Two general models exist and both can be supported by the Units and the influence of irrigation on community size andĬonfiguration can be conceptualized differently. Canal Systems and major Hohokam settlements in the lower Salt River valley, based on figure 1.1 in Howard Hohokam Exchange and Early ClassicPeriod 01'JjanizationjAbbott) Ingram) and I(oberįigure 1. Researchers generally aclmowledge that the prehistoric settlements were bound together in higher-order units, although the scale of these Mechanisms for making social and economic decisions Archaeologistsĭefine a political community as a set of individual residential sites assumed to be linked through inter-settlement Large-scale irrigation and the social and political institutions of Hohokam society (Abbott 2000). Of how we should understand the articulation between Political communities in the Phoenix area lies at the heart Understanding the organization of ancient Salt River valley during the early Classic period (ca. We consider here two general models of Hohokam political community organization for one part of the lower The New World north of Peru (Doolittle 1990). Their hydraulic infrastructure comprised the largest prehistoric irrigation works in The local agriculturalists engineered large, integrated irrigation systems with multiple canals, some in excess of 24 Valley was one of the persistent core areas of Hohokam society with evidence for at least 1000 years of occupation. One of the largest and most stable settlement aggregationsĭocumented in the prehistoric Southwest (FIGS. The lower Salt River valley (the modern-day metropolitan area of Phoenix, Arizona) contained Judge 1991 Doyel 1987 Doyel, Fish, and Fish 2000 Mortuary practices, long-lived sedentary villages, and extensive irrigation agriculture (Bayman 2001 Crown and Of marine shell ornaments, cremation and inhumation 1150 to 1450), as well as production and circulation 700-1150), platform mounds and redslipped red ware ceramics during the Classic period (ca.Ī.D. Signatures include painted red -on -buff pottery and ballĬourts during the late Pioneer, Colonial, and Sedentary periods (ca. 'Hohokam' denotes a complex of material culture traitsįound in the semi-arid desert environment of central and Our results provide some evidencefor a crosscutting patchwork ofgeographically dispersed socialgroups which fits most comfortably within the linear community model.

Interaction to examine the different models. In this analysis) ceramic sourcing studies are used to outline networks of Lar ge-scaleirrigation management influenced the development of Hohokam community Each model has implicationsįor the nature of cooperation within and between settlement clusters and the degree to which Populations distributed along the routes of irrigation canals. The ((linear community)) model envisions an elongated arrangement integrating The ()Vcal village)) model posits political communitiesĬentered on a single lar gevillage with monumental architecture surrounded by smaller settlements. Have led to different models of Hohokam political community or ganization during the earlyĬlassic period (ca. Settlement pattern data in the lower Salt River valley of central Arizona) near Phoenix) Kober (2006) HohokamĮxchange and Early Classic Period Organization in Central Arizona: Focal Villages or LinearĬommunities?, Journal of Field Archaeology, 31:3, 285-305, DOI: 10.1179/009346906791071909įull Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found atĭownload by: ĭownloaded by at 18:34 07 June 2016 Organization in Central Arizona: Focal Villages orĭavid R. Hohokam Exchange and Early Classic Period

Hohokam political structure