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Stone palettes are a unique artifact of Hohokam culture. Discovery of lead minerals on these palettes dates back to the 1930s, however there has been little chemical analysis of these minerals. This research presents the result of a multi-analytical survey on the accretions of nearly 200 palettes to develop a better understanding of occurrence of lead minerals and isotopic characterization to address questions of sourcing, procurement and mineral exchange. We found consistent association of lead minerals regardless of context, region, and time period, suggesting lead minerals are related to a primary use of palettes. We also propose an alternate theory to one potential function of palettes – that they were used to prepare paint applied to the body or other materials that did not survive in the archaeological record. We propose that the lead silicate identified on some palettes is not intentionally formed, but rather due to post depositional processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Trincheras tradition thrived in the Altar, Magdalena, and Asunción-Concepción valleys from 400 to 1450 CE. In the early twentieth century, archaeologists proposed that the Trincheras people were hunter-gatherers until around 1300 CE. This study investigates whether the plant use practices of the Trincheras tradition remained consistent across different regions and through time. I compare archaeological and macrobotanical data recovered at three Altar Valley Trincheras sites dated to ∼750–1300 CE (El Póporo, La Potranca, and San Martin) and integrate data from La Playa (400–650 CE) and Cerro de Trincheras (1300–1450 CE). The results revealed that the Trinchereños were agriculturalists from 400 to 1450 CE, disproving twentieth-century archaeologists' hypothesis. Between 1050 and 1300 CE, the ubiquity values of maize were the greatest at Trincheras Altar Valley sites. However, after relocating to the Magdalena Valley around 1300 CE, the percent presence of maize decreased, while that of agave and foraged foods increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monumental architecture, in the form of ballcourts and platform mounds, has dominated discussions of Ancestral O’Odham (Hohokam) ceremonialism. As conceptualized within the literature, ritual and ceremonialism progressed from the household to the community at ballcourts and then centralized at elite-controlled platform mounds. In this article, I explore Ancestral O’Odham ceremonialism through ritual items and spaces. Beginning with the Casa Grande community and then the village of AZ U:9:56 (ASM), I explore settlement patterns and the distribution of ritual objects in relation to platform mounds to understand where ceremonies may have occurred. As discussed, the presence of multiple locations of ceremonial importance suggests that ritual authority was unlikely linked to a single individual or household. Instead, ceremonialism and ritual were likely carried out in multiple places, a “dispersed centrality,” as it is defined here, by different types of leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over a century, archaeologists have investigated the vast network of prehistoric Hohokam canal irrigation systems in the lower Salt River and middle Gila River valleys, as well as in other areas of southern Arizona. However, documentation of the agricultural fields in which prehistoric farmers irrigated their crops generally was lacking until the last 25 years. This is largely a result of the difficulty in identifying ancient fields, since they are not visible on the surface and have been obscured or destroyed by natural landscape processes as well as historic and modern disturbances. More recent archaeological investigations have revealed ancient irrigated fields through innovative methods and excavation techniques. The fields were constructed both by Hohokam irrigators (450–1450 CE) as well as by farmers from preceding cultural traditions during the Early Agricultural period (2100 BCE–50 CE). These discoveries occurred during projects conducted in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act. In this chapter, I highlight these important studies that have expanded the view of ancient agricultural landscapes in southern Arizona. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network analysis has a strong foundation in Southwest archaeology, yet the analysis of multiple network layers in a single analysis– (multilayer network analysis)– has not been formally applied except within a single artifact type. Many studies consider material culture holistically, yet network analysis has the advantage of focusing specifically on the relationships between entities. This study uses architecture, ceramic, projectile point, and site locations from the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study and combines these data in a multilayer network analysis. This analysis provides a way to test the co-variance of these types of material culture with each other and with spatial variation. Overall, the ceramic and projectile point networks exhibit significant differences. This indicates that the social networks that created these patterns had different social mechanisms. One potential cause of these differences is gendered spheres of interaction with men producing and exchanging projectile points and women producing and exchanging ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional analyses of projectile points often use visual identification, the presence or absence of discrete characteristics, or linear measurements and angles to classify points into distinct types. Geometric morphometrics provides additional tools for analyzing, visualizing, and comparing projectile point morphology utilizing the whole or parts of the form in either two or three dimensions. This study is an analysis of the effectiveness of geometric morphometric methods for identifying technological similarity in 2D projectile point outlines for previously classified late prehistoric projectile points found in the U.S. Southwest and unclassified projectile points from Tonto Basin, Arizona. Various methods from geometric morphometrics were compared to determine which method best reproduced the original classification scheme. Elliptical Fourier analysis was compared with various configurations of semilandmark and landmark analyses using generalized Procrustes analysis. These methods were applied to the complete projectile point form, and the landmark analysis was also applied to half of the lower quadrant of the projectile point—essentially one corner of the projectile point. The landmark analysis applied to the corner of the projectile point provided the best results. This method was then applied to the Tonto Basin points. Hierarchical clustering was used on the Tonto Basin projectile point morphometric data to explore the variation in shapes between sites. To demonstrate that geometric morphometric methods can be used without relying on typologies, a network analysis of the morphometric distances was also conducted. This network graph produced distinct clusters of technological similarity in projectile point outlines, while also showing the continuous variation between points. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of geometric morphometrics for the 2D analysis of late prehistoric arrow points in the U.S. Southwest.

The Hohokam People Project began when students in the playground began digging waterways for fun, which became a learning opportunity about the Hohokam people. The project combined play with learning, giving students the opportunity to use what they've learned to create irrigation systems and pottery, leading to a better understanding of the Hohokam people of the ancient Sonoran Desert.

• Anthropogenic soils produced by centuries of Hohokam (450–1450 CE) canal irrigation underlie the city of Phoenix. • Age and origin of a hypothesized buried anthropogenic soil tested with morphological, micromorphological, pollen, and chronometric analyses. • Results indicate that Indigenous irrigation agriculture produced a 70+ cm cumulic soil in ∼500 years in our study area. • Evidence suggests application of organic materials to help maintain soil productivity. • We hypothesize that farming ceased in our study area ∼1200 CE due to reduced soil quality. Over 1000 years of irrigation agriculture by the Hohokam (450–1450 CE) left an indelible mark on soils of the lower Salt River Valley in Arizona. Defining the nature, extent, and formation of these anthropogenic soils, named Salt River Adobe during the valley's first soil survey, is important for understanding human impacts to the environment and agricultural history of arid lands. Towards that objective, we describe an undisturbed, buried example of the Salt River Adobe from the Salt River floodplain and present evidence for its anthrogenesis based on archaeological context, age, physicochemical properties, micromorphology, and pollen content. We determined that the Salt River Adobe at this location represents approximately 500 years of irrigation sedimentation and pedogenesis resulting in a 70+ cm thick cumulic soil. Cessation of irrigation within the project area occurred in the 1200s CE at a time of peak Hohokam population. Our evidence suggests fairly continuous multi-century irrigation farming by the Hohokam at one location with soil productivity maintained by irrigation sedimentation and possible fertilization. We hypothesize that cessation of farming at this location during a time of high food-demand was due in part to gradually reduced soil permeability and tilth. More research is needed to better understand the geographic extent and genesis of Salt River Adobe and the role it played in Hohokam farming and cultural history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeologists have long compared the Hohokam world of the North American Southwest to contemporary traditions in Mesoamerica and West Mexico. A degree of cultural connectivity between the Southwest and Mesoamerica is evident in similarities in public architecture, ceramic technology and design, ritual paraphernalia, and subsistence, among other qualities. Researchers commonly frame this connectivity in economic or cultural evolutionary terms that position Hohokam communities as somehow descendant from or dependent on more complexly and hierarchically organized societies far to the south. In this paper, I examine this connectivity through the lens of iconography to show that shared religious themes and archetypes were strands within the nexus. I focus on three iconographic subjects in Hohokam media—serpents, flowers, and "pipettes"—each of which materializes seemingly Mesoamerican religious concepts. From a careful consideration of the inception and breadth of each, I argue that Hohokam artisans began to portray these subjects in concert with a religious revitalization movement that drew a degree of inspiration from the south. However, while the iconography may have been new to Hohokam media, the religious themes were not. I show that the iconography references Archaic religious archetypes and cosmological principles that probably accompanied the spread of agriculture millennia before the formation of the Hohokam world. Rather than representing a new religion, I suggest Hohokam artisans materialized these long-established and unquestioned principles in novel iconographic ways as a means of naturalizing and ordaining the rapid social change that accompanied the religious revitalization movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Johnson and Wasley's ([1966] Archaeological Excavations Near Bylas, Arizona. Kiva 31(4):205–253) Bylas phase was the basis of a chronological framework the prehistory of the San Carlos Safford Area (SCSA). However, we note limited revision of the phase despite new archaeological data from recent investigations. We evaluate the Bylas phase and analyze chronology, settlement distribution, site structure, ceramic production and acquisition, subsistence, and mortuary patterns. Therefore, we revise Bylas phase chronology, specify four ceramic production zones, identify a mortuary pattern, delineate the nature and extent of occupancy and subsistence, and finally suggest dynamic changes in social organization and demography. We hypothesize many of these shifts, including conflict and district wide depopulation, relate to the emergence of a managerial elite class and repeated immigration from outside the SCSA during the Bylas phase before terminating with the arrival of northern groups at the onset of the Goat Hill phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence and function in several Hohokam sites of controversial objects, currently described as handstones or crushers, remains an unsolved matter. Their morphology recalls similar Mesoamerican pieces, the manoplas, generally considered to be related to the ballgame. The identification of ballcourts in Hohokam sites has long been a controversial issue, but is now generally agreed on. This paper does not aim to resolve this interrogation, but rather to call attention to a problematic aspect of relationships between Mesoamerica and Oasisamerica.

Recent archaeological efforts to explain the emergence and persistence of social inequality have been hampered by little information about how wealth was transmitted across generations, and how it may have accumulated or diminished over time. Building on studies that have shown domestic architecture to be an excellent material expression of household wealth, we provide a method for reconstructing the amount of labor invested in house construction among the Hohokam of southern Arizona. We also account for different architectural styles from different time periods. To illustrate the utility of the method for addressing broader social issues, we investigate the relationship among population increases, resource shortages, and wealth differentials at Pueblo Grande--one of the preeminent settlements in the Hohokam region. Inequality at Pueblo Grande was tracked over time and compared to similar results at the Grewe site. High-status households at both sites were distinguished architecturally by larger and, in some instances, more elaborate houses. The proximity of these households to public areas for ceremonial expression further suggests that access to ritual played a key role in creating and maintaining inequality in Hohokam society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mortuary rituals are compared and contrasted in order to better understand social interaction between the Tucson Basin Hohokam of southern Arizona and the Trincheras tradition populations of northern Sonora. This interaction is explored through the examination of ideas about personhood and embodiment, and their relationship to the biological profiles and posthumous treatments of individuals during the Hohokam Classic period (AD 1150-1450) and the occupation of Cerro de Trincheras (AD 1300-1450). In both areas, cremation was the main burial custom, and both groups had complex, multistage cremation rituals, in which burning of the body played only a small part. Examination of rich archaeological data and well-excavated contexts at these sites revealed remarkable similarities and differences in body treatment during the mortuary ritual. Tucson Basin Hohokam mortuary practices suggest a stronger connection to, and remembrance of, the deceased within smaller social groups. In contrast, mortuary practices at Cerro de Trincheras emphasize similarities among the various cremated individuals, with rituals directed more toward the broader social group. Results suggest that the two groups were fundamentally similar in how they treated the bodies of the dead during the cremation process, but different in how the dead were remembered and commemorated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University Indian Ruin (UIR), located in the eastern Tucson Basin, is a prime example of a Classic period Hohokam platform mound archaeological site. The extent of the UIR site has long been understood to stretch beyond its administrative boundaries. This research investigated the UIR site boundary using Identification Testing and provided a new, larger border to the site. Results from surface and subsurface investigations also indicated a longer occupation at University Indian Ruin than was previously understood – stretching back to at least the Pre-Classic period. Collaboration with local residents on the project led to the donation of artifacts from a private residence that improved the conclusions presented here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the Phoenix Basin in southern Arizona, disk beads have long been highly valued. Remarkably, the Akimel O'Odham (i.e., Pima) and Pee Posh (i.e., Maricopa) still place great importance on them today. Similar beads were formed from shell, stone, and clay. The effort necessary to manufacture beads from these constituents varies, but beads made from different materials are often macroscopically indistinguishable. Furthermore, some raw materials had to be imported, while other constituents were locally available. These factors should have affected the value of different bead types, and ethnographic evidence shows that indigenous people have clearly defined preferences for attributes, including color and material. In particular, beads made from shell and turquoise are recognized as being most valuable. This paper presents archaeological, ethnohistorical, ethnographic, and contemporary data that show that small disk beads were a form of wealth that was employed in trade transactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broadline Purple-on-red pottery, dated to the Tortolita Phase (AD 500–700), is notable as one of the earliest decorated wares in the Tucson Basin. This ware is also unique for its sparkly "purple" paint made with ground specular hematite. Such material is available in the Tucson Mountains, but whether it was exploited for the production of Broadline Purple-on-red vessels is unknown. Our experimental work suggested these sources could be used to make paint nearly identical to that on the vessels. Petrographic analysis was employed to confirm production of Broadline Purple-on-red pottery in the Tucson Basin, which was previously lacking. Laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry was utilized to chemically characterize specular hematite rocks and the paint on four sherds of Broadline Purple-on-red. The results indicate compositional discrimination between rock sources, but difficulties in connecting these data to those for the paint, which is often thin and likely combined with a clay binder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a refined chronology and ceramic sequence for the heartland of the Hohokam Culture in southern and central Arizona is discussed. The refined sequence is applied to ceramic sherd lots and restorable vessels from the extant collections from excavations at Snaketown to produce new and more refined dating of the contexts at the site. Structures, mortuary contexts, caches, mounds, middens, pits, and other features are dated with the results compared to prior chronological assignments allowing for a discussion of how the new chronology compares to previous approaches. In the process, key events in the history of the settlement that affect conclusions about Hohokam prehistory are considered such as the age of mound capping events, the construction of the ball courts and Mound 16 platform mound, and the origin and terminus of occupation at the village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the changes in funerary rituals from the Early Agricultural period (2100 BC–AD 50) to the Early Preclassic period (AD 475–750) and how these changes concurrently reflect changes in social relationships between the dead, their families, and the community. The predominant mortuary ritual in the Early Agricultural period was inhumation, possibly emphasizing a variety of identity intersections of the dead and the mourners in the treatment of the body while creating collective memories and remembrances through shared ways of commemorating the dead. An innovation in funerary practices in the form of secondary cremation appeared in the Early Agricultural period and was slowly but broadly adopted, representing new social dynamics within the society. Thereafter, secondary cremation became the main funeral custom. During the Early Preclassic period, the variation in body position and the type and quantity of objects found with individuals decreased. It is possible that the vehicle for displaying different identity intersections changed and was not placed in the body, per se, as much as in previous periods. However, the transformation characteristics of these funeral rituals and the increase in community investment could have fostered the building or reinforcing of stronger social ties that highlighted a “collective identity.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Inequality can be successfully used as a yardstick to compare societies in the past. • Comparisons need to take account of different dimensions of inequality. • Unequal access to ritual space is the most consistent indicator of inequality. Analysis of three different realms of inequality in two pairs of small-scale pre-industrial societies in two very different and culturally unconnected regions – Hohokam and Mimbres in the US Southwest and Greenland and Iceland in the North Atlantic – suggests that inequality can be successfully used as a yardstick to compare societies in the past. The study finds that there were significant inequalities in these small-scale farming societies – often described in previous studies as "egalitarian" – but that proxies for economic inequality like access to productive resources and to exotic goods do not fully reflect the range and nature of these inequalities. Access to ritual space is found to be a more sensitive measure of actual inequalities as experienced by members of these societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide applications of ochre analysis continue to develop at a rapid pace, highlighting a number of analytical and interpretative issues. As regional source databases continue to grow, researchers have turned to the thornier issues of source allocation. In this study, we utilize LA–ICP–MS and NAA to examine archaeological pigments, ceramic paints and experimental tiles from geological sources and Hohokam ceramics in central Arizona. Archaeological pigments and paint on sherds are successfully source matched based on trace element content, with implications for understanding paint production, sociocultural relations governing trade in pigment and the use of different resource landscapes over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of domestic architectural variation are rare in archaeological research, possibly because the essential methods remain underdeveloped. To encourage a comparative approach to explaining the construction differences in household dwellings, we designed and utilized objective and easily applied means to calculate labor costs for constructing a variety of domestic architectural styles in Hohokam society. We applied Abrams's (1989, 1994) approach, labelled "architectural energetics," which converts architecture into its labor equivalents for building structures. By doing so, we derived standard units of measurement that promote comparative analysis. To demonstrate the method's utility, we turned to the pithouses and adobe surface structures at Pueblo Grande. We wanted to test whether the history of construction was driven by environmental degradation, and, in particular, a depletion over time of wood resources for home building (see Loendorf and Lewis 2017). Our analysis indicated that factors in addition to wood depletion likely contributed to the architectural changes at Pueblo Grande and across the Hohokam world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article demonstrates the relevance of future discounting behavior to studies of prehistoric subsistence strategies. The case study of Agave spp. bajada cultivation among the Classic Period, A.D. 1150-1450, Hohokam of southern Arizona illustrates how slight discounting of future rewards can significantly alter agriculture investment strategies. Despite a higher kcal/hour return than maize agriculture, agave cultivation lessened or ceased in several communities during a time in which intensification would be predicted due to inferred subsistence stress. We surmise the decade-long maturation of agave made it unattractive relative to more immediate return resources in any context that presented risks to land tenure. The cessation of agave cultivation can be understood on two levels of explanation. The long-term investments required by agave and tendency to discount future rewards are the ultimate causes. Political and social instability during the tumultuous Classic period, causing increased insecurity in land tenure, are the proximal causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scale of prehistoric canal construction in the North American Southwest peaked in A.D. 450-1450, during what has been named the Hohokam Millennium. Explanations for the eventual Hohokam "collapse" remain elusive. Environmental disturbances, such as floods, that were once manageable may have become unmanageable. Recent archaeological excavations of Hohokam canals in Phoenix identified stratigraphic evidence for three destructive floods that date to A.D. 1000-1400 within two large main canals in System 2, Hagenstad and Woodbury's North. Woodbury's North Canal was flood-damaged and abandoned sometime after A.D. 1300. Thereafter, no main canals of similar size were constructed to supply villages within System 2 and the area was depopulated. Our investigation provides the first stratigraphic evidence for a destructive flood during the late Classic period in the lower Salt River Valley and is compatible with the hypothesis of diminished resilience to environmental disturbance at the end of the Hohokam Millennium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the concept of scales to examine emerging irrigation realities, i.e., connecting more agents within larger spaces - relates to the complexity of irrigation systems. Modern hydraulic models allow the inclusion of emerging multi-scale issues over time, including social issues related to different spatial and temporal scales. We show that the time needed to manage irrigation efficiently relates to the size of a system. By reconstructing ancient Hohokam irrigation systems in Arizona, we identify how longer-term extension of spatial scales created management problems beyond the scope of available technology. This approach allows greater understanding of how stresses in daily irrigation management may have impacted longer-term societal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although not a new topic, there is a growing trend in ethnology to interpret changing kinship terminology, social organization, and marriage practices deep into prehistory. These efforts are largely guided by phylogenetic, neoevolutionary, and historical particularist theoretical models using 19th to 20th century ethnographically recorded kin terminology. However, the “high-level” theoretical models and their assumptions are untestable without data dating to prehistory. Archeological kinship analysis based on cross-cultural “mid-level” factual correspondence between social organization and patterns in material culture, which is not biased by any given “high-level” theory, can empirically test the ethnological models and assumptions. Archeological case studies on the Chontal Maya and Hohokam illustrate problems in phylogenetic, neoevolutionary, and historical particularist theoretical assumptions. Instead, the results are consistent with contemporary anthropological theory emphasizing practice and agency within historically contingent political economic social contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes research on the potential of high-resolution imagery downloaded from Google Earth Pro to detect prehistoric canals from the Hohokam Period in the Middle Gila River Valley, Arizona. The potential of the imagery to identify obscured features was evaluated by means of ground truthing reconnaissance as well as a comparative analysis of the Google Earth imagery with the more traditionally employed CORONA and Landsat ETM+ imagery used in analogous studies. This research is presented as a method-based solution to utilize remote sensing in exploratory archaeological research projects facing budget constraints. The conclusion of the research was that Google Earth imagery provided the best spatial resolution for detecting obscured irrigation features compared to the other imagery used. The results of the investigation are summarized as a potential research model applicable in other dryland settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]