The Hohokam Cultural tradition

Almost contemporaneous with the introduction of ceramics to this region, the development of the cultural tradition known as Hohokam takes place, as we see in the diagram.

It is thought that possibly around 300 AD, a human group with agricultural techniques more developed than the native population, emigrated from somewhere in Mexico into the Gila and Salado rivers, around where today Phoenix is located. You can see an aerial view of the Hohokam town of Snaketown below.

On attempting to describe the Hohokam, one must have in mind that we are not talking about a human group, but a culture, a way of life. Possibly, originally it was an immigrant group, however the cultural characteristics that they introduced, soon were assimilated by the whole population.

The Hohokam planted cotton and corn, as well as pumpkins and several varieties of beans, among them the native bean, tepari (Phaseolus acutifolius). By 2000 AD, they were already well established, planting in the Gila river as well as along the Santa Cruz, up to the Tucson valley, and extending their plantations following the nearby creeks, among them the Arroyo Los Nogales.

The most prominent cultural element of the Hohokam was the irrigation technique of canals. By 1200 AD, they had built, just in the Phoenix region, hundreds of thousands of kilometers of canals to irrigate their plantations. Besides this, they also practiced trade with other regions. One of the main articles was seashell from the Gulf of California, which they appreciated very much, transforming it into jewelry. They also traded other products, unknown to us, in exchange for copper bells, pirite mirrors, as well as parrots from the tropical regions of Mexico.

Besides this, they also traded from other regions minerals like argillite, turquoise and serpentine. They also incorporated into their rituals many ideas from central Mexico, like the courtball, who started appearing in the region around 700 AD, and later introduced the building of raised platforms to use in their rituals, similar to those from central Mexico.

The Hohokam developed a culture that lasted more than a thousand years in the Sonoran Desert, but around 1100 AD, the influence of the Hohokam core area had diminished, and around 1250 AD the regional population also declined, accompanying the general cultural declination in the region.

The reasons for these changes are unknown to us, although several hypothesis have been developed. In any case, around 1500 AD, the population along the Santa Cruz, the Gila and Salado rivers had returned to the semi nomadic style of life of small, disseminated rancherias, which had caracterized the region before their arrival.