Shifting Perceptions: An Examination of Landesque Capital and Landscape Perceptions within Hohokam Canal System 1

Summary

The Hohokam that occupied the area now covered by the present city of Phoenix, Arizona and surrounding cities, constructed one of the largest canal systems in the ancient world. Of the systems operated by the Hohokam, Canal System 1 was the largest irrigation system built and maintained by the Hohokam. Despite its size, it is the least understood of the major irrigation systems within the lower Salt River Valley, the area often identified as the Hohokam core. Recently, a project to reconstruct the developmental history of Canal System 1 was undertaken to fill in this void in data. Preliminary results from the long-term Riverview excavation project, located near the system’s headgates, indicate that Canal System 1 may have significantly expanded in size sometime during the Preclassic/Classic Transition (c. A.D. 1100-1300), a period previously characterized as a time of increasing water uncertainty. Using settlement data, I will examine the association between shifting landscape perceptions and shifting settlement patterns within Canal System 1 from a landesque capital perspective, and the implications for settlement patterning across the lower Salt River Valley.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage