Description
Hohokam was a culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. It existed between 300 and 1500 CE, with cultural precursors possibly as early as 300 BCE. Archaeologists disagree about whether communities that practiced the culture were related or politically united. According to local oral tradition, Hohokam societies may be the ancestors of the historic Akimel and Tohono O?odham in Southern Arizona. The origin of the culture is debated. Most archaeologists either argue it emerged locally or in Mesoamerica, but it was also influenced by the Northern Pueblo culture. Hohokam settlements were located on trade routes that extended past the Hohokam area, as far east as the Great Plains and west to the Pacific coast. Some communities established significant markets, such as that in Snaketown.
Language
Hohokam people spoke a variety of ancient Tepiman
Culture
Hohokam villages are remarkable in the ancient Southwest for their stability. Unlike ancient pueblo towns, which often were abandoned after a few decades, some villages were continuously occupied for up to 1,500 years or more. Hohokam villages also show that society was organized in a hierarchical fashion. The Hohokam represent one of the largest and most complex societies in the Southwest. They depended on the cultivation of maize, supplemented by the gathering of wild beans and fruits and some hunting. Although floodwater irrigation may have been practiced earlier, it was during this period that the first irrigation canal was built—a 3-mile channel in the Gila River valley that directed river water to the fields.