9/4/2023 0 Comments Hohokam irrigation system![]() The Hohokam towns and villages were often constructed at regular intervals along their main canals. They also traded with adjacent Southwestern civilizations, such as the Hohokam and Mogollon. The Hohokam traded with the Indian nations of California as well as with those in Mexico. The Hohokam wove their cotton into textiles which were often used as a trade item. Hohokam agriculture included corn, beans, squash, agave, cotton, and tobacco. These well-designed irrigation systems allowed the Hohokam to produce two harvests each year. In the Salt River Valley, the area currently occupied by the city of Phoenix, the Hohokam constructed more than 500 miles of fairly complex canal systems. These large canals fed hundreds of small ditches that brought water to thousands of acres of croplands. In order to prevent water loss through seepage, the Hohokam plastered the sides of the canals. These hand-dug canals were often ten feet deep and up to fifty feet wide. In the Hohokam communities of Casa Grande and Pueblo de los Muertos, irrigation systems brought water to the agricultural fields from the river which was six miles away. About 425 BCE these Indians, the ancestors of today’s O’odham nations who are often called Hohokam by archaeologists, began construction of the city of Skoaquik which means the “place of snakes.” Archaeologists call this place Snaketown.įor more than 12 centuries the Hohokam prospered peacefully in the Arizona desert. More than 2,500 years ago, American Indians brought agricultural prosperity to the Arizona desert with the construction of complex irrigation systems.
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