![]() This primary Hohokam village was located near the head of a main canal. The canal systems appear to have served both practical (building and maintenance) and political (administration and distribution of water) purposes. The lower Salt River contains the largest concentration of Hohokam canal systems similar systems are found on the Gila and Santa Cruz rivers. for Arizona Department of Transportation) (Map compiled and produced by GEO-MAP, Inc. The distribution of prehistoric Hohokam irrigation canals in the Salt River Valley 1992. ![]() While the technology was simple, the systems were engineering marvels, monumental in scale. Hohokam irrigation systems reached their peak between A.D. In fact, archaeological evidence indicates that irrigation developed independently in the Tucson area and was not imported from Mesoamerica. The earliest canals found in North America are located along the Santa Cruz River in Tucson and date to around 1100 B.C. Hohokam villages and farms were usually located along the main rivers like the Salt, Gila, and Santa Cruz, and their tributary rivers. Prehistoric farmers and artisans known as Hohokam survived for over 1000 years in this harsh environment because of the hundreds of miles of irrigation canals and ditches they engineered, dug, and maintained. ![]() Ironically, it is also very "green" with a large variety of desert-adapted plants, many of which provide edible pods, flowers, seeds, roots, and tubers. The Sonoran Desert is one of the hottest and driest places in the world. A prehistoric Hohokam canal has been incorporated into the Consolidated Canal in the eastern Salt River Valley, 1906. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |