What were the Hohokam known for?
The Hohokam are probably most famous for their creation of extensive irrigation canals along the Salt and Gila rivers. In fact, the Hohokam had the largest and most complex irrigation systems of any culture in the New World north of Peru.
What does the word Hohokam mean?
Definition of Hohokam : a member of a prehistoric desert culture of the southwestern U.S. centering in the Gila Valley of Arizona and characterized especially by irrigated agriculture.
What destroyed the Hohokam society?
A persistent drought, lasting from about 1130-1180 CE, decimated Anasazis’ crops, while a major flood in 1358 destroyed the Hohokam irrigation system. These disasters led the Ancestral Pueblos to hold spiritual ceremonies, praying to their gods for a bountiful harvest and good weather.
What did Hohokam eat?
Corn
Corn (maize), beans and squash were the three major crops in the prehistoric American Southwest and were also the principle foods of the Hohokam. But the Hohokam also used other Mesoamerican food plants such as agave and amaranth.
What were the Hohokam houses called?
There are two types of Hohokam houses, pithouses and adobe houses. A pithouse is a house built into the ground.
Who are the Hohokam people?
The Hohokam peoples occupied a wide area of south-central Arizona from roughly Flagstaff south to the Mexican border. They are thought to have originally migrated north out of Mexico around 300 BC to become the most skillful irrigation farmers the Southwest ever knew.
What language did the Mogollon speak?
Given evidence of influence of the Mogollon on groups among the most southeastern historic Puebolan groups who spoke Piro and Tompiro during historic types, it is possible that some Mogollon groups including the Mimbres may have spoken Tanoan languages.
What did the Hohokam eat?
Did the Hohokam leave anything behind?
Between AD 1350 and 1375, the Hohokam tradition lost vitality and stability, and many of the largest settlements were abandoned.
What animals did the Hohokam hunt?
When they weren’t tending to their crops, the Hohokam explored and exploited the environment around them. A day’s walk into the hills provided the people with many important resources. They hunted bighorn sheep, deer, and other animals there.
What did Hohokam hunt?
Why did the Mogollon disappear?
The Mogollon culture ended for unknown reasons in the 15th century. The people abandoned their villages, perhaps dispersing over the landscape or joining other village groups.
How did the Hohokam get water to their corn?
For their time, the Hohokam were the only culture in North America that relied on irrigation canals to water their crops.
What animals did the Hohokam eat?
The Hohokam supplemented their primarily plant-food diet with meat. They had no domestic animals except the dog, so most meat was obtained by hunting. Deer and rabbit were the most important meat sources, but the Indians also killed and ate mountain sheep, antelope, and rodents, including mice and ground squirrels.
Where did the Mogollon people come from?
Mogollon culture, prehistoric North American Indian peoples who, from approximately ad 200–1450, lived in the mostly mountainous region of what are now southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. Their name derives from the Mogollon Mountains in New Mexico.
Do Anasazi still exist?
The Anasazi, or ancient ones, who once inhabited southwest Colorado and west-central New Mexico did not mysteriously disappear, said University of Denver professor Dean Saitta at Tuesday’s Fort Morgan Museum Brown Bag lunch program. The Anasazi, Saitta said, live today as the Rio Grande Pueblo, Hopi and Zuni Indians.
What weapons did the Hohokam use?
Throughout the mountains, the Hohokam found good rocks for making stone tools. They made tools by striking stone against stone until sharp-edged flakes were released. Then, they fashioned the flakes into knives, scrapers, and arrowheads, leaving the unwanted fragments of rock behind.
What is the meaning of Hohokam?
Definition of Hohokam. : a member of a prehistoric desert culture of the southwestern U.S. centering in the Gila Valley of Arizona and characterized especially by irrigated agriculture.
Where did the Hohokam live in Arizona?
See Article History. Hohokam culture, prehistoric North American Indians who lived approximately from 200 to 1400 ce in the semiarid region of present-day central and southern Arizona, largely along the Gila and Salt rivers.
How old is the Hohokam culture?
The consensus reckoning of archeologists estimates Hohokam culture existed between 300 and 1500 AD, with cultural precursors possibly indicated as early as 300 BC.
Who are the descendants of the Hohokam?
The later occupants of the area, the Pima and Tohono O’odham (Papago), are thought to be the direct descendants of the Hohokam people. This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy McKenna.