Differences in Mesoamerican Connections Across Hohokam Canal Systems of the Phoenix Basin, Arizona

Author(s): Christopher Schwartz; Ben Nelson; David Abbott

Year: 2016

Summary

Material evidence of interaction between people of the U.S. Southwest and Mesoamerica is detected as early as ca. 2000 BCE. Markers of long-distance interaction increase in diversity and abundance over time, growing to include copper bells, iron pyrite mirrors, and other objects and symbols. These markers moved up to 2000 km by social actions and exchange mechanisms that remain obscure. Although the Hohokam had stronger ties to Mesoamerica than any region in the U.S. Southwest, more could be done to examine local variation in that interaction. For example, to what extent were Hohokam canal systems differentially engaged in acquisition of nonlocal and "Mesoamerican-like objects?" Phoenix Basin Hohokam settlements can be grouped into canal systems, or irrigation cooperatives that researchers suggest functioned as discrete social units. In this study, we evaluate whether settlements in Phoenix Basin Canal Systems 1 and 2 were differentially engaged in distant interactions and how their involvement changed over time. Both systems developed over centuries, yet recent studies suggest that CS1 grew more slowly at first, later expanding relatively quickly. We suspect that distant objects and symbols played a greater role in the formalization of social relationships crucial to the more rapidly forming irrigation cooperative.

Cite this Record

Differences in Mesoamerican Connections Across Hohokam Canal Systems of the Phoenix Basin, Arizona. Christopher Schwartz, Ben Nelson, David Abbott. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Orlando, Florida. 2016 ( tDAR id: 404643)

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Spatial Coverage

min long: -115.532; min lat: 30.676 ; max long: -102.349; max lat: 42.033 ;