The Impact of Changes during the Hohokam Classic Period on Irrigation Agriculture and Irrigation Management in the Middle Gila River Valley, Arizona

Summary

This paper examines the impact of changes during the Hohokam Classic period on the social organization of canal irrigation management along the middle Gila River in south-central Arizona. A series of important social, political, and environmental changes occurred during the Hohokam Sedentary to Classic period transition. This study examines this transition to see if it represents a hinge point in how irrigation was organized. The focus is on the irrigation organization which is the social institution that manages and assigns the roles to accomplish the tasks of managing an irrigation system. Another aspect of the study assesses how irrigation organizations are linked with the related political institutions as well as with each other. This helps to evaluate whether political leaders attained control over production or surplus from the canal systems in an effort to achieve higher sociopolitical status. The study is accomplished through an analysis of canal systems and settlement patterns at the village of Snaketown, as well as the neighboring Granite Knob, Santan, and Gila Butte canal systems and settlements. With this study, I return focus to Snaketown where Emil Haury originally defined the Hohokam cultural tradition, and reveal new insights into the prehispanic Southwest.

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): 14587