A Comparative Analysis of Trincheras Tradition and Hohokam Subsistence Practices from ~400 to 1450 CE

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Advances in Macrobotanical and Microbotanical Archaeobotany Part 1" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

For nearly a century, archaeologists have debated the subsistence adaptation of the Trincheras Tradition of Sonora, México. Nineteenth-century scholars hypothesized that they were foragers until the arrival of the Hohokam around 1300 CE. Having recently excavated Snaketown in the Phoenix basin, archaeologists had characterized the Hohokam by their extensive crop irrigation canals along the Salt and Gila rivers. After failing to observe similar features to those of the Phoenix basin Hohokam, the Trincheras were interpreted as bands of “desert Hohokam” who had adapted to the marginal environment as hunters and gatherers. Although archaeologists often generalize the Hohokam as a whole, research has revealed micro-traditions that share similarities and differences in settlement and subsistence patterns. Nineteenth-century archaeologists referenced the Papaguerían Hohokam, whose southernmost extension is the town of Caborca, east of the Magdalena Valley, part of the Trincheras’ heartland. Recent research has allowed us to reevaluate and test these early hypotheses regarding regional subsistence adaptations and micro-traditions. This study presents archaeological and macrobotanical results from all excavated Trincheras sites to compare their subsistence patterns to that of the three Hohokam micro-traditions through time. This study challenges the notion of Hohokam and Trincheras as monolithic and contrasting neighboring cultures.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Advances in Macrobotanical and Microbotanical Archaeobotany Part 1   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38095.0