January 8, 2016

A Pax Hohokam Culture?

Archaeologist Steven Shackley at the UC Berkeley has done an analysis of spear and arrow points in the Hohokam region, and chemically analyzed thousands of obsidian pieces to find their origins. He has concluded that the style of the projectile points, ceramics, burial practices, rock art, tools and origin stories are Hohokam as far north as Colorado, Flagstaff, into New Mexico and California and down into Baja. The material connection to the Hohokam throughout this entire area is strong over 50,000 square miles. From 700-1300 CE, there is little evidence of large scale violence in this area. The Hohokam were a diverse multiethnic, multilingual society. Shackley’s analysis will be a point of controversy and debate as archaeologists continue to expand our knowledge of the entire ancient Southwest.

The Payson Roundup has the report here;
http://www.paysonroundup.com/news/2015/dec/30/how-far-did-hohokam-reach/

Mike Ruggeri’s
The Ancient Southwest
http://bit.ly/X1kCou