It might seem that as soon as written records become available for a period it should be classed as historic rather than prehistoric. The Pueblo Indians, however, were sufficiently successful in withstanding outside influences that the terminal date for the Regressive-Pueblo period is usually given as 1700, and only the period from 1700 to the present is called theHistoric-Puebloperiod.
The trend during Regressive-Pueblo times was toward larger houses. In the Hopi area the early houses were characterized by fine masonry and covered about an acre of ground. Later they became much larger and, in some cases, covered from ten to twelve acres of ground. These houses were sometimes made up of long rows of buildings with plazas between them. Kivas were rectangular, with a niche at one end of the room containing a bench. The normal size was about ten or fourteen feet square. On the floor, which was usually paved with stones, are found loom blocks. These are sandstone blocks with depressions designed to hold poles on which the warp threads are wound. The finding of these loom blocks in prehistoric kivas is most interesting, for, among the Hopi even today, the weaving is done by the men in the kivas. The use of commercially woven fabrics for most clothing has naturally curtailed the practice of this craft, but ceremonial clothing and fine white blankets which serve as wedding robes are still woven in the kivas.
The early pottery was largely black-on-yellow, but some polychrome ware was made, and there was also plain cooking pottery and some corrugated. The latter became progressively less widely used, and later cooking ware is almost entirely plain. In some later sites some of the black-on-yellow ware is marked by a distinctive stippling technique as black paint was splattered over the yellow background. During the period from 1400 to 1625 some of the most beautiful pottery ever made in the Southwest was being produced in the Hopi country. This is a polychrome ware which bears exceptionally fine designs, which include geometric and life forms and particularly graceful patterns, applied in red and black paint on a yellow background. Over forty years ago, archaeologists were excavating ancient villages in the Hopi country and finding examples of this beautiful ware. A woman of the village of Walpi, named Nampeyo, was the wife of one of the workmen employed by the expedition. She was already a fine potter, and she recognized the great artistry represented by these ancient vessels. She began to use similar designs and continued to produce remarkably fine pottery for over thirty years, although, for much of that time, her sight was failing and eventually she became blind, and the final painting of the graceful vessels which she had shaped had to be entrusted to others. The influence of this talented woman can still be seen in the fine pottery made by Hopi women of the First Mesa.
Fig. 36—Cavate dwellings and talus houses at Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. (Courtesy National Park Service.)
Fig. 36—Cavate dwellings and talus houses at Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. (Courtesy National Park Service.)
In the Zuñi district houses and kivas were much like those of the Hopi country. Pottery in this area was largely decorated with glaze paints. These are vitreous mixtures obtained by the use of lead in the paint. Glaze paints were difficult to apply and had a tendency to run or settle in masses. As a result, designs were poor, but the use of glazes was confined to decorations and entire vessels were not covered.
In the Rio Grande drainage, people with an earlier Puebloculturewere just beginning to come together into large communities when this period began. Doubtless, the advent of people from other parts of the Plateau province did much to intensify this trend. As time went by, houses became larger and fewer in number.Tuffblocks and adobe were widely used in their construction and there was some use ofcavatedwellings. These are rooms, excavated into the back walls of caves, which have porchlike chambers in front.
Two famous Regressive-Pueblo sites in this region, which are known to many tourists, are Puye,[62]on the Pajarito Plateau, and Tyuonyi in El Rito de los Frijoles.[60]Beams from Puye have yielded tree-ring dates ranging from 1507 to 1565. This settlement, perched on a huge mass of yellowish graytuff, consists of two aggregations of buildings. Forming a quadrangle on top of the mesa, were four, terraced community houses built around a court. There were also houses built in and against the cliff walls, usually at the top of the talus slope. At Tyuoni, whose dates range between about 1423 and 1513, there is a great communal house which was, in part, two stories high and roughly circular in form. It was made of tuff blocks. Three small kivas were built in the center court orplaza. A few hundred yards to the east of the ruin lies a largekiva. For a little over a mile along the canyon wall were cave rooms dug into the cliff and rows of small houses built of tuff blocks. Some of the cave rooms had porchlike structures erected in front of them, but others did not.
The largest and strongest pueblo during this period was Pecos, which lay at the headwaters of the Pecos River in northern New Mexico.[73]The first buildings were erected shortly before 1300, and final abandonment did not come until 1838. Such a long record is, of course, of tremendous archaeological importance, and it is indeed fortunate that some of the most extensive and painstaking excavations ever undertaken in the Southwest were at this site. There was evidence of at least six distinct towns. Great masses of pottery have been excavated, with careful attention being paid to stratigraphy, and very detailed studies have been made.[75][77]Well over a thousand skeletons have been obtained and given careful study.
Fig. 37—Tyuonyi, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. (Courtesy National Park Service.)
Fig. 37—Tyuonyi, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. (Courtesy National Park Service.)
Throughout the Rio Grande area, glazed wares were widely made. The earlier forms had glazed designs applied on red vessels. Later, light colored vessels were used. A series of six different types of glazed wares, which were chronologically sequent, have been identified. By 1540 decorations were very carelessly applied and glazed wares were not of a high quality. It was not, however, until the latter part of the seventeenth century that they disappeared altogether and were replaced by light colored vessels, with designs in dull red and black paint, much like those made by the many present-day Indians.
Fig. 38—Glazed ware from the Rio Grande area. Regressive-Pueblo period. (Courtesy School of American Research.)
Fig. 38—Glazed ware from the Rio Grande area. Regressive-Pueblo period. (Courtesy School of American Research.)
In the northern Rio Grande area black-on-white pottery died out to a great extent and was largely replaced by what we know as Biscuit Ware.[90]This name is derived from the resemblance of this pottery to china in the “biscuit stage†of manufacture. Biscuit ware is a thick pottery with a soft crumbly paste tempered with volcanictuff. The background is a light gray or tan, and somewhat coarse designs are applied in black paint. Corrugated culinary ware was replaced by plain black pottery.
In southeastern New Mexico, and extending into Texas, a distinctive ware made during this period is found. This has a brownslip.Bowl exteriors are undecorated, but the interiors have designs applied in red and black. Associated with it, is a plain brick-red ware.
The story of the Spanish conquest of the Southwest, which was interrupted by a revolt of the Pueblos in 1680, is as dramatic a tale as history can produce. Although 1540 is the date usually given for the first meeting between the Pueblo Indians and the Spaniards, it was actually in 1539 that the first contact occurred. In that year a Franciscan monk, Fray Marcos de Niza, accompanied by a Moor named Esteban, started north from Mexico to investigate tales of large and wealthy cities which were rumored to lie in that direction. Esteban went on ahead, and, reaching what is now New Mexico, was slain by the Indians. Fray Marcos did not dare to proceed, but caught a glimpse of one of the pueblos of Zuñi from a distance, and returned with tales of great cities.
Fig. 39—Biscuit ware from the Rio Grande area. Regressive-Pueblo period. (Courtesy School of American Research.)
Fig. 39—Biscuit ware from the Rio Grande area. Regressive-Pueblo period. (Courtesy School of American Research.)
In 1540 an expedition was organized under the leadership of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado to search for the fabulous “Seven Cities of Cibola†in the north. After a long and difficult journey the expedition reached Hawikuh, one of the Zuñi villages. The disappointment of the adventurers may well be imagined, for here was no city of gold, ready to yield its wealth to the invaders, but a community of simple farmers who, not only had no riches, but had little conception of the role that wealth could play in society. Later, Coronado movedhis forces to Tiguex on the Rio Grande, another Pueblo town. Trouble soon developed, and the Indians were massacred. The Spaniards then moved on to the Pueblo of Pecos, and there followed an expedition into the Plains as the search continued for the fabulous and mythical golden cities. In 1542, Coronado and his men withdrew to New Spain, and the Pueblos were left in peace for forty years. After 1580, various expeditions entered the Pueblo domain, and in 1598 it became a part of the Spanish dominions. In 1609 the city of Santa Fe was founded.
From the beginning there was a clash between the two cultures. The Pueblos resisted as best they could, but they were no match for the more highly organized Spaniards with their superior weapons and their inestimable advantage of being mounted. The colonizers and missionaries who entered the country looked upon the Indians as a subject people; there were abuses and many excesses, and the Indians were shamefully exploited. Corn, the all-important staple of the Indians, was requisitioned, and Spanish horses trampled Pueblo corn fields. Every effort was made to break down the prevailing form of government. Missionaries were determined to destroy the old religion and make converts among the natives. The principle, that the end justifies the means, was developed in its most pernicious form. There were floggings and hangings, and Indians were sold into slavery. All in all, it is a disgraceful page in history. Even the most cursory glance at our own record of dealings with various Indian groups, however, suggests that we are hardly in a position to “cast the first stone.†Under the circumstances, even the smallest pebble would be excessive.
The presence of the Spaniards had other far-reaching and disastrous effects on the Pueblos. They had no immunity to European diseases, and many died. Worst of all, however, was the increasing pressure of fierce nomadic tribes. Tribes, such as the Utes, the Comanches, the Navajos and the Apaches, had been something of a menace before, but, as they acquired horses, stolen from the Spaniards, their mobility was greatly increased, and they became a scourge, sweeping over the Southwest, killing, pillaging, and destroying.
In 1642, there was a mild revolt of the Pueblo Indians against the Spaniards in which the Governor of the territory was killed, but they were not well organized and the revolt was soon put down. It was not until 1680 that a successful revolt took place. This dramatic episode in Southwestern history has been called “the first American Revolution.†The success of the undertaking was largely due to Popé, an old medicine man of the Pueblo of San Juan. When the Spaniards first appearedthere were some seventy villages. By 1680 the number had been greatly reduced. Added to the difficulties imposed by the lack of a common language, was the separation of the Pueblos, not only as regards distance, but in another and more important sense. As has already been pointed out, each of the pueblos was essentially a separate city-state with its own government, and, to some extent, its ownculture. Popé, however, succeeded in interesting the people of the scattered communities in the common cause. First, the people of Taos were enlisted and then, one by one the other pueblos were added to the list, until all were united, including even the far off and peaceful Hopi.
At last, all was in readiness and a knotted cord was sent throughout the Pueblo domain, each knot representing one day which was to elapse before the warriors were to arise and cast out the invaders. Somehow the Spaniards learned of the plot, and the revolt took place a little earlier than had been planned. None the less, some four hundred people were killed, and the survivors fled to the garrison at Santa Fe. Santa Fe continued under siege until supplies and water were exhausted. When the town could no longer be held, troops and civilians marched away, without opposition from the Indians, and took refuge in the vicinity of what is now the city of El Paso, Texas.
For twelve years the Spaniards were kept out of the Pueblo country, although various attempts were made to retake the area. Even with the removal of the hated Spaniards, these were not happy times for the Pueblos. Mounted nomads as well as Spanish troops were a constant threat, and many groups were forced to move to mesa tops where defense was somewhat easier. As if all this were not enough, there came a severe drought which, to such people, can mean only suffering and starvation. At last in 1692, the land of the Pueblos again became a part of the Spanish domain. This time the conquest was bloodless. Don Diego de Vargas accomplished this remarkable feat largely by a display of force, coupled with a policy of turning the suspicions of the Pueblos against each other. United they had been able to drive out the invaders; divided they were powerless to prevent their return. It is a story to ponder carefully in these times.
Fig. 40—Hopi maiden. Similar hair dresses are shown on figures in Developmental-Pueblo pictographs and on Mimbres pottery. (Courtesy Museum of Northern Arizona.)
Fig. 40—Hopi maiden. Similar hair dresses are shown on figures in Developmental-Pueblo pictographs and on Mimbres pottery. (Courtesy Museum of Northern Arizona.)
Some Indians refused to accept Spanish domination and moved to the almost inaccessible Governador country of northern New Mexico where they lived among their traditional enemies, the Navajo, for some fifty years. Many Pueblo traits which appear in Navajoculturemay stem from this contact. Other refugees joined the Hopis who were never reconquered. The reconquest did not by any means mark the end of all trouble. There continued to be periodic uprisings in the Rio Grande area, and the Spaniards did not have an easy time. In addition to their troubles with the Indians of the Pueblos, there was a constant threat from various wild predatory tribes. There was also much internal dissension as a result of a conflict between church and state. In 1821 the Pueblo homeland became part of the Republic of Mexico, and then, in 1848, New Mexico became a territory of the United States.
Throughout the period from 1540 until the present day, the Pueblos have been subjected to the influences of alien cultures. Some traits of these cultures they have accepted, others they have rejected. They have learned to keep livestock, they cultivate many fruits and vegetables unknown to their ancestors, they use metal tools and machinery. Machine-made fabrics are widely used, and there is an ever increasing trend toward wearing the white man’s apparel. Pottery is still made, and interesting new wares have been developed, but it is made to be sold and, in Indian homes, most of the beautiful old vessels have been replaced by metal and china containers.
Nominally the people of the Pueblos are Christians, and there is no village without a chapel in which the people worship. There are kivas too, however, and sometimes openly, sometimes secretly, the old rites are practiced and the old gods are worshiped. Houses may have windows and galvanized roofs, but basically the architecture is the same. There is some dissension in various villages, but in many there is still a remarkable group unity. On the surface, there is an ever growing tendency for the Pueblo Indians to become more like the white neighbors who surround them, but it would be naive to believe that the oldculturehas disappeared completely. Perhaps some day it will, but the end is not yet. Those who know and understand the way of the “ancient ones†admit the inevitability of change, but they feel that there is much to be learned from the old way of life.
While the inhabitants of the Plateau were developing theculturedescribed in the previous section, other groups in other parts of the Southwest were evolving along somewhat different lines. The nextbasic cultureto be considered is that of the Hohokam, the people of the Desert Province whose center lies in the Middle Gila Basin and which includes the drainages of the Salt and Gila Rivers of southern Arizona.
Hohokamis a Pima word which means “those who have vanished.†The ancient agriculturists, to whom this name has been given, lived in this semi-arid land for many centuries, and, through the use of canals, made a remarkable adjustment to an unfavorable environment. For a long time it was thought that they represented a regional variation of the Pueblo pattern, for the more spectacular ruins contained great communal houses of Pueblolike construction. Associated with these were small crude houses of wattle and daub construction. The large Pueblo houses were thought by some archaeologists to be temples or palaces, and the small houses were believed to be the homes of serfs or peons. When it was noted that different kinds of pottery were associated with the different types of houses, it became apparent that the situation was morecomplexthan had been thought. Archaeological excavations finally brought the true explanation to light. During the first part of the fourteenth century, Pueblo people moved into the homeland of the Hohokam, bringing with them the techniques and traditions of their ownculturewhich differed in many respects from those of the original inhabitants. The two groups lived together, but, to a great extent, each preserved the elements of its own culture.
There were certain similarities between thecultureof the Hohokam and that of the Pueblos, but there were many differences. Both were agricultural people, but they used different types of corn and beans,[12]and there were certain differences in their farming techniques. Pottery was widely made in both societies but there were marked differences in manufacturing techniques and in color. Architectural development was entirely different. There were many differences in minor arts; for example, shell work was very highly developed among the Hohokam, and bone was used for tools much less than by the Pueblos. Probably there were physical differences between the two people, but our information on this subject is very scanty, for the Hohokam did not bury their dead, as did the Anasazi, but practiced cremation.
There is a strong possibility that the Hohokam developed from the ancient food-gatheringculture, known as theCochise, which had flourished in this same general region for many centuries.[54]The possibility has also been mentioned that the Hohokam may have come to southern Arizona from the east with an already established pattern.[27]Of course, the culture continued to evolve, but almost all of the basic traits which characterize it were present in the earliest times of which we have any record.
Fig. 41—Map of the Southwest showing sites referred to inChapter IV.
Fig. 41—Map of the Southwest showing sites referred to inChapter IV.
The question of dates for the Hohokam is, unfortunately, far more complicated than in the case of the Basketmakers and Pueblos. The wood available for house construction was usually cottonwood or mesquite,woods which are not suitable for tree-ring dating. Through stratigraphic studies it has been possible to find the chronological place of various phases in relation to each other, but the establishment of an absolutechronologyin terms of the Christian calendar is quite difficult, since it must be based almost entirely on cross-checking of pottery between Hohokam and Anasazi sites. There is a considerable divergence between the dates suggested by different archaeologists, or even by the same archaeologist at different times. There is nothing to criticize in the fact that an archaeologist may give one date at one time and an entirely different one at another. Archaeologists, like all scientists, are seeking for the truth, and as new evidence is uncovered old estimates must often be changed and new ones made. First estimates placed the beginning of theculturein Arizona at about 300 B. C.[27]Later this date was revised upward by 900 years.[28]According to the most recent publication on the Hohokam, which contains approximate dates which will be used throughout the following discussion, this culture in the Gila Basin is believed to date back to about the beginning of the Christian era.[57]
There were several stages of development in the Hohokam, just as there were in the Anasaziculturewith its six principal stages, ranging from Basketmaker to Historic-Pueblo times. The first is known as thePioneerfor this was the formative stage of the culture. TheColonialperiod which followed was, as the name implies, one in which colonies were established. During the next period, to which the nameSedentaryhas been given, the culture was fully developed. The termClassic, which is applied to the following period, is really a misnomer, for the cultural peak of the Hohokam had passed. It was, however, a time of high cultural development during which Pueblo and Hohokam people lived side by side in the Desert Province. Little is known of the Hohokam following the end of the Classic period when, about 1400 A. D., the Pueblo people moved away, but it is possible that the present Pima Indians may be descendants of the ancient Hohokam or that at least some Hohokam blood flows in their veins. A people with a variant form of the Hohokam culture who lived farther south may have been the forerunners of the present Papago Indians.
The Pioneer period, according to recent estimates, began about the time of Christ and lasted for some five or six hundred years. It is possible, however, that these dates may have to be revised again, asmore information becomes available. At present, unfortunately, this earliest period is known from only one site. This is a large site, called Snaketown,[27][28][31]which lies in the Gila Indian Reservation twelve miles southwest of Chandler, Arizona. It was occupied from Pioneer until Sedentary times, and has yielded a tremendous amount of information. It is extremely fortunate that this important site has been excavated with exceptional care and has been splendidly reported upon.
The Snaketown area is more arid than most other places occupied in prehistoric times and contains a stream that is now only intermittent, although it was probably perennial during the prehistoric period. Lumbering in the mountains and overgrazing have doubtless contributed materially to the desiccation of the region, but even in prehistoric times it must have been extremely dry. There is no evidence of the construction of irrigation canals which were so characteristic of later phases, but it seems possible that they may have existed at this time, although in a less well developed form, for without irrigation it would have been almost impossible for prosperous villages to arise in such a poor environment. Little is known, however, of the agricultural attainments of the people at this time. In fact, no corn has yet been found which may be attributed to this period, although it is certainly reasonable to suppose that it was being cultivated. The scarcity of bones of food animals indicates that meat did not play a very important part in the diet. Turkey bones are extremely rare. It is believed that turkeys were never domesticated by the Hohokam.
All Hohokam houses were earth lodges with much the same general plan. They were single-unit structures, usually with depressed floors. Entrance was through a covered passage or vestibule, normally in the middle of one side. Walls were constructed of poles, brush, and mud. The roofs, which consisted of rafters overlaid by smaller timbers, were supported by upright posts set in the floor. During Pioneer times houses were larger than in any other Hohokam period and in some cases were up to thirty-five feet square. Some archaeologists believe that the largest houses may have been occupied by more than one family.[31]cOthers feel that it is more probable that they were ceremonial structures.[30]During most of the time, four or five roof supports were employed, but there was onephaseearly in the period when a great many posts set in rows were used and it is hard to see how such a house could have been lived in at all. So much skill was required to erect these houses that they certainly must not represent the people’s first attempt at housebuilding, and there was undoubtedly an earlier phase for which evidence has not yet been found.
No material has been found which may be attributed to a pre-ceramic period, unless the Cochisecultureproves to be ancestral to the Hohokam. Pottery is found in even the earliest Pioneer levels. The Hohokam did not have anycorrugated pottery. All their wares were smooth and were produced by the paddle-and-anvil technique. When this method is used to shape and finish a piece of pottery, a round or mushroom-shaped object, known as an anvil, is held inside the vessel to receive the force of the blow, while the exterior is struck with a wooden paddle. Air was permitted to flow over the pottery while it was being fired, producing anoxidizing atmosphere.
There are important differences between the pottery making methods of the Hohokam and those of the Anasazi. As has been previously noted, among the Anasazi, the final step in the finishing process was to shape and smooth the vessel through scraping with a gourd or pottery spoon, and most pottery was fired in areducing atmosphere.
The earliest Hohokam pottery found is simple but well made. At first only plain undecorated wares in gray, brown, or red were produced. Thetempercontained flecks of mica which show through the surface. Bowls were usually red. Jars, which had a capacity of about two gallons, were normally gray or brown. Before long, painted decorations began to be applied. Designs were simple rectilinear or curvilinear forms. Hatching was widely used. Decoration was in a maroon-red paint on a grayish background, and the red portion was sometimes polished. As time went by, the background became a buff color rather than a gray. Because of this distinctive color combination, the termRed-on-BuffCulturewas originally applied to the Hohokam.[32]During Pioneer times, some polychrome ware was made and it is believed that this may mark the first appearance of the use of multiple colors in the Southwest. This pottery has red and yellow designs on a gray background. In many cases grooves wereincisedon bowl exteriors before the paint was applied. Even after painted pottery was introduced, it never made up more than twenty per cent of the total pottery of the Pioneer era.
Figurines, depicting human beings, as well as bowls and jars, were made of clay. These are known from the earliest times. They are quite similar to those of the Mexican Plateau, and it is thought that they may have been introduced from there, together with the knowledge of the cultivation of corn. These figurines have ridgelike noses pinched up from the base, and eyes and mouths represented by slits and dots. These were always modelled rather than made in molds. Some havefunnel-shaped heads and may have served as containers. Figurines were usually fired, but this was not invariably the case.
Even from the earliest times the Hohokam appear to have cremated the dead, a practice which anthropologists always deprecate. These ancient people could hardly know how much they would inconvenience certain men in the twentieth century by their funerary habits, and undoubtedly they would not have cared. Bones and ashes are rarely found in the Pioneer period but some have been recovered from pits and trenches. The actual cremation is not believed to have taken place here. There were offerings of crushed burned pottery, and late in the period some stone objects were used.
Fig. 42—Hohokam figurines. a. Pioneer period. b. Colonial Period. c. Sedentary Period.
Fig. 42—Hohokam figurines. a. Pioneer period. b. Colonial Period. c. Sedentary Period.
From the earliest times the Hohokam were skilled workers in stone. Two distinctive traits were: the manufacture of “palettes†and of stone jars. The palettes have been so called, although we are not sure of their actual function, because the center portions contain traces of ground pigment and there is usually a slight depression which might have resulted from grinding and mixing. They are the most commonof Hohokam funerary offerings. In Pioneer times, they were much simpler than in later periods. At first they were plain stone slabs, but, by the close of the period, they were being made with raised borders. The polished stone vessels were sometimes plain, sometimesincised, and in one case the incisions had been filled with paint. Late in the period carved life-forms appeared. Oneeffigyrepresents the figure of a man squatting and holding a shallow basin. Other stone implements include manos and metates, mortars and pestles, and highly polished grooved axes with raised ridges on either side of the groove. As has been previously noted, there was a scarcity of projectile points. Most of those which have been found are light enough to suggest the possibility of the use of the bow and arrow. There are also some heavy, stemmed points which may have been dart-points or knives.
Some stone was used in the manufacture of ornaments, although shell was more abundantly utilized for this purpose. Beads and pendants were carved from stone, and there was some use of turquoise, particularly in mosaic work. No ear plugs have been found in levels earlier than those of the Sedentary period, but they are shown on Pioneer figurines, and it seems reasonable to suppose that they may have been worn at that time. Shells provided many ornaments. Whole shells were utilized as beads by grinding off the ends to make it possible to string them; some disc beads were made. Bracelets were made of shell. They were usually thin and rather fragile and were not carved until late in the period.
Bone was much less widely used by the Hohokam than by the Anasazi, but one distinctive type of object was made of this material. This is anincisedbone tube, usually decorated with rectilinear designs but sometimes utilizing curvilinear patterns and occasionally life-forms. There are some indications that these tubes were painted. Their use has not been determined.
Pipes were not made by the Hohokam in any period. Since these people were not as dependent on the vagaries of the weather as were the Anasazi, who depended to a great extent on flood irrigation, it is entirely logical that cloud symbols should not have been as important to them.
The Colonial period, which lasted from perhaps 600 to about 900 A. D., is better known than the Pioneer, for it is represented at two other excavated sites in addition to Snaketown. These are Roosevelt9:6, at Roosevelt Lake, Arizona,[48]and the Grewe Site which lies just east of Casa Grande National Monument.[120]By the end of Colonial times all of the distinctive traits which characterize the Hohokam were fully developed, and some had even begun to decline. The most spectacular accomplishment of this period, and for that matter of the wholeculture, was the construction of a great system of irrigation channels which diverted water to the fields from the rivers.[57]At their first appearance, the canals were so well developed that it seems impossible that this marks the first attempt at such a project. Possibly the system had been developed in Pioneer times, or, perhaps, it had been perfected elsewhere first, but evidence to bolster either theory is still lacking. By 700 A. D., the canal system was well established and became increasingly bigger and morecomplexuntil the peak was reached between 1200 and 1400 A. D.
The whole project is really amazing when one considers the tremendous amount of work which went into the construction and maintenance of the canals. The latter must have required almost as much effort as the original excavating, for silt was constantly being deposited. Canals were up to thirty feet wide and ten feet deep, and in the Salt River Valley they have been found to have an aggregate length of 150 miles. It staggers the imagination when one stops to think that this tremendous engineering feat was carried out with only the crudest of stone and wooden tools. The scope of such a project and the end toward which so much effort was directed tell us a great deal about the people who planned it. Undoubtedly such an undertaking indicates strong leadership and careful organization. Great numbers of people must have participated, and it undoubtedly took much careful planning to direct their labors. There must also have been some centralization of authority, since the canals served various settlements and these groups must have had some organization to direct their efforts toward the common good.
Here, as among the Anasazi, however, there is no evidence of a ruling class with a higher standard of living than that of their subordinates. The scope of the canal project suggests comparisons with the erection of the huge pyramids of Egypt or the great temples of the Maya. There is a tremendous difference, however, in the ends toward which all this vast human effort was directed. In Egypt, men slaved to construct tombs for despotic rulers, and, in the land of the Maya, they labored to erect temples, doubtless for the greater glory of the priesthood as much as for the gods who were worshipped. In the arid reaches of the Hohokam homeland, however, the canals, which were built and kept open with so much labor, were for the benefit of the people.
Fig. 43—Hohokam house of the Colonial period.
Fig. 43—Hohokam house of the Colonial period.
Large ball court at Snaketown, Colonial period. (Courtesy Gila Pueblo.)
Large ball court at Snaketown, Colonial period. (Courtesy Gila Pueblo.)
The homes of the people continued to be simple structures consisting of single units. They were much like those of the Pioneer period but were smaller and rectangular with rounded corners. Usually they were constructed over a shallow pit, but some had elevated floors supported by stones. A fire pit lay in the floor just in front of the entrance. It is not known whether there were smoke holes or not. Walls were formed of slanting poles, and the interiors were lined with reeds. The roof rested on a central ridge pole supported by two main posts. There is evidence of outside kitchens, small brush structures containing a fire pit, much like those still used by the Pimas.
Houses and kitchens were not the only structures which were erected at this time, for ball courts made their first appearance during this period. These were large unroofed, oval areas, oriented east and west, and open at both ends. They were up to two hundred feet in length and were surrounded by walls believed to have been between fifteen and twenty feet in height and possibly higher. The earth banks, which formed the walls, sloped and were about twenty degrees off the perpendicular. The floor, which was well below ground level, was formed from smoothcalichedeposits. Two stones set in the ends and one in the center apparently served as markers. They were very accurately placed and the one in the middle lies in the exact center. These are very much like the ball courts of the Maya, except that the latter had stone walls. There are a number of theories as to where these courts first originated. They may have been developed by the Maya and copied by the Hohokam, or they may have reached the Maya from the Hohokam. A third possibility is that both people received the idea from some still unknown source.
There is no way of knowing just what game was played by the Hohokam, but it is reasonable to suppose that it was much like that played in the courts farther south, and we know something of the rules from ancient manuscripts. The game was played with one, two, or more players on each side. The object was to knock a ball through rings set in the walls. Hands and feet could not be used, and the ball could be struck only with the knees, thighs, or buttocks. No rings have been found in the Hohokam courts, but it is probable that they would have been made of wood or some other perishable material, since the earth walls would hardly support great stone rings such as arefound in some of the Mayan courts. It is quite possible that the game was connected with religious rites, as it was among the Maya.
Much red-on-buff and plain brown or buff pottery was manufactured. Most of the decorated vessels have designs formed by the repetition of small elements. These are often enclosed by small circles, and there was also a wide use of borders or fringes of short, oblique, parallel lines. The small elements included both geometric and life forms. There was a marked transition from the more rigidly formalized designs of the Pioneer period to the freer designs of later times. The practice of incising pottery declined and finally disappeared altogether. Firing clouds, which result when vessels come in contact with fuel while being fired, are quite common, and give the pottery a mottled appearance. Many figurines were made. They almost always depicted females. Early in the period they were made all in one piece, but later the head and body were made separately. The heads became more true to life. Clothing, leg and ankle bands, and, sometimes the eyes, were indicated by appliqué.
Fig. 44—Red-on-buff Hohokam vessel of the Colonial period. (Courtesy Gila Pueblo.)
Fig. 44—Red-on-buff Hohokam vessel of the Colonial period. (Courtesy Gila Pueblo.)
Pottery and figurines served as offerings for the dead. Smallsherds were still common, but whole vessels also began to be used. There were three types of cremations. Sometimes bones, ashes, and offerings are found in pits dug into thecalicheand it appears probable that the actual burning took place there. In other cases they are found in trenches. Sometimes burning took place elsewhere and later the burned remains were placed in small holes close together. In addition to objects made of clay, stone projectile points and palettes are usually found in the cremations.
Palettes, which were the most consistent offering, were made of thin schistose rock. There is a clear differentiation between the center portion and the border which is ornamented with grooves. Some have sculptured edges in the form of birds, snakes, and other animals. There are alsoeffigytypes in which the outline of the palette is in a life-form. Palettes were most numerous early in the Colonial period and later declined in importance. One extremely interesting feature of many of these objects is that on the mixing surface of heavily burned palettes from cremations is found a vitreous substance which, on analysis, proved to be a lead mixture. It is not certain whether the use of lead ore was intentional or accidental, but in any case the Hohokam never learned to exploit this as metal. It has been suggested that the change in the lead mixture from a dull color to a brilliant red with metallic globules may have been observed as the palettes burned on the funeral pyres and that it came to have a ceremonial significance. It is entirely possible, however, that the palettes had simply been used for grinding acompoundcontaining lead, which was used to provide pigment, prior to the burning. They may have been used to mix facial or body paint.
Some of the most remarkable stone work found in Hohokam sites consisted of mosaic plaques or mirrors inlaid with angular pieces of iron pyrites which had a reflecting quality. These were common funerary offerings, and as a result most of the specimens obtained are badly damaged. None the less, one can still appreciate the amazing work which went into their construction. These plaques or mirrors range between three and eight inches in diameter. On one surface are thin sheets of iron pyrites crystals carefully fitted together. How these thin plates were obtained is a complete mystery, for pyrites crystals are usually cubic and so hard that they cannot be scratched with a knife. In some cases the crystal encrustation covered the entire face, in others edges were beveled. Edges and backs were sometimes decorated with something which resemblescloisonnéwork, although the technique differed. First a base coat of a gray material was applied, and then thiswas covered with a thicker layer of some black substance. A design was cut into this with a sharp implement, and then the sunken portion was half filled with thick white paint. Next, paint in a variety of colors was added to fill the depression, or, in some cases, was even built up slightly above the level of the black background portion.
These mirrors are almost exactly like those found in sites in Central America. It is thought that the best examples found in Hohokam sites were imported from the south,[59]although it is possible that some crude imitations may have been made by the Hohokam themselves. The material necessary would have been available to them, for sizeable pyrites crystals are found near Tucson.
Many stone vessels were made. They were usually carved in bas relief and both realistic and life-forms were used. Desert reptiles were the most common figures. Other objects made of stone included abraders for use in shell work, metates which were not very precisely shaped, a few stone finger-rings, and projectile points. These were long slender points which were barbed and serrated.