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At Least 15,000 Years of Habitation in North America

Part 3, Southwest and Northwest Coast

The Southwest

Extreme regional variation 1100-1500 AD Pueblo, 700 -1100 ADBasketmaker 500 BC-700 ADArchaic tradition 8,000 - 1,800 BPPaleoindian tradition 11,500 - 8,000 BP

Desert Archaic, 8,500 BP – 1,500? BP

“The Great Drought”—hotter, dryer climate at the end of Pleistocene

Shift to generalized foraging of desert resources

Late Desert Archaic and the Origins of Agriculture

By Middle Archaic, a shift toward more settled village life

A tripling of population

Tehuacan Valley, Mexico—the El Reigo (The Irrigation) people developed domesticated corn as well as squash, chili peppers and amaranth some 7000 years ago.

Rock Art—Evidence of Shamanic Practice?

Centered on middle Gila River and lower Salt River drainage areas

A Mesoamerican periphery?

Hohokam

Hohokam culture can be divided into several phases, a division which has found considerable favor in recent years.

The fluid nature of Hohokam culture makes it difficult to pinpoint exact dates, but clearly there were distinguishable differences between these phases.

Colonial Phase AD 500 to 900

Sedentary Phase AD 900 to 1200

Classic Phase AD 1200 to 1450

Characteristics: Platform mounds and ballcourts for ritual activities are characteristic features of Central American cultures at this time.

Family groups lived along the river drainages, and were pioneers in the use of extensive irrigation systems.

The Hohokam grew corn, beans and squash, as did other Southwestern cultures, as well as cotton, agave, and other native plants.

They supplemented this diet by hunting deer and rabbits and by gathering local plants.

The Hohokam were the first and only Southwestern group to regularly cremate their dead.

Ball court (left) and gamePlatform Mound

Hohokam Irrigation Systems

Houses and Communities:Hohokam sites consist of shallow pithouses arranged in groups around a common plaza.

The pithouses were constructed of jacal, a type of wattle-and-daub construction.

The plaza grouping probably housed lineages, groups of people with common ancestors.

Excavated pithouses

Reconstructions of Hohokam structures at the Pueblo Grande Museum, Phoenix

A Sample of Hohokam Artifacts

Etched Shells

Shells were covered with an acid-resistant material, probably pitch or sap, in which a design was scratched.

The shell was then soaked in an acidic liquid, probably fermented fruit juice, until the design was lightly etched in the shell.

Some etched shells were then painted with mineral pigments made from hematite (red) and copper carbonates or copper silicates (green).

Hohokam Artistry

Anasazi/Ancestral Puebloans

Characteristics:The Anasazi seem to have developed from an earlier culture, the Oshara, an archaic culture of small nomadic bands who lived in the more mountainous parts of the territory.

The introduction of pottery, probably from the south, signals the beginnings of the culture we call Anasazi, but which recently was changed to Ancestral Puebloan.

The people grew corn and beans, and were also hunters and gatherers.

Villages consisted of small pithouse or pueblo groupings, and usually had a large ceremonial structure known as a kiva.

A variety of burial practices were used, most often bodies were flexed in shallow pit-graves in the refuse heaps surrounding the villages.

Settlements:The Anasazi, like the Mogollon lived in pithouses arranged in groups around a larger ceremonial room called a kiva.

The kiva may have served some religious function, but more likely its initial function was as a council chamber, where the elders of a settlement could discuss issues relevant to their survival.

The pithouses were constructed of jacal, a type of wattle-and-daub construction.

In some areas, surface structures were made of masonry, then surrounded by additional surface dwellings of wattle-and -daub.

These groupings would lead ultimately to the modern pueblo.

Virtual Reality Models of Chetro Ketl

The Great Kiva at Chetro Ketl

Pueblo Bonito

Pueblo Bonito/Chaco Canyon

Anasazi Petroglyphs from the New Well

Site, AZ

Anasazi Pottery

Anasazi Artifacts

Mogollon

Characteristics:The Mogollon seem to have developed from an earlier culture, the Cochise, an archaic culture of small nomadic bands who lived in the more mountainous parts of the territory.

The introduction of pottery, probably from the south, signals the beginnings of the culture we call Mogollon.

The people grew corn and beans, and were also hunters and gatherers.

Houses and Settlement:

Early Mogollon pithouses were quite deep and usually round or oval. During the middle of the period, houses became rectangular with rounded corners, and were generally not as deep.

By the end of the period, surface pueblos had been adopted, presumably under the influence of the Anasazi to the north.

Villages consisted of small pithouse or pueblo groupings, and usually had a large ceremonial structure known as a kiva.

A variety of burial practices were used, most often in shallow pit-graves either intramurally, (inside the dwellings), or in the refuse heaps surrounding the villages.

Mogollon Pottery

Northwest Coast