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The Hohokam: Ancient People of the Desert

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"The HoHokam - Ancient People of the Desert" tells what archaeologists know so far on the Hohokam culture and its mysteries. It is a travel guide to another time and another era, published by the School of American Research Press of Santa Fe New Mexico 1991.

I live in the Greater Phoenix area - and the book caught my interest for the re-birth of Phoenix from the prehistoric Hohokam. The canals and desert living take on a new meaning. The time and date have changed, but a fundamental aspect of how we deal with the desert and renewal and life at the "edge" of our environment has not. It shows that even long-lasting ancient societies eventually break down partly because of limited natural resources - we still take much for granted.

The "Hohokam" - those who have gone - is not their real name - but a name we gave them. Archaeological digs show us some of the aspects of their daily lives and how they depended on the rivers and canals - ate and used what the desert provided. These desert dwellers thrived in the Sonoran Desert of south central Arizona and northern Mexico for nearly fifteen hundred years. They depended on agriculture and invented and cultivated one of the most sophisticated irrigation canal systems in the Americas. . The Hohokam grew and thrived from AD 700 to a climax between AD 1100 and 1400 - after which for uncertain reasons - it declined. Numerous farming villages thrived along the Salt, Gila and Santa Cruz rivers in the Phoenix basin. They fished in the ancient riparian areas and labored in their fields of corn, beans and squash, cultivated cotton and tobacco, and harvested the wild plants of the desert. They created delicate shell carvings, turquoise mosaics and beautiful red pottery. Extensive trade relationships and elaborate rituals shaped their daily lives (even had event planners) and in death they were cremated or buried in pottery urns.

The book describes the fascinating desert world of the Hohokam, a brief history of Hohokam archaeology (platform mounds, big houses, and ball courts ), craft arts, rock arts, and their religion and special events. It is an interesting tale with many mysteries, hopefully to be solved by the current archeology digs.