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181-526: The history of Phoenix, Arizona , goes back millennia, beginning with nomadic paleo-Indians who existed in the Americas in general, and the Salt River Valley in particular, about 7,000 BC until about 6,000 BC. Mammoths were the primary prey of hunters. As that prey moved eastward, they followed, vacating the area. Other nomadic tribes (archaic Indians) moved into the area, mostly from Mexico to

362-535: A library building to the city. The Carnegie Free Library opened in 1908, dedicated by Benjamin Fowler. The Phoenix weather was a major attraction for tuberculosis patients during a time when the only cure for the widespread, fatal lung disease was rest in a dry, warm climate. The Roman Catholic order of the Sisters of Mercy opened St. Joseph's Hospital in 1895, with 24 private rooms for tuberculosis patients. Although

543-428: A 1947 fire. Another important event which occurred in 1893 was the passage of a territorial law which allowed Phoenix to annex land surrounding the city, as long as it obtained the permission of the inhabitants of that area. This would begin a process which lasts till today, as the city annexed some surrounding terrain, growing from its original 0.5 square miles of territory to slightly over 2 square miles of territory by

724-413: A 6.4-acre parcel situated immediately west of the old Mesa Hospital. Within this plot are the ruins of a large adobe compound and a nine-meters-high, relatively intact, platform mound. This is only one of the last three remaining Hohokam platform mounds in the greater Phoenix metro area. This parcel was transferred into public ownership in the mid-1980s, therefore the compound and mound were not destroyed and

905-545: A black soldier, followed by a riot of black troops from segregated units. Three men died and eleven were wounded in the riot. Most of the 180 men arrested and jailed were released, but some were court-martialed and sent to military prison. German prisoners of war built a secret tunnel at the prisoner-of-war camp which was located at the present site of Papago Park . In the Great Papago Escape of 23 December 1944, 25 POW's escaped. Local and federal officials took

1086-409: A conservative Republican and a friend of Herbert Hoover . He was outspoken against New Deal liberalism , especially its close ties to labor unions that he considered corrupt. Phoenix schools were segregated and the atmosphere was Southern; Goldwater quietly supported civil rights for blacks, but would not let his name be used. A pilot, outdoorsman and photographer, he developed a deep interest in both

1267-512: A dramatic presidential campaign in 1964 that lost in a landslide but shifted the GOP permanently to the right. He was born in Phoenix before Arizona became a state, the son of Baron M. Goldwater and his wife, Hattie Josephine ("JoJo") Williams. His father came from a Jewish family that had emigrated from England and founded Goldwater's , the largest department store in Phoenix. Goldwater's mother, who

1448-472: A fading of the traditional laid-back Phoenix lifestyle. By 1950, over 105,000 people lived within the city and thousands more in surrounding communities. There were 148 miles (238 km) of paved streets and 163 miles (262 km) of unpaved streets. The 1950s growth was spurred on by advances in mechanical air conditioning, which allowed both homes and businesses to offset the extreme heat known to Phoenix during its long summers. Affordable cooling in

1629-669: A finer quality and were tempered with caliche and limited amounts of very finely ground micaceous schist and small particles of vegetative material. The true measure of the Hohokam can only be derived from the sum of their material culture. This is best gleaned from a review of their principal population centers, or more appropriately, major villages or giant cities. Although sharing a common cultural expression, each of these major villages has its own unique history of emergence, growth, and eventual abandonment. Including outlines of archaeological exploration, provided below are brief descriptions of

1810-528: A full visitor center exists on the enclosed site that is open October–May annually. Located within the modern city of Tempe, Arizona , the Hohokam settlement of Los Hornos (from the Spanish los hornos , meaning 'the ovens') was initially investigated by Frank Cushing in 1887. With urban expansion, additional excavations were conducted in the 1970s, late 1980s, and throughout the 1990s. The results of these comprehensive archaeological projects have documented both

1991-432: A group of 17 miners back to the valley, where they began the process of building the canals which would revitalize the area. There is no concrete evidence on who came up with the name for the new community, but anecdotal stories give credit to Darrell Duppa , who suggested they name it Phoenix. Swilling had suggested "Stonewall", after Stonewall Jackson , and another proposed name was Salina, which had been an early name for

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2172-483: A large Preclassic- and Classic-period village organized much the same as Snaketown and Pueblo Grande, respectively, yet on a somewhat smaller scale. Los Hornos appears to have started around 400 CE, as a small cluster of rectangular pithouses situated on the extreme western edge of the site, west of Priest Dr and south of US 60. Over time, the Los Hornos settlement expanded along a series of large secondary canals to

2353-505: A large central locus, which often included small platform mounds. These platform mounds were rectangular, faced by post-reinforced adobe walls, and were filled with either sterile soil or refuse from Preclassic trash mounds. In the largest villages, the central locus included small platform mounds. The number of small and medium-sized settlements seem to have declined as the larger communities became increasingly more densely occupied. Although Casa Grande red-on-buff continued to be produced,

2534-502: A large central plaza. Adjoining the plaza was a medium-sized ballcourt, and overall, the village was affiliated with several smaller outlying settlements. In the 10th century, at least two large secondary villages and about a dozen new hamlets were founded to the west of the main settlement. With the abandonment of Snaketown and the transition from the Preclassic to Classic periods, the greater Grewe-Casa Grande community became one of

2715-652: A licensing fee of $ 1,000.00. Arizona moved from a Democratic stronghold in the 1930s to a Republican bastion by the 1960s, with Phoenix leading the way. The Democrats lost the 5 to 1 advantage in voter registration they held at the war's end to one of equal balance by 1970. Pearce sees multiple reasons for the transition, especially the demographic change that brought in Midwesterners with a Republican heritage. The new industries were based on high technology, and attracted engineers and technicians who voted Republican and showed little interest in labor unions, as opposed to

2896-462: A long groove called a "flute". The spear points would typically be made by chipping a single flake from each side of the point. The point was then tied onto a spear of wood or bone. As the environment changed with the ice age ending around 17–13 Ka BP on short, and around 25–27 Ka BP on the long, many animals migrated overland to take advantage of the new sources of food. Humans following these animals, such as bison, mammoth and mastodon, thus gained

3077-679: A major food source for the Hohokam to augment the food grown in irrigated areas. Engineering improved access to river water and the inhabitants excavated canals for irrigation. Evidence of trade networks include turquoise , shells from the Gulf of California , and parrot bones from central Mexico. Seeds and grains were prepared on stone manos and metates . Ceramics appeared shortly before 300 CE, with pots of unembellished brown used for storage and cooking, and as containers for cremated remains. Materials produced for ritual use included fired clay human and animal figures and incense burners. Growth

3258-511: A month to recapture them all. During the war, public transportation was overwhelmed by the newcomers at a time when gasoline was rationed to 3 gallons a week and no new autos were built. In 1943, the transit systems operated seventeen streetcars and fifty-five buses. They carried 20,000,000 passengers a year. A fire in 1947 destroyed most of the streetcars, and the city switched to buses. A town that had just over sixty-five thousand residents in 1940 became America's sixth largest city by 2010, with

3439-537: A much wider geographical distribution, but mostly in the central and southern part of the continent. The haplogroup most commonly associated with Amerindian genetics is Haplogroup Q-M3 . Y-DNA , like ( mtDNA ), differs from other nuclear chromosomes in that the majority of the Y chromosome is unique and does not recombine during meiosis . This allows the historical pattern of mutations to be easily studied. The pattern indicates Indigenous Amerindians experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes: first with

3620-422: A population of nearly 1.5 million, and millions more in nearby suburbs. The postwar boom was based on the arrival of young veterans who had seen enough of the city to realize its potential, and new industries. Large industry, learning of this labor pool, started to move branches here. In 1948 high-tech industry, which would become a staple of the state's economy, arrived in Phoenix when Motorola chose Phoenix for

3801-711: A portion of it was made the New Mexico Territory (including what is now Phoenix) shortly afterward. Then In the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 the U.S. promised to honor all land rights of the area, including those of the O'odham. The O'odham gained full constitutional rights. During the American Civil War , the Salt River and Gila River Valleys, which comprise much of the territory which makes up Phoenix today, were claimed by both sides in

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3982-479: A private gas lighting company (1886), telephone company (1886), a mule-drawn streetcar system (1887), and electric power (1888). The coming of the railroad in the 1880s was the first of several important events that revolutionized the economy of Phoenix. A spur of the Southern Pacific Railroad , the Phoenix and Maricopa, was extended from Maricopa into Tempe in 1887. Merchandise now flowed into

4163-495: A proclamation creating Maricopa County by dividing Yavapai County. In that same proclamation, he named Phoenix the county seat, but that nomination was subject to the approval of the voters. An election was held in May, 1871, at which Phoenix' selection as the county seat was ratified. Quite a few members of SRVTA were also elected to county positions: among them were John Alsap (Probate Judge), William Hancock (Surveyor) and Tom Barnum

4344-535: A rapid decline. Around 1400 or 1450 CE, the entire settlement was abandoned, except for a low-scale occupation associated with the Polvoron phase. Today, about 60% of the Grewe-Casa Grande site has been either destroyed due to agricultural and commercial development, excavated, or remains relatively intact buried under fields used to grow cotton. About 40% of this once huge settlement can be found within

4525-549: A remarkable amount of immigration. Some communities established significant markets, such as that in Snaketown . The harshness of the Sonoran Desert may have been the most influential factor on the society. Despite cultural exchange at trade centers, self-sufficiency and local resources were emphasized. In modern-day Phoenix , the Hohokam are recognized for their large-scale irrigation networks. Their canal network in

4706-561: A series of relatively small, circular plazas. These appear to date to the sixth century CEand were located along and immediately upslope of the Coolidge Canal system. By the eighth century CE, this dispersed hamlet had expanded nearly a kilometer south and developed into a full-fledged summer home for the priests and chieftain. At this point, the settlement consisted of densely packed yet discrete groups of pithouses clustered around small open courtyards. In turn these structures delineated

4887-481: A series of small villages along the middle Gila River. The communities were located near arable land, and dry farming was common early in this period. Water wells , usually less than 10 feet (3 m) deep, were dug for domestic water supplies. Early Hohokam homes were built of branches that were bent, covered with twigs or reeds and heavily applied mud, and other available materials. Crop, agricultural skill, and cultural refinements increased between 300 and 500 CE as

5068-955: A single animal species: the bison (an early cousin of the American bison ). The earliest known of these bison-oriented hunting traditions is the Folsom tradition . Folsom peoples traveled in small family groups for most of the year, returning yearly to the same springs and other favored locations on higher ground. There they would camp for a few days, perhaps erecting a temporary shelter, making and/or repairing some stone tools, or processing some meat, then moving on. Paleo-Indians were not numerous, and population densities were quite low. Paleo-Indians are generally classified by lithic reduction or lithic core "styles" and by regional adaptations. Lithic technology fluted spear points, like other spear points, are collectively called projectile points . The projectiles are constructed from chipped stones that have

5249-589: A single very large and well-built compound that often had some form of large community structure, such as a platform mound or great house. Great house structures, as with the one preserved at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument , were built only at the largest communities. These stone or adobe buildings had up to four stories, and were probably used by the managerial or religious elites. They may have also been constructed to align with astronomical observations. Trade with Mexico appears to have declined, but an increased number of trade goods arrived from Pueblo peoples to

5430-439: A site about a mile to the west, which was supported by the newly founded "Salt River Valley Town Association" (SRVTA). Due to economic considerations benefitting the members of SRVTA, the more westerly townsite was selected, and a 320 acres (1.3 km) plot of land was purchased in what is now the downtown business section. On February 14, 1871, following a vote by the territorial legislature, Governor Anson P.K. Safford issued

5611-434: A small ceremonial mound, a large central plaza, several large community houses, and hundreds of residential pithouses, and may have been home to at least several thousand people. After Snaketown was abandoned, several minor settlements were founded within the general vicinity and continued to be occupied until the early 14th century CE. The Hohokam Pima National Monument is located on Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) land and

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5792-423: A technique called coiling. A small, fine clay base was connected to a series of coils. These coils were then thinned and shaped using a paddle and anvil. Hohokam Plain and Red wares were primarily tempered with a variety of materials including micaceous, phyllite, or Squaw Peak schist, as well as granite, quartz, quartzite, and arkosic sands. Analytically, based on the type of temper used, these are classified as to

5973-550: A tribe known as the Hohokam. At some point in the centuries before the Common Era, a group of archaic Indians migrated north from Mexico, bringing with them an agrarian society, different from the hunter-gatherer cultures of most of the archaic Indian tribes. Evidence of this culture has been uncovered in the Tucson area, consisting of slab-lined storage pits, and "sleeping circles". This archaic Indian culture would give rise to

6154-489: A variety of flora. Paleo-Indian groups were efficient hunters and carried a variety of tools. These included highly efficient fluted-style spear points, as well as microblades used for butchering and hide processing. Projectile points and hammerstones made from many sources are found traded or moved to new locations. Stone tools were traded and/or left behind from North Dakota and Northwest Territories , to Montana and Wyoming . Trade routes also have been found from

6335-538: A vast variety of wild plants. Late in the Hohokam Chronological Sequence, they also used extensive dry-farming systems, mainly to grow agave for food and fiber. Their agricultural strategies were vital in the inhospitable desert, and allowed the aggregation of rural populations into complex urban centers. Many features of earlier Hohokam domestic architecture, such as rectangular pithouses , were apparently transplanted relatively intact from

6516-598: A waiting period for marriage. It was also during the 1930s that Phoenix and its surrounding area began to be called "The Valley of the Sun", which was an advertising slogan invented to boost tourism. In 1940 as the Depression ended, Phoenix had a population of 65,000 (with 121,000 more in the remainder of Maricopa County ). Its economy was still based on cotton, citrus and cattle, while it also provided retail, wholesale, banking, and governmental services for central Arizona, and

6697-577: Is an archaeological construct that divides Hohokam history into phases of significant cultural changes. It uses two main methods of expression: Gladwinian and Cultural Horizon. The latter is an adaptation of the chronological scheme used in Mesoamerica applied to avoid the interpretive bias inherent in the Gladwinian scheme (i.e. Pioneer, Colonial, Sedentary periods). The HCS and the methods to establish its calendrical reference are applied only to

6878-492: Is generally considered as a time of growth and social change. The community of Snaketown , once central to the culture, was suddenly abandoned. Parts of this large village seem to have burned, and it was never reoccupied. This period also saw the construction of large and prestigious structures in the Salt-Gila Basin. These included large, rectangular, adobe-walled compounds with platform mounds and great houses, such as

7059-520: Is now listed as either a late form of Sacaton or Casa Grande red-on-buffs. The wide range of vessel forms used for decorated pottery was discarded for globular jars with necks. Production and use of Hohokam buff wares decrease significantly. So did the procurement and trade of raw shell from northern Mexico and its manufacture into jewelry. There was a transition from pithouses to pitrooms and an introduction of spherical spindle whorls similar to examples used in northern Mexico. Conceptually, this episode had

7240-515: Is the major characteristic of the Colonial period. Villages grew larger, with clusters of houses opening on a common courtyard. Some evidence exists of social stratification in larger homes and more ornate grave goods . Area and canal systems expanded, and tobacco and agave production began. Mexican influence increased. In larger communities, the first Hohokam ball courts were constructed and served as focal points for games and ceremonies. Pottery

7421-442: Is under tribal ownership. It covers nearly 1,700 acres (688 ha) (6.9 km²). The GRIC has decided not to open this extremely sensitive prehistoric site to the public. Altogether, the greater Grewe-Casa Grande Site represented the largest Hohokam community located within the middle Gila River valley. Situated between two primary canals (on the north, Canal Casa Grande and to the south Canal Coolidge), over time, this community

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7602-482: The Arizona Republic, provided extensive publicity. Much of the committee's funding secretly came from Gus Greenbaum , an associate of organized crime figures, despite the committee's vehement public denunciation of crime and corruption. The newly invigorated city council introduced a more efficient, less corrupt system based on a professional city manager. While the committee could win all its elections, it

7783-473: The Bering Strait from North Asia into the Americas over a land bridge ( Beringia ). This bridge existed from 45,000 to 12,000 BCE (47,000–14,000 BP ). Small isolated groups of hunter-gatherers migrated alongside herds of large herbivores far into Alaska . From c.  16,500  – c.  13,500 BCE ( c.  18,500  – c.  15,500 BP), ice-free corridors developed along

7964-480: The British Columbia Interior to the coast of California . The glaciers that covered the northern half of the continent began to gradually melt, exposing new land for occupation around 17,500–14,500 years ago. At the same time as this was occurring, worldwide extinctions among the large mammals began. In North America, camelids and equids eventually died off, the latter not to reappear on

8145-460: The Gulf of Venezuela to the high mountains and valleys. The population using them were hunter-gatherers that seemed to remain within a certain circumscribed territory. El Jobo points were probably the earliest, going back to c.  14,200  – c.  12,980 BP and they were used for hunting large mammals. In contrast, the fish-tail points, dating to c. 11,000 B.P. in Patagonia , had

8326-458: The Hohokam peoples, who, right around the beginning of the Common Era, moved further north and settled in the Salt River basin. For more than 2,000 years, the Hohokam peoples occupied the land that would become Phoenix. Hohokam is a present-day name given to the occupants of central and southern Arizona who lived here between about the year 1 and 1450 CE (current era). It is derived from

8507-819: The Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets . An alternative proposed scenario involves migration, either on foot or using boats , down the Pacific coast to South America. Evidence of the latter would have been submerged by a sea-level rise of more than a hundred meters following the end of the Last Glacial Period . The time range of the peopling of the Americas remains a source of substantial debate. Conventional estimates have it that humans reached North America at some point between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago. However, some groups of humans may have reached South America as early as 25,000 years ago. One of

8688-765: The Mogollon culture in Eastern Arizona; Southwest New Mexico; Northwest Chihuahua , Mexico; and the Ancestral Puebloans in Northern Arizona. From 900 to 1150 CE, neighboring Chaco society encouraged trade throughout northern Arizona and into southwest Colorado and southern Utah . These trade networks increased hand-to-hand trade throughout the region, with goods traveling throughout the Colorado Plateau , northern Arizona, and

8869-746: The Mormon pioneers settling the Lehi area of Mesa near Red Mountain . According to the National Park Service , the word Hohokam is borrowed from the O'odham language , and is used by archaeologists to identify groups of people who lived in the Sonoran Desert . Other archaeologists prefer to identify ancient Arizona as part of the Oasisamerica tradition and instead call Hohokam the Oasisamericans. Nevertheless, Hohokam are one of

9050-645: The Pacific coast and valleys of North America . This allowed land animals, followed by humans, to migrate south into the interior of the continent. The people went on foot or used boats along the coastline. The dates and routes of the peopling of the Americas remain subjects of ongoing debate. It is likely there were three waves of ancient settlers from the Bering Sea to the America continent. Stone tools , particularly projectile points and scrapers , are

9231-611: The Phoenix metropolitan area was the most complex in the pre-contact Western Hemisphere. A portion of the ancient canals has been renovated for the Salt River Project and helps to supply the city's water. The original canals were dirt ditches and required routine maintenance; those currently in use are lined with concrete. When Hohokam society collapsed, the dirt canals fell into disrepair. European-American settlers later infilled some canals, while others renovated, as with

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9412-567: The giant beaver , steppe wisent , giant muskox , mastodon , woolly mammoth and ancient reindeer . The Clovis culture , appearing around 11,500 BCE ( c.  13,500 BP) in North America, is one of the most notable Paleo-Indian archaeological cultures. It has been disputed whether the Clovis culture were specialist big-game hunters or employed a mixed foraging strategy that included smaller terrestrial game, aquatic animals, and

9593-641: The 14th century CE, with the rise of Los Muertos located several miles to the southeast, the Los Hornos community appears to have spiraled into a precipitous decline. Although greatly reduced in scale and importance, the city continued to be occupied until it was effectively abandoned between 1400 and 1450 CE, as was much of the Lower Salt River basin. Today, much of the Los Hornos village has been destroyed due to modern transportation, residential, and commercial development, or has been excavated. The only surface vestiges of this once significant Hohokam city are

9774-463: The 1930s and again in the 1960s revealed that the site was inhabited from about 300 BCE to 1050 CE. At its height in the early 11th century, Snaketown was the center of both the Hohokam culture and the production of the distinctive Hohokam buff ware. Following the last excavations conducted by Emil Haury , the site was completely recovered with earth, leaving nothing visible above ground. Overall, Snaketown boasted two ball courts, numerous trash mounds,

9955-530: The Americas becoming extinct towards the end of the Paleoindian period as part of the Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions . The potential role of human hunting in the extinctions has been the subject of much controversy. From 8000 to 7000 BCE (10,000–9,000 BP) the climate stabilized, leading to a rise in population and lithic technology advances, resulting in a more sedentary lifestyle during

10136-970: The Americas suggest that Clovis (thus the "Paleo-Indians") time range should be re-examined. In particular, sites such as Cooper's Ferry in Idaho, Cactus Hill in Virginia , Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania , Bear Spirit Mountain in West Virginia , Catamarca and Salta in Argentina , Pilauco and Monte Verde in Chile , Topper in South Carolina , and Quintana Roo in Mexico have generated early dates for wide-ranging Paleo-Indian occupation. Some sites significantly predate

10317-636: The Americas ;portal Hohokam Hohokam ( / h oʊ h oʊ ˈ k ɑː m / ) was a culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of south-central Arizona , United States, and Sonora , Mexico. It existed between 300 and 1500 CE, with cultural precursors possibly as early as 300 BCE. Archaeologists disagree about whether communities that practiced the culture were related or politically united. According to local oral tradition, Hohokam societies may be

10498-430: The Americas. Due to the evidence that Paleoindians hunted now extinct megafauna (large animals), and that following a period of overlap, most large animals across the Americas became extinct as part of the Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions , it has been argued by many authors that hunting by Paleoindians was an important factor in the extinctions, though this suggestion is controversial, with other authors placing

10679-681: The Casa Grande National Monument. Overall, including the recovery of 172 burials and hundreds of thousands of artifacts, about 60 pithouses, numerous pits, 27 adobe pitrooms, and a ballcourt were excavated or tested during the course of this project. Additional excavations were performed in the southeast corner of the monument by the Civil Works Administration directed by Russell Hastings in 1933 and 1934. The excavation of 15 pithouses, three pits, 32 burials, and portions of four trash mounds demonstrated

10860-631: The Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, which was established as the nation's first archeological reserve in 1892, and declared a national monument in 1918. Visitors can enjoy an interpretative center, walk among the stabilized ruins of Compound A, and closely view the great house, which has been protected since 1932 from the elements by a distinctively modern-looking roof. Pueblo Grande Museum Archeological Park near central Phoenix contains preserved ruins and artifact exhibits. Archaeological finds have been recorded along

11041-512: The Catholic population was small and poor, the city's Protestants were generous and funding a new hospital. In 1910 the sisters opened Arizona's first school of nursing. Today St. Joseph's Hospital is part of a corporation called Dignity Health, and is still operated by the Sisters of Mercy. Until 1901, the sisters also ran Sacred Heart Academy, an elite school for young ladies. The Sisters of

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11222-699: The Early Archaic period in some regions. Sites in Alaska (eastern Beringia) exhibit some of the earliest evidence of Paleo-Indians, followed by archaeological sites in northern British Columbia , western Alberta and the Old Crow Flats region of the Yukon territory. The Paleo-Indians would eventually flourish all over the Americas. These peoples were spread over a wide geographical area; thus there were regional variations in lifestyles. However, all

11403-575: The Gila River basin, yet these were abandoned, as well. Hohokam split into smaller groups, and the population declined slightly, at a peak rate 2 per 100 people between 1350 and 1400. This decline was previously greatly overestimated because smaller groups are harder to identify. Evidence that the human population was maintained are the unchanged prey animal populations. This phase is characterized by widespread use and manufacture of Salado polychrome, with both Gila and Tonto polychromes. After 1375 CE,

11584-587: The Hohokam Core Area, which is the Gila-Salt River basin associated with Phoenix, Arizona , not to regions outside that area, called Hohokam Peripheries. Within these regions, the basic period designations are retained; however, local phases are often used to note significant differences, and, to some extent, represents communities influenced by their Ancestral Puebloan and Mogollon neighbors. As farmers of corn and beans, early Hohokam founded

11765-529: The Hohokam abandoned most villages and canal systems in the lower Salt River basin. The area continued to be occupied, but on a far smaller scale. The few villages that remained were quite small, and were concentrated along the Gila River, with the notable exception of the lower Queen Creek drainage. This period is the aftermath of the Hohokam cultural collapse and a critical stage in the ethnogenesis of modern O'odham. The earliest sedentary agricultural settlements in central Arizona date from 1000 to 500 BCE, yet

11946-505: The Hohokam acquired a new group of cultivated plants, presumably from trade with peoples in the area of modern Mexico. These acquisitions included cotton, tepary bean , sieva and jack beans, cushaw and warty squash , and southwestern pigweed . Agave species had been gathered for food and fiber for thousands of years by southwestern peoples, and around 600, the Hohokam began cultivating agave, particularly Agave murpheyi ("Hohokam agave"), on large areas of rocky, dry ground. Agave became

12127-454: The Hohokam were the first to master acid etching, daubing shells with pitch and bathing them in acid most likely made out of fermented cactus juice . Artisans produced jewelry from shell, stone, and bone, and began to carve stone figures. Cotton textile work flourished. Red-on-buff pottery was widely produced. This growth brought a need for increased organization, and perhaps authority. The regional culture spread widely, extending from near

12308-599: The Hohokam, groups of Akimel O'odham (commonly known as Pima), Tohono O'odham and Maricopa tribes began to use the area, as well as segments of the Yavapai and Apache. The O'odham were offshoots of the Sobaipuri tribe, who in turn were thought to be the descendants of the formerly urbanized Hohokam. The two O'odham peoples were split between the Akimel (river people) and Tohono (desert people). The Akimel O'odham were

12489-537: The Mexican border to the Verde River in the north. There appears to have been an elite class, as well as an increase in social status for craftsman. Platform mounds similar to those in central Mexico appear, and may be associated with an upper class and have some religious function. Trade items from the Mexican heartland included copper bells, mosaics, stone mirrors, and ornate birds such as macaws. This period

12670-806: The Phoenix area. Hohokam irrigation systems supported the largest population in the Southwest by 1300 CE. Archaeologists working at a major archaeological dig in the 1990s in the Tucson Basin, along the Santa Cruz River, identified a culture and people that may have been the ancestors of the Hohokam. This prehistoric group may have occupied southern Arizona as early as 2000 BCE, and in the Early Agricultural Period grew corn, lived year-round in sedentary villages, and developed sophisticated irrigation canals. The Hohokam used

12851-481: The Phoenix location was also the first McDonald's restaurant to feature the "Golden Arches" which would become the emblematic architectural element of the global restaurant chain. The McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice, desiring to expand the successful restaurant they had created in San Bernardino, California licensed the first McDonald's franchise to Phoenix businessman, Neil Fox and two other partners for

13032-558: The Pima Indian (Akimel O'odham) word for "those who have gone" or "all used up". The Hohokam inhabitation of the valley is broken up by paleontologists into five periods. The earliest period is known as the Pioneer Period, which lasted roughly from 1–700 AD, and was categorized by groups of shallow pit houses, and by its end the first canals were being used for irrigation, and the first decorated ceramics were appearing. This

13213-706: The Precious Blood opened St. Mary's Catholic High School in 1917. Brophy College Preparatory for boys was opened in 1928 by the Jesuits. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the National Reclamation Act , allowing for dams to be built on western streams for reclamation purposes. Residents were quick to enhance this by organizing the Salt River Valley Water Users' Association (on February 7, 1903), to manage

13394-545: The Salt River. However, in light of the rebirth of a town after the collapse of the Hohokam civilization, the name Phoenix predominated. A letter to a newspaper in Prescott, shows that this name was already in use by January 1868. The Board of Supervisors in Yavapai County, which at the time encompassed Phoenix, officially recognized the new town on May 4, 1868, and formed an election precinct. The first post office

13575-592: The Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland by enough of a lead in the Phoenix area to narrowly overcome Democratic strength in rural Arizona. In 1947 a new organization, the Phoenix Charter Revision Committee, began to analyze the administrative instability, factionalism, mediocrity and low morale that had long paralyzed city government. The proposed a series of reforms and reorganized itself as

13756-511: The Soho or early in the Civano phases, from 1277 to 1325 CE. At this time, Los Hornos, now centered on Hardy Dr south of US 60 and north of Baseline Road, consisted of about 15 residential compounds, a large central plaza, a large rectangular platform mound with an associated compound, several large trash mounds, and numerous borrow pits and inhumation and cremation cemeteries. Prior to the middle of

13937-565: The Southwest Archaeology Team (SWAT). The SWAT's indispensable volunteer work at the Mesa Grande ruin began in the middle 1990s and continues today. At its peak in the late Preclassic and early Classic periods, this settlement may have consisted of as many as 20 discrete residential areas and covered several hundred acres. Today, due to massive urban development, the surface remains of the village have been reduced to

14118-537: The Suwu'Ki O'odham, or "Vulture People". Eusebio Francesco Chini (Father Kino) arrived in the middle Gila River valley in 1694 to find the monumental great house abandoned and already in a state of decay and decomposition. Despite its condition, later Jesuit missionaries and he used the great house to hold Mass , between the late 17th and 18th centuries. Adolph Bandelier provided one of the first detailed archaeological maps and descriptions of Classic period architecture at

14299-556: The Tucson basin during the early Formative Period. Throughout the Hohokam Chronological Sequence, individual homes were usually excavated approximately 40 cm (16 in) below ground level, had plastered or compacted floors of 12 to 35 m , and had a bowl-shaped, clay-lined hearth near the wall-entry. By 600 CE, a distinct Hohokam architectural tradition emerged that had similarities with Mesoamerica, such as ballcourts that also served as neighborhood gathering and trade spaces. By 1150 CE, pithouses were replaced by above-ground structures in

14480-479: The Valley. Barry Goldwater (1909–1998) was one of the city's most prominent local, statewide and national leaders. He is known for owning the city's largest department store, working to reform city government, building and leading the state Republican Party (GOP), gaining a national visibility as a powerful senator, becoming known as "Mr. Conservative" for his articulation of the once unpopular ideology , and running

14661-588: The Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region. The Na-Dené , Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations, however, exhibit haplogroup Q (Y-DNA) mutations that are distinct from other Amerindians with various mtDNA mutations. This suggests that the earliest migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later migrant populations. Evidence from full genomic studies suggests that

14842-648: The Yuma and Apache tribes. The Tohono O'odham lived in the region as well, but their main concentration was further to south of the Pima, and stretched all the way to the Mexican border. Originally known to the European settlers as the Papago (which literally means " tepary-bean eater"), in recent times the tribe has dropped usage of that name. Living in small settlements, the O'odham were seasonal farmers who took advantage of

15023-493: The affluent, well-educated new arrivals from the East. They attracted votes across party lines, as did Goldwater himself, as well as Governor Howard Pyle , Congressman John Rhodes and numerous others. Pearce, however, also notes a growing right-wing element, based in Phoenix, that repeatedly challenged the business-oriented Republican establishment. Paleo-Indians Traditional theories suggest that big-animal hunters crossed

15204-627: The ancestors of the historic Akimel and Tohono Oʼodham in Southern Arizona . The origin of the culture is debated. Most archaeologists either argue it emerged locally or in Mesoamerica , but it was also influenced by the Northern Pueblo culture. Hohokam settlements were located on trade routes that extended past the Hohokam area, as far east as the Great Plains and west to the Pacific coast. Hohokam societies received

15385-576: The archaeological term Hohokam should not be confused with huhugam , the reverence of ancestors and descendants. Hohokam society is primarily associated with the Gila and lower Salt River drainages in the Phoenix basin. The Phoenix Basin was the Hohokam Core Area, and the Hohokam Periphery were adjacent areas where the Hohokam culture extended. Collectively, the Core and Peripheries formed

15566-471: The area in the 16th century. They left accounts of their travels, and also left behind European diseases that ravaged Indian tribes with no immunity, especially smallpox, measles and influenza. The Spanish opened a mission in the Tucson area, but made no settlements anywhere near Phoenix. When the Mexican–American War ended in 1848, most of Mexico's northern zone passed to United States control, and

15747-548: The area, the Confederates made no move to enforce that claim, while one of the reasons for the establishment of Fort McDowell was to support the North's possession of the territory. However, since the Phoenix area had no military value, it was not contested ground during the war. In 1863 the mining community of Wickenburg was the first to be established in what is now Maricopa County , to the north-west of modern Phoenix. At

15928-492: The ballcourts which began to appear in the last period, became more prevalent in the larger settlements. The final period, the Classic Period, lasted approximately from 1150 AD until 1450 AD. The number of villages declined during this period, but the size of the remaining settlements increased. During their inhabitation of the valley, the Hohokam created roughly 135 miles (217 km) of irrigation canals, making

16109-625: The blame on climatic change. In a 2012 survey of archaeologists in The SAA Archaeological Record, 63% of respondents said that megafauna extinctions were likely the result of a "combination of factors". The Archaic period in the Americas saw a changing environment featuring a warmer, more arid climate and the disappearance of the last megafauna. The majority of population groups at this time were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers, but now individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally. Thus with

16290-408: The canal system which enabled agriculture to flourish in the area. They suddenly disappeared by 1450, for unknown reasons. By the time the first Europeans arrived at the beginning of the 16th century, the two main groups of native Indians who inhabited the area were the O'odham and Sobaipuri tribes. While the first explorers were Spanish, their attempts at settlement were confined to Tucson and

16471-487: The capital because of its central location. It was smaller than Tucson, but outgrew that city within the next few decades, to become the state's largest city. In 1913 Phoenix adopted a new form of government, changing from a mayor-council system to council-manager , making it one of the first cities in the United States with this form of city government. After statehood, Phoenix's growth started to accelerate, and by

16652-576: The central locus, or Compound A, of the Casa Grande site, in 1884. Jesse Walter Fewkes and Cosmos Mindeleff made further descriptions of this area. Between 1906 and 1912, Fewkes conducted excavations and stabilization of this portion of the site. In 1927, Harold Gladwin excavated stratified tests of several trash mounds at both the Grewe and Casa Grande sites. He also defined and excavated portions of Sacaton 9:6 (GP), an adobe-walled compound situated on

16833-479: The city by rail instead of wagon. Phoenix became a trade center, with its products reaching eastern and western markets. In response, the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce was organized on November 4, 1888. Earlier in 1888 the city offices were moved into the new City Hall, at Washington and Central (later the site of the city bus terminal, until Central Station was built in the 1990s). When the territorial capital

17014-487: The city's first mayor. As the city developed, so did its infrastructure and services, usually in response to a recent crisis or event. The public health department was created in the early 1880s after several smallpox outbreaks. This was followed by the establishment of a volunteer fire department after two serious fires in the city, which in turn led to the development of a public water system, begun in 1887. Other services which would see their beginnings in this decade were

17195-613: The compound style with central courtyards. By 1200 CE, rectangular platforms mounds were being constructed. Hohokam burial practices varied over time, but cremation was a defining cultural characteristic of the Hohokam Core. Cremation has been used by archaeologists to suggest cultural interaction through trade or immigration with neighboring communities. An example is the Mogollan, at the Continental site in Tucson. Initially,

17376-608: The conflict. Confederate Arizona was officially claimed by The South , and formally created by a proclamation by Jefferson Davis on February 14, 1862. Its capital was at Mesilla , in New Mexico. The North claimed the Salt River Valley as part of the Arizona Territory , formed by Congress in 1863 with its capital at Fort Whipple , before it was moved the following year to Prescott . While laying claim to

17557-522: The continent until the Spanish reintroduced the horse near the end of the 15th century CE. As the Quaternary extinction event was happening, the late Paleo-Indians would have relied more on other means of subsistence. From c.  10,500  – c.  9,500 BCE ( c.  12,500  – c.  11,500 BP), the broad-spectrum big game hunters of the Great Plains began to focus on

17738-506: The courtroom of the county building. By October 1873, a small school was completed on Center Street (now Central Avenue ). The total value of the Phoenix Townsite was $ 550, with downtown lots selling for between $ 7 and $ 11 each. By 1875, the town had a telegraph office, sixteen saloons, and four dance halls, but the townsite-commissioner form of government was no longer working well. At a mass meeting on Oct. 20, 1875, an election

17919-471: The decade contributed to a wild building boom. In 1959 alone, Phoenix saw more new construction than it had in the more than three decades from 1914 to 1946. In May 1953, Phoenix became the location of the very first franchise of the McDonald's restaurant chain. The restaurant was located near the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Indian School Road. In addition to being the first McDonald's franchise,

18100-493: The desert land arable . Paths of these canals would later become used for the modern Arizona Canal , Central Arizona Project Canal, and the Hayden-Rhodes Aqueduct . The irrigation provided by these canals enabled the Hohokam culture to spread throughout the valley, and by 1300 AD, the Hohokam were the largest population in the prehistoric Southwest, and the largest native population north of Mexico City. This

18281-519: The desert southwest, including what would become Phoenix, called Paleo-Indians, were hunters and gatherers. The term "paleo", is derived from the Greek word "palaios," meaning ancient. They hunted Pleistocene animals, such as mammoths, mastodons, giant bison, ancient horses, camels, and giant sloths, remains of which have been discovered in the Salt River Valley. Inhabiting the southwestern United States and northern Mexico for tens of thousands of years, when

18462-408: The design and manufacture of jewelry reached its zenith during this phase. Other important developments were the significant increased procurement and manufacture of red ware, and the near-universal use of inhumation burial in the area north of the Gila River, both similar to the practices and traditions used by the historic O'odham. Immediately after 1300 CE, Hohokam villages were reorganized along

18643-401: The dominant Anglo community, but most were operated separately. Numerous postwar politicians got their start during the war on the home front, or from their experiences and contacts in the military. The postwar G.I. Bill of Rights provided mortgage funding for home ownership, allowing thousands to move out of small apartments. On Thanksgiving night 1942, a brawl at a bar led to MP's arresting

18824-564: The east and southeast. At the height of the Preclassic occupation in the Sacaton phase, which was contemporary with the zenith of Snaketown, this settlement had one large ball court, a large central plaza, several formal cremation cemeteries, numerous trash mounds, and several hundred residential pithouses. The detailed excavation of 50 Preclassic period pithouses in the area located immediately south of US 60 and east of Priest Dr, provided invaluable information concerning residential architecture and

19005-445: The economy was based on the "Five C's": cotton, citrus, cattle, climate, and copper. The city provided retail, wholesale, banking, and governmental services for central Arizona, and was gaining a national reputation among winter tourists. The post World War Two years saw the city beginning to grow more rapidly, as many men who had trained in the military installations in the valley, returned, bringing their families. The population growth

19186-479: The end of its first eight years under statehood, Phoenix' population had grown to 29,053. Two thousand were attending Phoenix Union High School. In 1920 Phoenix built its first skyscraper, the Heard Building. In 1928 Scenic Airways , Inc. saw profitability in flights in the Southwest. Scenic General Manager, J. Parker Van Zandt purchased land for Scenic in Phoenix, and named the new airport Sky Harbor , which

19367-503: The event in the form of a petroglyph that can be found in the White Tank Mountain Regional Park west of Phoenix. If confirmed, this is the only known Native American representation of the supernova. At some point in the mid-15th century, the Hohokam culture simply disappeared from the area, speculation as to why has focused on periods of drought and severe floods during this period. After the departure of

19548-492: The example found at the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument . Additionally, evidence of Hohokam influence in a broader context decreased significantly. This phase was initially proposed as part of the Gladwinian scheme, but recently has fallen out of favor with many Hohokam archaeologists. The primary reason for this view is that the Hohokam buff ware type once classified as Santan red-on-buff

19729-480: The existing village structure with a board of trustees obsolete. The 11th Territorial Legislature passed "The Phoenix Charter Bill", incorporating Phoenix and providing for a mayor-council government . The bill was signed by Governor John C. Fremont on February 25, 1881, officially incorporating Phoenix with a population of approximately 2,500. On May 3, 1881, Phoenix held its first city election. Judge John T. Alsap defeated James D. Monihon , 127 to 107, to become

19910-474: The extreme edge of the Casa Grande site, east of State Route 87, near the current entrance to the monument. Relatively large-scale excavations were carried out between 1930 and 1931, by Van Bergen-Los Angeles Museum Expedition under the direction of Arthur Woodward and Irwin Hayden. This project concentrated on a 30-acre (120,000 m ) parcel at the Grewe site, and Compound F located within the northeast corner of

20091-591: The few areas of agreement is the origin from Siberia , with widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the Last Glacial Period, and more specifically after the end of the Last Glacial Maximum around 16,000 to 13,000 years before present. The Palaeoindian culture lasts 4000 years, from 12,000 to 8000 BP. It is divided into Early Palaeoindian (12,000-10,000 BP) and Late Palaeoindian (10,000-8000 BP), ending with early events of

20272-439: The first ceramics appear just before the Hohokam rise in 300 CE. Some archaeologists interpret the sudden appearance of pottery as new trade or immigration into the Phoenix area, resulting in the rise of the Hohokam. Other archaeologists classify many of the defining, cultural characteristics as already within the indigenous farming communities by Hohokam rise. Hence, pottery helps to fuel the controversy over Hohokam origins. It

20453-503: The first people in the Americas diverged from Ancient East Asians about 36,000 years ago and expanded northwards into Siberia, where they encountered and interacted with a different Paleolithic Siberian population (known as Ancient North Eurasians ), giving rise to both Paleosiberian peoples and Ancient Native Americans , which later migrated towards the Beringian region, became isolated from other populations, and subsequently populated

20634-550: The following Archaic Period . Researchers continue to study and discuss the specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas , including the dates and routes traveled. The traditional theory holds that these early migrants moved into Beringia between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska 17,000 years ago, at a time when the Quaternary glaciation significantly lowered sea levels. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between

20815-458: The following year, on February 25, 1901, Governor Murphy dedicated the permanent state Capitol building. It was built on a 10-acre site on the west end of Washington Street, at a cost of $ 130,000. The Phoenix City Council levied a $ 5,000,000 tax for a public library after the state legislature, in 1901, passed a bill allowing such a tax to support free libraries. This action satisfied the conditions set by Andrew Carnegie in his proposal to donate

20996-456: The forests and marshes. The fall would have been a busy time because foodstuffs would have to be stored and clothing made ready for the winter. During the winter, coastal fishing groups moved inland to hunt and trap fresh food and furs. Late ice-age climatic changes caused plant communities and animal populations to change. Groups moved and sought new supplies as preferred resources were depleted. Small bands utilized hunting and gathering during

21177-509: The fort established a camp on the south side of the Salt River in 1866, which was the first non-native settlement in the valley. In later years, other nearby settlements would form and merge to become the city of Tempe , but this community was incorporated after Phoenix. The history of the city begins with Jack Swilling , a Confederate veteran who in November, 1867 on a visit to the Fort's camp

21358-471: The four major cultures of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico , according to Southwestern archaeology . There are several official spelling variants for the name, including Hobokam, Huhugam, and Huhukam. The spellings are commonly thought to be interchangeable, but they have different meanings. In the 1930s, archaeologist Harold S. Gladwin differentiated Hohokam culture from others in

21539-643: The functional use of interior space. Additional information concerning the Archaeological Consulting Services Ltd. excavation of a Preclassic occupation at Los Hornos can be found at the following site. After a short period of population loss and community reorganization in the late 11th and early 12th centuries CE, Los Hornos continued to shift east and south in the Classic period. This large village appears to have recovered somewhat and again became an important settlement late in

21720-604: The geographic setting of their manufacture, and are referred to as Gila (Gila River basin), Wingfield (Agua Fria basin, the Northern Periphery, or Lower Verde area), Piestewa Peak (Phoenix metro area north of the Salt River), South Mountain (Phoenix metro area south of the Salt River), or Salt (Salt or Verde River basins) Plain and Red wares. The surfaces of Plain wares were smoothed to some extent and many were polished, or slipped, with other minerals or clays. After

21901-468: The giant Desert Training Center created by General George S. Patton west of Phoenix, brought thousands of new people into Phoenix. Mexican-American local organizations enthusiastically supported the war effort, providing encouragement for the large number of men who enlisted, and assistance for their families. Many civilians were employed in the war effort, bringing the community more money than ever before. Some projects were organized in cooperation with

22082-405: The great house and the associated prehistoric ruins found north of Coolidge were collectively referred to as Sivan Vah'Ki , literally meaning the "Abandoned House", or "Village of the king/chieftain", respectively. As Frank Russell recorded in the early 20th century, several O'odham oral traditions note that Sial Teu-utak was an important leader of the Casa Grande community, before the overthrow of

22263-699: The greater Hohokam Regional System, which occupied the northern or Upper Sonoran Desert in Arizona . The Hohokam also extended into the Mogollon Rim . The Hohokam Core was located along rivers, and as such inhabited a prime trade position. Trade occurred between the Patayan , who were situated along the Lower Colorado River and in southern California; the Trincheras of Sonora , Mexico;

22444-532: The heavily Democratic semiskilled workers in eastern factories. The retirees were mostly Republican as well. A second factor was a favorable media climate, especially from the Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette newspapers and their television stations, owned by Eugene Pulliam. After 1964 however the Pulliam media were politically better balanced. Finally, Pearce points to the quality of Republican candidates that Goldwater had systematically recruited from among

22625-534: The individual groups shared a common style of stone tool production, making knapping styles and progress identifiable. This early Paleo-Indian period's lithic reduction tool adaptations have been found across the Americas, utilized by highly mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 60 members of an extended family. Food would have been plentiful during the few warm months of the year. Lakes and rivers were teeming with many species of fish, birds and aquatic mammals. Nuts, berries and edible roots could be found in

22806-514: The initial peopling of the Americas, and secondly with European colonization of the Americas . The former is the determinant factor for the number of gene lineages and founding haplotypes present in today's Indigenous Amerindian populations. Human settlement of the Americas occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line , with an initial layover on Beringia for the founding population . The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of

22987-420: The introduction of the cultivation of maize further contributed to the agrarian culture. As time went on and farming became more established, groups began developing differences in their material culture. Through these differences, cultures of the Southwest became more visibly distinct from one another, which would be broken down into the farmers, the villagers, and the nomads. From the farmers culture would emerge

23168-474: The larger Yuma people, however they migrated east from the lower Colorado and Gila Rivers in the early 1800s, when they began to be enemies with their Yuma brethren, settling amongst the existing communities of the Akimel O'odham. The Salt River's irregular supply of water and lack of navigability appears to have otherwise prevented stable communities from being established nearby until the modern period of US control. Spanish explorers most likely traveled through

23349-418: The largest and most important Hohokam population centers. At its height, the Grewe-Casa Grande village boosted about 100 trash mounds, several hundred residential pithouses, and four or five ballcourts. Regardless of its size, complexity, and significance along the middle Gila River, this settlement never seemed to have attained the status enjoyed by Snaketown, as it pertained to the Hohokam culture, per se . As

23530-529: The largest and most important prehistoric villages, towns, and cities found within the so-called Hohokam core area. Snaketown was the archetypical Preclassic period settlement and preeminent community centered within the core of the Hohokam culture area. Today, Snaketown is situated within the Hohokam Pima National Monument , located near Santan, Arizona , which was authorized by Congress on October 21, 1972. Excavations conducted in

23711-643: The lines experienced in the Lower Verde, Tonto Basin , and Safford Basin, in the 13th century. These compounds were composed of a large, rectangular exterior wall that partially (sometimes completely) enclosed a series of adjacent courtyards and plazas separated by partition walls. In turn, each courtyard may have contained one to four large, rectangular, adobe-walled pitrooms, possibly associated with several utility structures. Overall, these communities were characterized by relatively compact clusters of 5 to 25 adobe-walled compounds, which tended to be grouped around

23892-546: The main method was flexed inhumation, similar to the southern Mogollon culture neighboring to the east. By the late Formative and Preclassic periods, the Hohokam cremated their dead, very similar to the traditions documented among the historic Patayan culture to the west along the Lower Colorado River. Although the particulars of the practice changed somewhat, cremation remained the main practice in Hohokam until around 1300 CE. Hohokam chronological sequence (HCS)

24073-543: The major Indian group in the area, and lived in small villages, with well-defined irrigation systems, which spread over the entire Gila River Valley, from Florence in the east to the Estrellas in the west. Their crops included corn, beans and squash for food, while cotton and tobacco were also cultivated. Mostly a peaceful group, they did band together with the Maricopa for their mutual protection against incursions by both

24254-452: The migration time frame of ice-free corridors, thus suggesting that there were additional coastal migration routes available, traversed either on foot and/or in boats. Geological evidence suggests the Pacific coastal route was open for overland travel before 23,000 years ago and after 16,000 years ago. In South America, the site of Monte Verde indicates that its population was probably territorial and resided in their river basin for most of

24435-487: The modern city of Coolidge, Arizona. Most observers are attracted to the four-story great house found near the center of the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument . Akimel O'odham oral tradition records that before the appearance of the Coyote People appeared, this massive structure was built by an important chieftain called Sial Teu-utak Sivan, (turqoise Leader) or "Chief Turquoise". In the ancient hohokam language,

24616-493: The name big-game hunters . Pacific coastal groups of the period would have relied on fishing as the prime source of sustenance. Archaeologists are piecing together evidence that the earliest human settlements in North America were thousands of years before the appearance of the current Paleo-Indian time frame (before the late glacial maximum 20,000-plus years ago). Evidence indicates that people were living as far east as Beringia before 30,000 BCE (32,000 BP). Until recently, it

24797-515: The nation's economy recovered, and it already has begun to do so. It is currently the fifth largest city in the United States by population. However, on June 1, 2023, the State of Arizona announced the historic decision to halt new housing development in the Phoenix metropolitan area that relies solely on groundwater , due to a predicted water shortfall to support continued unregulated growth, in conjunction with climate change . The first inhabitants of

24978-466: The natural history and the human history of Arizona. He entered Phoenix politics in 1949 when he was elected to the City Council as part of a nonpartisan team of candidates who promised to clean up widespread prostitution and gambling. The group won every mayoral and council election for two decades. Goldwater rebuilt the weak Republican party and won election to the U.S. Senate in 1952 , defeating

25159-408: The nonpartisan Charter Government Committee. Goldwater was a leader, and the committee, starting in 1949, swept nearly all the elections in the next two decades. The committee had a broad base that included many civic and business leaders, and made sure that all the city's religions were represented. It had one woman but no blacks or Hispanics. Eugene C. Pulliam , owner of the city's major newspaper

25340-690: The north and the east. Between 1350 and 1375 CE, the Hohokam tradition lost vitality and stability, and many of the largest settlements were abandoned. Climate change apparently greatly affected Hohokam agriculture and so dispersed its large communities. Repeated floods in the mid-14th century greatly deepened the Salt River bed and destroyed canal heads, which required their continuous extension upstream. Soon, additional flooding removed irreplaceable segments of these extensions, which effectively rendered hundreds of miles of canals virtually useless. Because of differences in hydrology and geomorphology , these processes had less impact on Hohokam irrigation systems in

25521-726: The passage of time there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization like the Southwest , Arctic , Poverty , Dalton , and Plano traditions. These regional adaptations would become the norm, with reliance less on hunting and gathering, and a more mixed economy of small game, fish, seasonally wild vegetables, and harvested plant foods. Many groups continued to hunt big game but their hunting traditions became more varied and meat procurement methods more sophisticated. The placement of artifacts and materials within an Archaic burial site indicated social differentiation based upon status in some groups. [REDACTED] Indigenous peoples of

25702-523: The pottery type that characterized this phase was Salado polychrome , primarily Gila polychrome. This ceramic type was either manufactured locally or procured as a trade ware. This phase also had the introduction the comal , similar to examples found in northern Mexico, and the production of bird-shaped effigy vessels. Examples of exotic stone and shell artifacts associated with high-status individuals – such as nose plugs, pendants, ear rings, bracelets, necklaces, and sophisticated shell inlays – indicate that

25883-412: The presence of significantly large late Preclassic and early Classic period components within the area covered by the monument. Yet, by far the largest and most comprehensive archaeological endeavor was conducted by Northland Research Inc., from 1995 to 1997, on a 13-acre (53,000 m ) parcel within portions of the Casa Grande, Grewe, and Horvath sites that paralleled State Routes 87 and 287. This project

26064-606: The prey they depended on left the area, they followed in approximately 9,000 BC. After the departure of the paleo-Indians, archaic Indians moved into the American Southwest. This period lasted from roughly about 7,000 BC until the onset of the Christian era. Consisting of small bands of hunters and gatherers, these nomads traveled throughout the area for millennia, until about 3,000 years ago when their culture began to become an agricultural lifestyle. At about this time,

26245-543: The primary evidence of the earliest human activity in the Americas. Archeologists and anthropologists use surviving crafted lithic flaked tools to classify cultural periods. Scientific evidence links Indigenous Americans to eastern Siberian populations by the distribution of blood types, and genetic composition as indicated by molecular data, such as DNA . There is evidence for at least two separate migrations. Paleoindians lived alongside and hunted many now extinct megafauna (large animals), with most large animals across

26426-414: The rains, rather than the large-scale irrigation of the Akimel. They grew crops such as sweet Indian corn, tapery beans, squash, lentils sugar cane and melons, as well as taking advantage of native plants, such as saguaro fruits, cholla buds, mesquite tree beans, and mesquite candy (sap from the mesquite tree). They also hunted local game such as deer, rabbit and javalina for meat. The Maricopa are part of

26607-500: The region. He applied the existing O'odham term for the culture, huhu-kam , in its common mistranslation as "all used up" or "those who are gone", to classify the remains that he was excavating in the Lower Gila Valley . Similarly, in the 1970s, archaeologist Hardy translated the O'odham word huhugam to mean "that which has perished." However, huhugam refers to past human life and not to objects such as ruins. Therefore,

26788-419: The relatively sudden and widespread abandonment or relocation of many Hohokam villages and a short-lived population decline. Vast internal changes, the rejection of the Hohokam ballcourt system, and the peripheries' displaying overt indications of belligerence towards the core area, followed by their cultural realignment, suggests that this was a very important episode. The diagnostic ceramic type for this phase

26969-496: The site of its new research and development center for military electronics. Motorola was attracted by the city's business-friendly attitude, its location within reasonable distance of supply houses in New Mexico and southern California, the potential for engineering programs at Arizona State College (now Arizona State University ), and the climate. In time, other high-tech companies such as Intel and McDonnell Douglas would follow Motorola's lead and set up manufacturing operations in

27150-408: The south and California to the west. Around approximately 1,000 BC, the nomadic began to be accompanied by two other types of cultures, commonly called the farmers and the villagers, prompted by the introduction of maize into their culture. Out of these archaic Indians, the Hohokam civilization arose. The Hohokam first settled the area around 1 AD, and in about 500 years, they had begun to establish

27331-543: The south before 1800. Central Arizona was first settled during the early 19th century by American settlers. The city of Phoenix's story begins as people from those settlements expanded south, in conjunction with the establishment of a military outpost to the east of current day Phoenix. The town of Phoenix was settled in 1867, and incorporated in 1881 as the City of Phoenix. Phoenix served as an agricultural area that depended on large-scale irrigation projects. Until World War II,

27512-531: The spring and summer months, then broke into smaller direct family groups for the fall and winter. Family groups moved every 3–6 days, possibly traveling up to 360 km (220 mi) per year. Diets were often sustaining and rich in protein; clothing was made from a variety of animal hides that were also used for shelter construction. During much of the early and middle Paleo-Indian periods, inland bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct megafauna . Large Pleistocene mammals included

27693-417: The surrounding mountain ranges. On February 14, 1912, under President William Howard Taft , Phoenix became the capital of the newly formed state of Arizona . This occurred just six months after Taft had vetoed, on August 11, 1911, a joint resolution giving Arizona statehood. Taft disapproved of the recall of judges in the state constitution. Compared to Tucson or Prescott, Phoenix was considered preferable as

27874-550: The time Maricopa County had not yet been incorporated: the land was within Yavapai County , which included the major town of Prescott to the north of Wickenburg. As the Civil War came to a close, settlers from the north and east began to encroach on the Valley of the Sun. The US Army set up Fort McDowell on the Verde River in 1865 to quell Native American uprisings. In order to create a supply of hay for their needs,

28055-464: The track of the adjacent Valley Metro light-rail construction. The Mesa Grande ruin, located in Mesa, Arizona, represents another large Hohokam village that was occupied both in the Preclassic and Classic periods, from around 200 to 1450 CE. Although this settlement appears to have been very important, it has had little archaeological work, other than the mapping and stabilization projects conducted by

28236-465: The turn of the century. On March 12, 1895, the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway ran its first train to Phoenix, connecting it to the northern part of Arizona. The additional railroad sped the capital city's economic rise. The year 1895 also saw the establishment of Phoenix Union High School , with an enrollment of 90. By the turn of the century, the population of Phoenix had reached 5,554, and

28417-459: The vessels were fired, these sometimes turned a color that ranged from light or dark brown, gray, to orange. Later, the interiors of bowls were slipped with a black carbonous material. Hohokam Red wares were slipped with an iron-based pigment that turned red after the vessel was fired. The manufacture of decorated Hohokam pottery was similar to that of the Plain wares. However, the clays tended to be of

28598-488: The water and power supply. The agency still exists as part of the Salt River Project . Theodore Roosevelt Dam was started in 1906. It was the first multiple-purpose dam, supplying both water and electric power, to be constructed under the National Reclamation Act. On May 18, 1911, the former president himself dedicated the dam, which was the largest masonry dam in the world, forming several new lakes in

28779-535: The waters of the Salt and Gila Rivers to build an assortment of simple canals with weirs for agriculture. From 800 to 1400 CE, their irrigation networks rivaled the complexity of those of ancient Near East, Egypt, and China. They were constructed using relatively simple tools and engineering technology, yet achieved drops of a few feet per mile, balancing erosion and siltation. The Hohokam cultivated varieties of cotton, tobacco, maize, beans , and squash , and harvested

28960-421: The western portion of this settlement grew, large sections of the eastern half declined and were abandoned. By 1300 CE, the village was composed of about 19 adobe-walled residential compounds, several pitroom clusters, a platform mound, a great house, and numerous trash mounds. With most of the village contained within what is now the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, after the middle of the 14th century, it began

29141-801: The year. Some other South American groups, on the other hand, were highly mobile and hunted big-game animals such as gomphotheres and giant sloths . They used classic bifacial projectile point technology, such as Fishtail points . The primary examples are populations associated with El Jobo points ( Venezuela ), fish-tail or Magallanes points (various parts of the continent, but mainly the southern half), and Paijan points ( Peru and Ecuador ) at sites in grasslands, savanna plains, and patchy forests. The dating for these sites ranges from c.  14,000 BP (for Taima-Taima in Venezuela) to c.  10,000 BP. The bi-pointed El Jobo projectile points were mostly distributed in north-western Venezuela; from

29322-459: Was Casa Grande red-on-buff. This Hohokam buff ware was characterized exclusively by jars with necks, decorated with a limited variety of geometric and textual designs. This pottery type appears to have been manufactured at several locales in the Gila River basin between Florence and Sacaton, Arizona . There was a major cultural retraction of territory, and two significant episodes of reorganization. The first reorganization occurred around 1150 CE and

29503-552: Was Episcopalian came from an old Yankee family that included the famous theologian, Roger Williams . Goldwater's parents were married in the Episcopal church and Baron broke permanently from the Jewish community. For his entire life, Goldwater was an Episcopalian, but the national media identified him as the first Jewish candidate for president, He took over the family business in 1930. In a heavily Democratic state Goldwater became

29684-408: Was defeated on one major policy issue when a different grassroots group warned against urban renewal proposals, saying they were socialistic and threatened the rights of private property owners. The city grew explosively in the 1950s; the population expanded by a factor of three, and industry by a factor of fifteen. The growth brought serious problems of minority housing, traffic congestion, smog, and

29865-545: Was directed by Douglass Craig, and resulted in the identification and/or excavation of 247 pithouses, 24 pitrooms, 866 pits, 11 canal alignments, a ballcourt, and portions of four adobe-walled compounds, as well as the recovery of 158 burials and over 400,000 artifacts. Based on the results of these projects, the history of the greater Grewe-Casa Grande site can be reconstructed with at least some degree of precision. The genesis of this important village appears to have been associated with several groups of pithouses organized around

30046-407: Was elected the first sheriff. Barnum ran unopposed as the other two candidates had a shootout that left one dead and the other withdrawing from the race. The town's first government consisted of three commissioners. Several lots of land were sold in 1870 at an average price of $ 48. The first church opened in 1871, as did the first store. The first public school class was held on September 5, 1872, in

30227-617: Was embellished by the addition of an iron-stained slip , which produced a distinctive red-on-buff ware. Further population increase brought significant changes. Irrigation canals and structures became larger and required more maintenance. More land came under cultivation, and Southwestern pigweed was grown. House design evolved into post-reinforced pit-houses , covered with caliche adobe . Rancheria-like villages grew up around common courtyards , with evidence of increased communal activity. Large common ovens were used to cook bread and meat. Crafts were greatly refined. By about 1000 CE ,

30408-498: Was established on June 15, 1868, located in Swilling's homestead, with Swilling serving as the postmaster. With the number of residents growing (the 1870 U.S. census reported a total Salt River Valley population of 240), a town site needed to be selected. On October 20, 1870, the residents held a meeting to decide where to locate it. The decision was hotly contested between two sites: the original settlement around Swilling's farm, and

30589-563: Was followed by the Colonial Period (c. 700 – 900 AD), during which time the irrigation system was expanded and the community sizes grew, as did the size of the dwellings. Rock art and ballcourts began to appear, and cremations became the usual form of burial. 900 to 1150 AD, referred to as the Sedentary Period, again saw the expansion of the settlements and the canal system. Platform mounds began to be built, and plazas and

30770-494: Was formally dedicated on Labor Day in 1929. On March 4, 1930, Former President Calvin Coolidge dedicated a dam on the Gila River named in his honor. Because of a long drought the "lake" behind it held no water. Humorist Will Rogers , also a guest speaker, quipped, "If that was my lake I'd mow it." Phoenix's population had nearly doubled during the 1920s, and now stood at 48,118. After the stock market crash of 1929 , Sky Harbor

30951-486: Was further stimulated in the 1950s, in part because of the availability of air conditioning, which made the very hot dry summer heat tolerable, as well as an influx of industry, led by high tech companies. The population growth rate of the Phoenix metro area has been nearly 4% per year for the past 40 years. That growth rate slowed during the Great Recession but the U.S. Census Bureau predicted it would resume as

31132-600: Was gaining a national reputation among winter tourists. During World War II, Phoenix's economy shifted to that of a distribution center, rapidly turning into an embryonic industrial city with mass production of military supplies. There were 3 Air Force fields in the area: Luke Field , Williams Field , and Falcon Field , as well as two large pilot training camps, Thunderbird Field No. 1 in Glendale and Thunderbird Field No. 2 in Scottsdale. These facilities, coupled with

31313-421: Was generally believed that the first Paleo-Indian people to arrive in North America belonged to the Clovis culture. This archaeological phase was named after the city of Clovis, New Mexico , where in 1936 unique Clovis points were found in situ at the site of Blackwater Draw , where they were directly associated with the bones of Pleistocene animals. Recent data from a series of archaeological sites throughout

31494-433: Was held to select three village trustees and other officials. Those first three trustees were John Smith (chairman), Charles W. Stearns (treasurer), and Capt. Hancock (secretary). 1878 saw the opening of the first bank, a branch of the Bank of Arizona, and by 1880, Phoenix's population stood at 2,453. Later in 1880 the first legal hanging in Maricopa County was held, performed in town. By 1881, Phoenix' continued growth made

31675-453: Was moved from Prescott to Phoenix in 1889 the temporary territorial offices were also located in City Hall. The Arizona Republic became a daily paper in 1890, with Ed Gill as its editor. 1891 was marked by the greatest flood in the Valley's history , and 1892 saw the creation of the Phoenix Sewer and Drainage Department. The Phoenix Street Railway electrified its mule-drawn streetcar lines in 1893, with streetcar service continuing until

31856-472: Was once thought that Hohokam pottery material varied by location, since communities used local resources. Recently, studies on the temper revealed a variety of origins where pottery was manufactured and traded. Several palettes, from different periods, were found in the Gila Bend Region. This is evidence that the Hohokam stayed in one area for a long time. Hohokam ceramics are defined by a distinct Plain, Red, and Decorated buffware tradition, and were made using

32037-409: Was recorded as several separate archaeological sites. These include the Casa Grande, Grewe, Vahki Inn Village, and Horvath sites. Occupied in the Preclassic and Classic periods, each of these sites was composed of between two and 20 large residential areas. Overall, the greater Grewe-Casa Grande archaeological site covered about 900 acres (3.6 km ), centered on State Route 87 and immediately north of

32218-427: Was sold to another investor, and in 1930 American Airlines brought passenger and air mail service to Phoenix. In 1935 the city of Phoenix purchased the single runway airport, nicknamed "The Farm" due to its isolation, and it has been owned and operated by the city to this day. During the 1930s couples used to fly into Sky Harbor solely to get married at the chapel, for Arizona was one of the few states that did not have

32399-431: Was the first to appreciate the agricultural potential of the Salt River Valley. He promoted the first irrigation system, which was in part inspired by the ruins of Hohokam canals. Returning to Wickenburg, he raised funds from local gold miners and formed the Swilling Irrigating and Canal Company, whose intent was to build irrigation canals and develop the Salt River Valley for farming. The next month, December, Swilling led

32580-403: Was the largest single body of land irrigated in prehistoric times in North or South America, perhaps in the world. The Hohokam also carried out extensive trade with the nearby Anasazi , Mogollon and Sinagua , as well as with the more distant Mesoamerican civilizations like the Aztecs. It is believed that a Hohokam witness of the supernova that occurred in 1006 CE created a representation of

32761-430: Was typified by a modest increase in population and near-universal adoption of pitroom architecture. These early pitrooms were built of perishable material covered with a thick adobe plaster, and the basal portion of the interior walls was often lined with upright slabs. Similar to the Preclassic period villages, these early Classic period homes were clustered around open courtyards. These courtyard groups were clustered near

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