With a population estimated to be as many as 80,000 individuals at its height, the culture flourished for more than 1000 years in the unforgiving Sonoran desert before disappearing in about 1450 CE. Reinhard.Ĭopyright © 1979.The Hohokan people dug a sophisticated network of canals in the Salt River Valley as a foundation for a flourishing civilization. Among the weeds gathered for greens and seeds were pigweed, sunflower, and tansy mustard.Įxcerpted from the book, ' Hohokam Indians of the Tucson Basin' by Linda M. In addition to cultivated plants, the Hohokam harvested weeds that grew in their fields. Cotton fiber was spun into yarn and then woven into ponchos, shirts, and belts.įinished clothing and bundles of yarn may have been traded by the Hohokam to other Indians in the Southwest. Seeds of the plant were parched, ground, and formed into cakes. Squash could have been used in several ways-the blossoms boiled, the seeds parched, or strips of the fruit dried for use in winter.Ĭotton was used for both food and clothing. Dried or parched after shelling, beans were added to stews or boiled by themselves. Other staples in the Hohokam diet were beans and squash. As a result, the teeth of most adult Hohokam were worn smooth. In using the tools, the Indians ground the rough surfaces down consequently, they ate small bits of rock with every meal. The mano, which was held in the hand, was made from a smaller stone, also slightly roughened. They shaped the rocks into thick slabs or troughs, with a slightly roughened grinding surface that held kernels of corn in place during grinding. The Indians made metates from large rocks. The Hohokam ground the kernels of corn with stone tools called manos and metates. The villagers may have made corn flour into dumplings and bread, thickened stews with it, or dropped a handful into a jar of water to make a nourishing drink. Although the Indians roasted and ate corn on the cob during harvest season, they dried and ground most of the corn into flour before use. Villagers prepared much of their harvest for use during winter and spring.Ĭorn was a mainstay in the Hohokam diet. Planted in March after the last winter frost, crops were ready to be harvested in July. Corn, beans, squash, and cotton could all be planted in the same mound, so that each plant provided the others with nutrients and weed protection.
Hohokam native american series#
Like other North American Indians, the Hohokam probably planted their crops in a series of small earth mounds. They may also have used broken pieces of pottery as hand shovels.
The Indian's only agricultural tools were sharp, wooden digging sticks and handheld hoes made from thin rock slabs. They also built rock terraces and check dams on hill slopes and in washes to catch rainfall runoff. In parts of the basin where floodplains were not available, the Hohokam farmed at the mouths of arroyos. The Indians probably also dug short irrigation ditches, to direct water to crops grown on the floodplain. The rivers at that time were shallow, meandering streams they were not deeply entrenched as they are now. In contrast, the Tucson Basin people practiced floodwater farming that is, they planted crops in the floodplains of the rivers which flooded their banks after major storms.
In the Gila and Salt River valleys, the Indians built a complex system of canals, to lead water from the rivers to their fields above the floodplain. Hohokam villagers grew cotton and corn, as well as several types of beans and squash. Agriculture of the Hohokam Indian AUTHOR: Linda M.