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Show Figure 38.- Hohokam jar from Casa Grande- made about 1100 A. D. was the prevailing custom for disposing of the dead, and, unfortunately, the ashes and calcined bone fragments found in Hohokam burial grounds offer little on which to base judgments of an anthropological nature. Among the arts and crafts, the Hohokam were particularly skilled in the production of a buff- colored pottery decorated with a red- brown paint. This pottery changed in style of design through the centuries but the archeologist has no difficulty in relating it to these people wherever found, as one of their most distinctive products. In stonework, they gained fame in sculpturing and carving small- scale objects. Most, if not all, of these were useful things, like slate palettes on which paints were compounded. Another material which they favored Figure 39.- Corner of embroidered cotton blanket ( Salado culture about 1350 A. D.) from Tonto National Monument, Ariz. was marine shell imported from the Pacific Coast and the Gulf of California. This substance lent itself particularly well to the production of ornaments, bracelets, rings, pendants, and beads, by such techniques as grinding, cutting, and carving. One of the exceptional achievements along this line was decorating shell by etching with an acid, covering those areas not to be affected by some acid- resisting substance. In developing this principle the Hohokam appear to have been ahead of all other contemporary people of the world. The Hohokam also produced many lesser items which, together with those mentioned, gave distinctive quality to their culture. We know little, however, about one class of their products- things made of wood, skin, feathers, fibers, and the like. There is abundant reason to believe that the Hohokam were highly skilled in textile weaving, using ..' •: we- :- d. \ •..•'!/ : .1 ' 5 : 6; Figure 40.- Headband- slit tapestry weave in blue and white- Salado Culture about 1350 A. D. cotton as the base fiber, perhaps as far back as 700 A. D., but this substance, along with the other perishable materials, has not withstood the ravages of time except in a few favored spots. Geographically, the Hohokam were located in south- central Arizona, adjacent to what is now Mexico. Of all the early southwestern tribes, they were thus most advantageously situated to establish contacts by trade or otherwise with some of the high cultures of central Mexico. A number of items of undoubted southern origin or inspiration have been found in Hohokam villages of about 1000 A. D. and later. They show that the Hohokam actually were in touch with their southern neighbors. Cast copper bells and mosaic pyrites plaques are significant examples. The ball courts, or gam- 87 |