Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest

by H. M. Wormington

THE SEDENTARY HOHOKAM

During the Sedentary period, which lasted from about 900 to 1200 A. D. there was some withdrawal from the outlying districts and a greater concentration of population in a smaller area, although there was also some northward extension of the [culture]. There was some regional specialization during the latter part of the period, for the inhabitants of the upper or eastern portion of the Gila Basin developed somewhat differently from those of the central area. This was possibly the result of the influence of Pueblo people who lived in the Tonto Basin about one hundred miles to the northwest, and it presaged the changes which were to occur in the next period when some of these people moved into the Hohokam area, bringing with them their distinctive culture.

Houses in the main area were roughly rectangular in outline, but the ends were somewhat rounded and the sides slightly convex. Floors were encircled by low, mud rims, six inches or less in height, which were probably designed to keep water out of the houses. Some had parallel-sided entrance ways, but others had a bulbous vestibule with a low step at the end. Late in the period, in the eastern part of the Gila Basin, there were some rectangular surface houses with walls of adobe, containing sporadic stones, over a pole framework. In some cases, villages were enclosed by walls and are referred to as compounds. This name is taken from the term which is applied to the walled or fenced enclosure of a house or factory in the orient.

The irrigation system was enlarged and improved. Ball courts were still being built but they seem to have been considerably reduced in size by the end of the period. They were oriented north and south and the ends were closed. One interesting find, made in a Sedentary site with an estimated date of 1100 A. D., was a rubber ball buried in a jar.[52] Analysis showed the rubber to be of American origin, unvulcanized and unrefined. There is no way of proving that this ball was used in playing the game for which the courts were designed, but it seems entirely possible that it was.

At this time some Hohokam people moved north into the Flagstaff area. They introduced ball courts and other distinctive traits of their [culture].[86]

Fig. 47—Red-on-buff Hohokam jars of the Sedentary period. (Courtesy Gila Pueblo.)

In the field of pottery, forty per cent of all that was produced was of the red-on-buff variety. There was a great elaboration of designs and some appear to have been taken from woven fabrics. Panels, negative designs, and patterns tied together by interlocking scrolls, were all common. There was a great variety of shapes which included three and four-legged trays. Jars increased tremendously in size, and a few had a capacity of almost thirty gallons. Bowls were also quite large. Some plain buff ware was manufactured, but it was not common. Less than one per cent of the total pottery assemblage consisted of bowls with heavily slipped and polished reddish brown interiors and mottled brown or gray exteriors. From the eastern area come bright red bowls with smoke-darkened, black interiors.

Figurines were of two types. For the most part they consisted of heads which were apparently attached to bodies made of cord-wrapped fiber. These have not survived, but their presence is indicated by impressions in the clay of the heads. The faces are quite realistic and probably represent an attempt at portraiture. Other figurines, made of buff clay and painted with red, show full figures, seated, with hands resting on the knees.

It is most unfortunate that practically none of the textiles produced at this time have lasted through the centuries. A few fragments have been found which give us tantalizing glimpses of a highly developed craft. Apparently very fine cotton textiles with intricate weaves were produced. No baskets have survived the passage of the years, but ash casts have been found which show that the making of baskets was well developed.

Cremation was still the accepted method of disposing of the dead, although a few burials have been found. Apparently inhumation was tried on a very small scale, but it did not supplant cremation. Bodies and offerings were usually burned, and then the unconsumed portions gathered together and put in small pits dug in the [caliche]. In some cases, bodies and offerings were left in the pit in which they were burned, and the pit covered with earth. In the eastern part of the Gila Basin, unconsumed bones and offerings were placed in small pottery urns and buried with a small bowl or [sherd] covering the mouth of the urn.

Fig. 48—Hohokam stone palette of the Sedentary period. (Courtesy Arizona State Museum)

Mosaic plaques or mirrors were still used. Palettes continued to serve as mortuary offerings, but they had decreased in number and had greatly degenerated. Raised borders disappeared and only [incised] lines remained to differentiate the rim and the mixing surface. Some palettes have been found in the area around Flagstaff in a site dated as late as 1278, so the [trait] seems to have persisted in the north longer than in the Hohokam province where it appears to have originated.

Stone vessels continued to be made, but they too were decadent. Carving in relief was largely replaced by incising. Life-forms in relief, when they do appear, are highly conventionalized. Many of the vessels are of steatite. There were some [effigy] vessels, representing animals and birds, which had shallow basins hollowed out of the backs. Metates and mortars and pestles were well shaped. Some hoes first appeared during Sedentary times, and it is thought that they may have been intrusive. Stone projectile points were long and slender and beautifully flaked. About half had lateral notches and the others were unnotched forms characterized by deep serrations. Stone was widely used as a material for ornaments. A great variety of disc beads were manufactured and the first ear plugs are found in sites of this period, although, as has been previously noted, they are seen on Pioneer figurines and quite possibly had been worn since the earliest times. Some particularly interesting finds include stone objects believed to have been nose-buttons or labrets. Figurines do not show the use of nose-buttons, but they do show ornaments just below the corners of the mouth and these may have been worn through the fleshy part of the chin. Ornaments worn through the nose or chin strike us as strange, for they have never won approval in our particular society, but they have been quite common in other parts of the world. In any case, a glimpse at a woman’s hat shop today offers convincing proof that anything can become fashionable and socially acceptable.

Shell work, already so well developed among the Hohokam, reached its peak in Sedentary times. Mosaic work, in which both shell and turquoise were used, achieved its highest development. The technique employed must be described as overlaying, rather than as inlaying, for depressions were not cut to receive the pieces which, instead, were laid on the surface. Due to the placing of these mosaics in the cremation fires, we know little of their composition beyond the fact that shell was usually used to provide a base for the overlay. Individual pieces were cut in the forms of animals or geometric figures. Disc beads, characterized by large perforations, and pendants were widely made. For the latter, the trend was away from life-forms and toward geometric figures. Many finely carved bracelets were made. Shells with painted designs appear first in Sedentary levels, but, due to the impermanent nature of the paint, there is no assurance that this technique may not have been developed some time before.

The most interesting treatment of shells is exemplified by those with designs applied by an etching process. The Hohokam may have been the first people to discover the technique of etching, for they were using it about the eleventh or twelfth century and the earliest recorded use of the process is on a coat of armor made in Europe in the 15th century.[57] Among the Hohokam the process does not appear to have continued beyond Sedentary times. It was probably never very commonly used and the difficulty of controlling the medium may have contributed to an early abandonment. Painting and etching were sometimes combined, for an example has been found of a shell etched with geometric designs and painted with red and green pigment.

Fig. 49—Hohokam etched shell. Sedentary period. (Courtesy Arizona State Museum)

Since shell is nearly pure calcium carbonate it is easy to see why portions exposed to the action of acid would be eaten away, but we have no way of being sure exactly what the technique used may have been. Experiments conducted in the laboratories of Gila Pueblo, however, have shown how such results could have been obtained with available materials.[31] The problem of finding a suitable acid was first considered. Obviously, for the ancient Hohokam, the problem could not be solved by running down to the corner drugstore. For the purposes of the experiment, a mild acetic acid solution was produced by fermenting juice from the fruit of the giant cactus. Portions of a shell were covered with pitch, a material which resists acid, and the shell immersed in the acid for seventy-two hours. When it was removed, the pitch-covered portion stood out in relief while the exposed parts had been partially eaten away, duplicating the effect found on the prehistoric shells.

Bone tubes continued to be made, but they were plain and undecorated. Other bone artifacts include daggerlike objects with carved heads, which may have served as hair ornaments. Usually the carving represented the heads of mountain sheep or a bird-and-serpent motif.

It was in the Sedentary level at Snaketown that the first objects made of metal were found. These were little copper bells, pear-shaped and split at the bottom, which very much resemble sleigh-bells. A great many identical bells are found in Mexico and it seems probable that the Snaketown examples were imported from there.[59] In the Anasazi area many copper bells were imported from the south. Most of them are dated at between 1300 and 1400 A. D., although some have been found which were brought into Pueblo Bonito and Aztec at an earlier date.