It is thought that an archeologist misheard the O'Odham word 'huhugam' which translates to ancestors (among other meanings). O'Odham, Hopi, and Zuni descendents of these ancestral people do not call them Hohokam, and Hohokam is not a word in any of those descendent languages. By 450 C.E., these desert dwellers had formed a distinct culture, identified in part by their particular form of pottery called “red-on-buff.” Archeologists call this specialized culture 'Hohokam' but this is not the name of a tribe or a people. Adapting to the dry conditions of the desert, these early farmers learned to use water from mountain run-offs and rivers to irrigate their fields. Domesticated corn from Mesoamerica was introduced and appears to have influenced a gradual transition from hunting and gathering to a more settled farming existence. Over time, as the area grew hotter and drier, wild plants and animals became less abundant. The largest mounds in the Salt River Valley reached up to 30 feet high and were as big as a football field.Who were the ancestral Sonoran Desert people? Archeological evidence suggests they may have descended from an earlier hunting and gathering “Archaic” culture that began in this area around 5,500 B.C.E. European settlers actually cleared out and. There are more than 500 miles of documented canals in the region, representing the largest-scale irrigation in North America. Their vast canal networks include some canals more than 20 miles long. Structures would be built on top of the finished mound. People in the Hohokam region employed massive-scale irrigation farming. The top was covered with a natural cement made of calcium carbonate called caliche. Other cells would be built around it, and the structure would be filled with trash and soil. The Hohokam started by building a single cell made of adobe, granite, and sandstone.

The construction of these platforms was pretty simple. So far as we surely know, the Hohokam were the first sedentary occupants of the area. The Hohokam lived beside the running water where the Fort was later built - their pottery is found in the adobes used to build the Fort. By 1250, however, the Hohokams began to build homes for their leaders and priests, as well as temples on top of the mounds. Hohokam Pottery And the Hohokam lived here in this neighborhood which, from a later occupation, we now call Old Fort Lowell.

The Hohokams usually built the mounds along major canals, and initially did not build structures on top. At the culture’s peak, there must have been around a hundred platform mounds. As much as fifty platform mounds were discovered in thirty Hohokam villages in recent years. During the Pioneer Period the Hohokam lived in villages composed of widely scattered, individually built structures of wood, brush, and clay, each built over a. Many of these earthworks can be found in Pueblo Grande, Mesa Grande, Plaza Tempe, and Tres Pueblos. Platform mounds were typically rectangular in shape which covered an area of hundreds to thousands of square feet and reached up to ten feet high. The earliest mounds were built around 800 AD, but the majority were constructed between 11 AD. The Hohokam settlements showed a distinct Mesoamerican influence, as shown in the ballcourt and platform mounds they constructed. Hohokam Domestic Architecture: Center of Everyday Living Archaeologists use the term domestic architecture to identify the buildings that were constructed for people to live in. Hohokam Platform Mounds “Map of Hohokam and neighboring cultures, c. Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the BibleĪttractive design ideal for your home, office, church … Unique Circular Format – see more in less space. Near their villages, on floodplains or alluvial slopes, the Hohokam established fields of corn, beans, squash, and cotton. Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together So what did the Hohokam do in these mountains The Hohokam lived in villages near the base of the Tucson Mountains, close to sources of water like the Santa Cruz River or Brawley Wash. These Articles are Written by the Publishers of The Amazing Bible Timeline

Where did the hohokam lived