Late Preclassic Hohokam Land Use in the Middle Gila River Valley: A View from Florence Military Installation and Adjacent Areas

Abstract

Late pre-Classic (A.D. 750-1150) Hohokam land use of the middle Gila River Valley in southern Arizona is still poorly understood. Current site distribution data from Florence Military Reservation and adjacent areas indicate that unlike settlement and subsistence behavior existed in lowland and upland, or bajada zones. Early village formation and irrigation technology appear to have first developed in the lowlands, along the Gila River during the early pre-Classic (A.D. 300-750) and subsequently spread to the bajada. By the late pre-Classic, lowland village groups were focused upon irrigation agriculture, while village groups inhabiting the bajada were characterized by a more diverse range of farming strategies, including floodwater (ak chin), dry farming, and perhaps even limited irrigation-based technology. Regionally, late pre-Classic villages were very likely integrated into an interdependent economic system, based upon the presence of ballcourts with presumed marketplaces, where commodities were exchanged. Also, by the late pre-Classic, a degree of Territorial Sedentism existed, with village-based communities inhabiting lowland and bajada zones representing separate territorial units.