What are some characteristics of the Hohokam tribe?

During the Pioneer Period the Hohokam lived in villages composed of widely scattered, individually built structures of wood, brush, and clay, each built over a shallow pit. They depended on the cultivation of corn (maize), supplemented by the gathering of wild beans and fruits and some hunting.

What crops did the Hohokam grow?

Near their villages, on floodplains or alluvial slopes, the Hohokam established fields of corn, beans, squash, and cotton. They used every possible space to grow crops, even building small terraces and check dams on hill slopes to collect and divert rainfall runoff toward their fields.

What tools 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 are 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 crops did the Hohokam people grow?

What kind of yarn did the Hohokam Indians use?

The Hohokam made cordage (yarn) from cotton, milkweed, yucca, and agave fiber for weaving and sewing. To use yucca and agave, the Indians cut the leaves with a thin, saw-like stone blade. Then, using a heavy rock scraper, they stripped the flesh from the leaves, baring the fiber.

What did Hohokam people wear on their arm?

Shell bracelets are a common artifact type found on Hohokam sites including Mesa Grande. Crafted by removing the center of a clam shell, the bracelets were typically worn by men on their upper left arm. Shells with designs etched into them with a mild acid represent one of the earliest examples of this advanced technology.

What was life like for the Hohokam people?

Life for the Hohokam focused, in large extent, on agriculture and growing crops. The canals required the organization and labor of thousands of people to build, maintain and operate. Farmers had to maintain the fields and open and close the irrigation gates at the proper time. They had to protect crops from rabbits, birds and other marauders.

Where did the Hohokam people get their name?

The word Hohokam is a Piman language term for “all used up” or “exhausted,” and the name given by archeologists to the ancient farming peoples of the southern deserts of Arizona.

What kind of clothing did the Hohokam Indians wear?

Woolen clothing was unknown in the Southwest until the 1600s, when the Spanish brought domestic sheep into the region. The Hohokam also adorned themselves with jewelry. They wore bracelets, rings, earrings, necklaces, and nose plugs. Jewelry was made from seashells, semi-precious stones, pieces of pottery, and bone.

The word Hohokam is a Piman language term for “all used up” or “exhausted,” and the name given by archeologists to the ancient farming peoples of the southern deserts of Arizona.

How did the Hohokam people make their pottery?

Potters of this tradition used a paddle-and-anvil technique, where they held a stone anvil inside the vessel and beat the walls with a wooden paddle to form the desired shape, size, and thickness. They had plain pots for cooking and storage and gray-, brown- and buff-colored vessels with elaborate designs in red paint.