences such as hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, pandemics, and other disasters that prompt human migrations

Situated in the southwestern region of the United States along the Mexican border, Arizona is also bordered by the states of California, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico. It was the forty-eighth state to join the Union and the last of the contiguous continental states. It achieved statehood on February 14, 1912. Arizona has one of the fastest-growing populations in the country due to its “Sun Belt” appeal, which also draws many tourists to state. Among its popular historical and natural attractions are the Grand Canyon, and the iconic saguaro cactus that grows in the desert climate.

Mosaic is an art form using small pieces of stone, glass, tile, or other materials such as feathers and straw to form a decorative design or picture. Used for such things as masks, jewelry, and architecture, mosaic art was common among the Indians of Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Northwest. Mosaic and inlay Inlay

The Mogollon tradition represents the emergence and florescence of agricultural village life in central and eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, especially in mountainous, highland regions. It begins with the appearance of pottery and ends with the transition from pit house villages to a Western Pueblo settlement pattern. Definitions of the Mogollon cultural sequence have become very complex with the proliferation of regionalized phases, and there is a lack of agreement on a generalized nomenclature. Mogollon

The United States Southwest includes Arizona, New Mexico, and southern Utah and Colorado. The area features rugged terrain and an arid landscape in which agriculture provided an unlikely but solid foothold for the growth of settled populations among the deep canyons and dun-colored mesas. It remains home to many of the most culturally conservative tribes, notably the Navajos and the Pueblo Indians. Southwestern archaeological remains—carefully planned masonry or adobe communities—are major tourist attractions in the region. Southwest

The oldest shell objects in North America may be the local freshwater gastropod shell beads recovered at the Ervin site in Tennessee, which are approximately seven thousand years old. Marine shells were modified as beads, cups, pendants, earspools, gorgets, hoes, and axes all across the eastern United States, where they largely appear as grave goods. Thirty-five species of marine shells (mostly gastropods) were utilized as beads during the Archaic period in western New York, for example. Most noteworthy are the gorgets and engraved shell cups of the Mississippian period, particularly those from the site of Spiro, and wampum used by Northeast tribes in historic times. Shells and shellwork

During the Ice Age, a frozen land bridge known as Beringa stretched across the Bering Strait from Asia to Alaska. From about 50,000-11,000 b.c.e., intermittent waves of Asian and Siberian peoples migrated across Beringa, down into North America and, eventually, into Central and South America. These early peoples brought with them a Stone Age technology, giving the era its name, the Lithic (Stone) period.

At first sight, many immigrating Europeans did not recognize American Indian agriculture, because it did not resemble their own. Indians did not domesticate draft animals and only rarely plowed their fields. Sometimes crops were grown in small clearings in the forest. American Indian agriculture

The use of the arrow alone, in the form of a dart or light throwing spear, is believed to predate the use of the combined archery bow and arrow. The efficacy of these earliest hand-propelled missile weapons was later improved by the introduction of a separate launching tool in the form of a corded sling or notched throwing stick, such as the Australian woomera (wooden rod with a hooked end), which added greater impetus to the throw. The development of the archery bow as a specialized tool for launching arrows is thought by some anthropologists to represent a separate and distinct stage of cultural development as important as the discovery of fire. The first recorded use of archery bows occurred quite early in human history. Images from Paleolithic and Mesolithic cave paintings (c. 10,000-5000 b.c.e.) in Spain and France depict groups of simple silhouette figures using the bow as both a weapon of combat and the hunt. One such image from Castellón, Spain, shows an archer nocking an arrow with one hand while clasping a bow and three extra arrows in his other fist.

Ornaments among North American native cultures were as diverse in type as the peoples that produced them. Decorations were added to possessions as well as to the human body, serving various purposes from helping in functional activities to beautifying an individual to visually delineating status, gender, or age. Ornaments

Native American sculpture represents a deep belief in rhythm, balance, and symmetry. For example, arrow and tool points from some twelve thousand years ago demonstrate admirable craftsmanship and a blending of form and function. Modern Native American sculptors embrace tradition, spiritual legends, and naturalistic symbols, combining these ideas with their own emotion to join feeling and design. Sculpture

Priest. Born to Francesco Chini and Margherita Lucchi, Eusebio Francisco Kino (ow-SAYB-yoh frahn-THEES-koh KEE-noh) was one of five children raised on the Chini family farm in northern Italy. A talented student, he studied in Trento, Italy, as well as at universities in Austria and Germany, taking courses in languages, theology, mathematics, and astronomy. At the age of nineteen, Kino fell gravely ill. Praying to Saint Francis Xavier, he vowed that if he recovered, he would devote his life to being a missionary. After recuperating, in 1665 Kino joined the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, a Catholic religious order dedicated to education, preaching, and missionary work. He hoped to be sent on a mission to China, following in the footsteps of a cousin, Father Martino Martini. Kino, Eusebio Francisco [g]American colonies;Eusebio Francisco Kino[Kino, Eusebio Francisco] Kino, Eusebio Francisco [g]Mexico;Eusebio Francisco Kino[Kino, Eusebio Francisco] [g]Italy;Eusebio Francisco Kino[Kino, Eusebio Francisco] [c]Religion and theology;Eusebio Francisco Kino[Kino, Eusebio Francisco] [c]Exploration;Eusebio Francisco Kino[Kino, Eusebio Francisco] [c]Geography;Eusebio Francisco Kino[Kino, Eusebio Francisco]