From La Villa to Pueblo Grande: Corporate Descent Groups and Property Rights Along Canal System 2

Summary

Most studies of the organization of Canal System 2 have taken a "top-down" approach and focused on the degree to which a centralized management structure was required to operate and maintain the canal system. In this paper, we take a "bottom-up" approach and focus on the interests and concerns of the irrigators themselves. Architectural data from several pre-Classic sites along the canal system are examined in an attempt to reconstruct the organizational strategies of multi-household, corporate descent groups. We argue that corporate descent groups often contained a core set of high-ranking households and affiliated households of lesser rank. It is further suggested that high-ranking households were able to maintain a position at or near the top of the social hierarchy for several generations, similar to "house" societies in many parts of world. The implications of the emergence of house-like social formations in early Hohokam society are discussed. The implications for our understanding of the pre-Classic to Classic period transition are also considered.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Society and Economy in the Hohokam World: New Evidence and Insights from Canal System 2, Phoenix, Arizona

Keywords

Spatial Coverage