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Show rapid. This suggests the possibility that the Hohokam were unable to cope with situations affecting the very basis of their economy, namely, agriculture. We must recognize the possibility that something went wrong with their irrigation system. Nothing would tend to disrupt urban life more completely under primitive conditions than crop failure, except perhaps an attack by hostile people, for which there is no evidence in this case. It may be that the Hohokam, with genius enough to develop irrigation systems, were not alert to the dangers of overcultivation or the sterilizing effects of alkaline water. There are some indications that the Hohokam have survived in the form of the Pima Indians who, ever since the first Spanish contacts, have occupied the center of the Hohokam area, and who, in a dilute way, have perpetuated many of the older customs. This connection is not yet demonstrable but it is highly probable. Nothing has been said as yet of the other chief characteristics of the Hohokam. Being agricultural, they needed permanent homes. These were never pretentious, like the many- storied stone houses of the Anasazi, but were pole, brush, and dirt structures thrown over shallow excavations in the ground and generally erected some distance apart, which made for informal and loosely arranged villages. The shape of these houses changed through time, but this essential type did not change even in the fourteenth century, persisting after the arrival of the Salado people, a Pueblo group, who joined the Hohokam on a friendly basis and lived with them. Salado houses were pueblos, structures with room joined to room above ground and sometimes several stories in height. This architectural intrusion evidently had little permanent effect, for, after the Salado withdrawal from the area, at 1400 or soon after, this building form did not survive. The widely known Casa Grande near Coolidge is an impressive monument to the architectural ability of the Saladoans, dwarfing the house- building accomplishments of the Hohokam. The circular dwellings of the modern Pima are essentially similar to Hohokam houses. Little can be said about the physical appearance of these River Hohokam because of their custom of cremation. Throughout their entire history this Figure 37.- Casa Grande- a monument to the architectural ability of the Saladoans- Casa Grande National Monument, Ariz. 86 |
