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Hohokam culture

 

Complex of North American Indian peoples who lived c. 300 BCAD 1400 in the Sonoran Desert (Arizona, U.S.), especially along the Gila and Salt rivers. The Hohokam Indians developed intricate networks of canals for irrigation, an agricultural engineering feat unsurpassed in pre-Columbian North America. Some 14th-century canals have been restored for use. Corn (maize) was the major crop; beans and squash were added after contact with the Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) culture. For unknown reasons, Hohokam culture disintegrated in the early 15th century. The Pima and Papago peoples are probably direct descendants.

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Archaeology Dictionary: Hohokam Culture
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Late Archaic Stage agricultural communities occupying the drainage basins of the Salt and Gila Rivers in the Arizona desert of North America during the period c.300 bc to ad 1400. Characterized by small villages of rectangular pit-houses, cremation of the dead, and plain grey or brown pottery, sometimes painted red on buff. Influences from Mesoamerica can be seen throughout the life of these cultures, but especially after about ad 500 when maize cultivation makes an appearance and elaborate patterns of canals are constructed for irrigation. At the same time, platform mounds and ball courts begin to be built, and material culture expands to include copper bells, mosaic mirrors, and a range of imported luxury goods. The end of the Hohokam Culture seems to arise from the absorption of these communities into broader cultural groupings.

 
 
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Hakataya Tradition (in archaeology)
Snaketown (in archaeology)
Hohokam (civilization, North America)

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more