Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest

by H. M. Wormington

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.