Probing the Nexus between Hohokam Demography and Agricultural Productivity across the Pre-Classic/Classic Transition

Summary

The onset of the Hohokam Classic Period witnessed the consolidation of settlements within the major river valleys of southern Arizona, a demographic reorganization that culminated after centuries of regional expansion, population growth, and cultural florescence. In the Salt River Valley, the resultant demographic packing was unprecedented and appears to have promoted environmental degradation, aggravated biological stress, and suppressed birth rates. It has been suggested that communities responded to this increased stress by intensifying their reliance on maize agriculture. We therefore use this paper to explore whether the productivity of farmland was a factor in the demographic processes associated with the Classic Period transition in the Salt River Valley. If so, we suspect populations would have massed in proximity to the most viable farmlands in the valley. To test this, we compare relevant data on soil quality around local platform mounds, the epicenters and hallmarks of Classic Period primary villages across the Hohokam World to those around ballcourts, hallmarks of the pre-Classic Hohokam World. Because platform mounds were products of considerable labor investment and pillars of community identity, their locations signal places where communities deliberately and strategically chose to either maintain ties or establish new land claims during the pre-Classic/Classic transition.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Walls, Mounds, and Pots: Examining the Classic Period Hohokam

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14519