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182-830: 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 a remarkable amount of immigration. Some communities established significant markets, such as that in Snaketown . The harshness of

364-679: A continental margin throughout the late Precambrian and most of the Paleozoic era. Igneous rocks injected millions of years later form a marbled network through parts of the Colorado Plateau's darker metamorphic basement. By 600 million years ago North America had been leveled off to a remarkably smooth surface. Throughout the Paleozoic Era, tropical seas periodically inundated the Colorado Plateau region. Thick layers of limestone, sandstone, siltstone, and shale were laid down in

546-413: 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

728-686: A cave in Oaxaca. Earlier maize samples have been documented at the Los Ladrones cave site in Panama , c. 5500 BCE. Slightly thereafter, semi- agrarian communities began to cultivate other crops throughout Mesoamerica. Maize was the most common domesticate, but the common bean, tepary bean, scarlet runner bean, jicama , tomato and squash all became common cultivates by 3500 BCE. At the same time, these communities exploited cotton , yucca , and agave for fibers and textile materials. By 2000 BCE, corn

910-402: A complex combination of ecological systems, topographic zones, and environmental contexts. These different niches are classified into two broad categories: the lowlands (those areas between sea level and 1000 meters) and the altiplanos , or highlands (situated between 1,000 and 2,000 meters above sea level). In the low-lying regions, sub-tropical and tropical climates are most common, as

1092-576: A convergence of geographic and cultural attributes. These sub-regions are more conceptual than culturally meaningful, and the demarcation of their limits is not rigid. The Maya area, for example, can be divided into two general groups: the lowlands and highlands. The lowlands are further divided into the southern and northern Maya lowlands. The southern Maya lowlands are generally regarded as encompassing northern Guatemala , southern Campeche and Quintana Roo in Mexico, and Belize . The northern lowlands cover

1274-401: A cooler, wetter climate. This increased erosion at higher elevations with the introduction of alpine glaciers while mid-elevations were attacked by frost wedging and lower areas by more vigorous stream scouring. Pluvial lakes also formed during this time. Glaciers and pluvial lakes disappeared and the climate warmed and became drier with the start of Holocene epoch. The Colorado Plateau

1456-601: A cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures. In the pre-Columbian era , many indigenous societies flourished in Mesoamerica for more than 3,000 years before the Spanish colonization of the Americas began on Hispaniola in 1493. In world history, Mesoamerica was the site of two historical transformations: (i) primary urban generation, and (ii)

1638-614: 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

1820-675: A five-month out-and-back trip through much of the Plateau in 1776–1777. Despite having lost one arm in the American Civil War , U.S. Army Major and geologist John Wesley Powell explored the area in 1869 and 1872. Using wooden oak boats and small groups of men, the Powell Geographic Expedition charted this largely unknown region of the United States for the federal government. Construction of

2002-528: 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

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2184-482: 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

2366-504: 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,

2548-501: 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

2730-494: A larger area in the Americas, but it has also previously been used more narrowly to refer to Mesoamerica. An example is the title of the 16 volumes of The Handbook of Middle American Indians . "Mesoamerica" is broadly defined as the area that is home to the Mesoamerican civilization, which comprises a group of peoples with close cultural and historical ties. The exact geographic extent of Mesoamerica has varied through time, as

2912-677: 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

3094-545: A network of trade routes for the exchange of luxury goods, such as obsidian , jade , cacao , cinnabar , Spondylus shells, hematite , and ceramics. While Mesoamerican civilization knew of the wheel and basic metallurgy , neither of these became technologically relevant. Among the earliest complex civilizations was the Olmec culture, which inhabited the Gulf Coast of Mexico and extended inland and southwards across

3276-717: A period commonly known as the Tikal Hiatus . The Late Classic period (beginning c. 600 CE until 909 CE) is characterized as a period of interregional competition and factionalization among the numerous regional polities in the Maya area. This largely resulted from the decrease in Tikal's socio-political and economic power at the beginning of the period. It was therefore during this time that other sites rose to regional prominence and were able to exert greater interregional influence, including Caracol, Copán , Palenque , and Calakmul (which

3458-876: A portion of the Sierra Madre chain is known as the Eje Volcánico Transversal , or the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. There are 83 inactive and active volcanoes within the Sierra Madre range, including 11 in Mexico, 37 in Guatemala, 23 in El Salvador, 25 in Nicaragua, and 3 in northwestern Costa Rica. According to the Michigan Technological University, 16 of these are still active. The tallest active volcano

3640-534: 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

3822-712: A regionally important center during the Postclassic. The latter portion of the Postclassic is generally associated with the rise of the Mexica and the Aztec Empire . One of the more commonly known cultural groups in Mesoamerica, the Aztec politically dominated nearly all of central Mexico, the Gulf Coast, Mexico's southern Pacific Coast (Chiapas and into Guatemala), Oaxaca, and Guerrero . The Tarascans (also known as

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4004-454: A result of uplift bending the rock units. Eroded monoclines leave steeply tilted resistant rock called a hogback and the less steep version is a cuesta. Great tension developed in the crust, probably related to changing plate motions far to the west. As the crust stretched, the Basin and Range Province broke up into a multitude of down-dropped valleys and elongate mountains. Major faults, such as

4186-659: A seaway along the passive western edge of the continent in the early Paleozoic. At the canyon rim is the Kaibab Formation, limestone deposited in the late Paleozoic (Permian) about 270 million years ago. A 12,000-to-15,000-foot high (3,700 to 4,600 m) extension of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains called the Uncompahgre Mountains were uplifted and the adjacent Paradox Basin subsided. Almost 4 mi. (6.4 km) of sediment from

4368-561: 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

4550-480: 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

4732-589: 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

4914-434: 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

5096-422: 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

5278-484: A technological departure from previous construction techniques. Major Puuc sites include Uxmal , Sayil , Labna , Kabah , and Oxkintok . While generally concentrated within the area in and around the Puuc hills , the style has been documented as far away as at Chichen Itza to the east and Edzna to the south. Chichén Itzá was originally thought to have been a Postclassic site in the northern Maya lowlands. Research over

5460-596: A tiny fraction in the extreme southeast of Nevada . About 90% of the area is drained by the Colorado River and its main tributaries : the Green , San Juan , and Little Colorado . Most of the remainder of the plateau is drained by the Rio Grande and its tributaries. The Colorado Plateau is largely made up of high desert, with scattered areas of forests. In the south-west corner of the Colorado Plateau lies

5642-537: 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

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5824-611: Is Popocatépetl at 5,452 m (17,887 ft). This volcano, which retains its Nahuatl name, is located 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Mexico City. Other volcanoes of note include Tacana on the Mexico–Guatemala border, Tajumulco and Santamaría in Guatemala, Izalco in El Salvador, Arenal in Costa Rica, and Concepción and Maderas on Ometepe , which is an island formed by both volcanoes rising out of Lake Cocibolca in Nicaragua. One important topographic feature

6006-475: Is a list of some of the specialized resources traded from the various Mesoamerican sub-regions and environmental contexts: Mesoamerican architecture is the collective name given to urban, ceremonial and public structures built by pre-Columbian civilizations in Mesoamerica. Although very different in styles, all kinds of Mesoamerican architecture show some kind of interrelation, due to very significant cultural exchanges that occurred during thousands of years. Among

6188-626: Is a volcanic structure with a history similar to that of the San Francisco Peaks: a basalt flow closer to Grants was extruded only about 3000 years ago (see El Malpais National Monument ). These young igneous rocks may record processes in the Earth's mantle that are eating away at deep margins of the relatively stable block of the Plateau. Tectonic activity resumed in Mid Cenozoic time and started to unevenly uplift and slightly tilt

6370-420: Is also one of only five regions of the world where writing is known to have independently developed (the others being ancient Egypt , India , Sumer , and China ). Beginning as early as 7000 BCE, the domestication of cacao , maize , beans , tomato , avocado , vanilla , squash and chili , as well as the turkey and dog , resulted in a transition from paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer tribal groupings to

6552-517: 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

6734-631: Is another Classic-period polity that expanded and flourished during this period, but the Zapotec capital exerted less interregional influence than the other two sites. During the Early Classic, Teotihuacan participated in and perhaps dominated a far-reaching macro-regional interaction network. Architectural and artifact styles (talud-tablero, tripod slab-footed ceramic vessels) epitomized at Teotihuacan were mimicked and adopted at many distant settlements. Pachuca obsidian, whose trade and distribution

6916-453: Is argued to have been economically controlled by Teotihuacan, is found throughout Mesoamerica. Tikal came to dominate much of the southern Maya lowlands politically, economically, and militarily during the Early Classic. An exchange network centered at Tikal distributed a variety of goods and commodities throughout southeast Mesoamerica, such as obsidian imported from central Mexico (e.g., Pachuca) and highland Guatemala (e.g., El Chayal , which

7098-421: Is covered with dry grasslands and shrublands, open pinyon-juniper woodland , and mountain woodlands and forests. Electrical power generation is one of the major industries that takes place in the Colorado Plateau region. Most electrical generation comes from coal fired power plants. The rocks of the Colorado Plateau are a source of oil and a major source of natural gas . Major petroleum deposits are present in

7280-492: 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

7462-453: Is marked by the rise and dominance of several polities. The traditional distinction between the Early and Late Classic is marked by their changing fortune and their ability to maintain regional primacy. Of paramount importance are Teotihuacán in central Mexico and Tikal in Guatemala; the Early Classic's temporal limits generally correlate to the main periods of these sites. Monte Albán in Oaxaca

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7644-679: Is not a natural lake but a reservoir impounded by Glen Canyon Dam . National parks (from south to north to south clockwise): National monuments (alphabetical): Wilderness areas (alphabetical): Other notable protected areas include: Barringer Crater , Dead Horse Point State Park , Glen Canyon National Recreation Area , Goblin Valley State Park , Goosenecks State Park , the Grand Gulch Primitive Area , Kodachrome Basin State Park , Monument Valley , and

7826-520: 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

8008-705: Is one notable difference between Mesoamerica and the cultures of the South American Andes. Other animals, including the duck , dogs , and turkey , were domesticated . Turkey was the first to be domesticated locally, around 3500 BCE. Dogs were the primary source of animal protein in ancient Mesoamerica, and dog bones are common in midden deposits throughout the region. Societies of this region did hunt certain wild species for food. These animals included deer, rabbit , birds, and various types of insects. They also hunted for luxury items, such as feline fur and bird plumage. Mesoamerican cultures that lived in

8190-456: Is roughly 200 km (120 mi). The northern side of the Isthmus is swampy and covered in dense jungle—but the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, as the lowest and most level point within the Sierra Madre mountain chain, was nonetheless a main transportation, communication, and economic route within Mesoamerica. Outside of the northern Maya lowlands, rivers are common throughout Mesoamerica. Some of

8372-589: Is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec , a low plateau that breaks up the Sierra Madre chain between the Sierra Madre del Sur to the north and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south. At its highest point, the Isthmus is 224 m (735 ft) above mean sea level. This area also represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean in Mexico. The distance between the two coasts

8554-596: Is the largest lake in Mesoamerica. Lake Chapala is Mexico's largest freshwater lake, but Lake Texcoco is perhaps most well known as the location upon which Tenochtitlan , capital of the Aztec Empire, was founded. Lake Petén Itzá , in northern Guatemala, is notable as where the last independent Maya city, Tayasal (or Noh Petén), held out against the Spanish until 1697. Other large lakes include Lake Atitlán , Lake Izabal , Lake Güija , Lemoa and Lake Xolotlan . Almost all ecosystems are present in Mesoamerica;

8736-515: 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

8918-584: Is true for most of the coastline along the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea . The highlands show much more climatic diversity, ranging from dry tropical to cold mountainous climates ; the dominant climate is temperate with warm temperatures and moderate rainfall. The rainfall varies from the dry Oaxaca and north Yucatán to the humid southern Pacific and Caribbean lowlands. Several distinct sub-regions within Mesoamerica are defined by

9100-441: 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

9282-955: The Uinta Mountains and Wasatch Mountains branches of the Rockies in northern and central Utah. It is also bounded by the Rio Grande rift , Mogollon Rim , and the Basin and Range Province (at the Hurricane Fault ). Isolated ranges of the Southern Rocky Mountains , such as the San Juan Mountains in Colorado and the La Sal Mountains in Utah, intermix into the central and southern parts of

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9464-630: The Cora and Huichol , the Chontales, the Huaves, and the Pipil, Xincan and Lencan peoples of Central America. Central American Area: Los Naranjos By roughly 6000 BCE, hunter-gatherers living in the highlands and lowlands of Mesoamerica began to develop agricultural practices with early cultivation of squash and chili. The earliest example of maize dates to c. 4000 BCE and comes from Guilá Naquitz ,

9646-587: The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. Much of the Plateau's landscape is related to the Grand Canyon in both appearance and geologic history. The nickname "Red Rock Country" suggests the brightly colored rock left bare to the view by dryness and erosion. Domes , hoodoos , fins , reefs , river narrows , natural bridges , and slot canyons are only some of the additional features typical of

9828-831: The Grijalva River , the Motagua River , the Ulúa River , and the Hondo River . The northern Maya lowlands, especially the northern portion of the Yucatán peninsula, are notable for their nearly complete lack of rivers (largely due to the absolute lack of topographic variation). Additionally, no lakes exist in the northern peninsula. The main source of water in this area is aquifers that are accessed through natural surface openings called cenotes . With an area of 8,264 km (3,191 sq mi), Lake Nicaragua

10010-726: The Hoover Dam in the 1930s and the Glen Canyon Dam in the 1960s changed the character of the Colorado River. Dramatically reduced sediment load changed its color from reddish brown ( Colorado is Spanish for "red-colored") to mostly clear. The apparent green color is from algae on the riverbed's rocks, not from any significant amount of suspended material. The lack of sediment has also starved sand bars and beaches, but an experimental 12-day-long controlled flood from Glen Canyon Dam in 1996 showed substantial restoration. Similar floods are planned for every 5 to 10 years. One of

10192-471: The Isthmus of Tehuantepec . Frequent contact and cultural interchange between the early Olmec and other cultures in Chiapas , Oaxaca , and Guatemala laid the basis for the Mesoamerican cultural area. All this was facilitated by considerable regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica , especially along the Pacific coast. In the subsequent Preclassic period , complex urban polities began to develop among

10374-412: The Itza at Tayasal and the Kowoj at Zacpeten , remained independent until 1697. Some Mesoamerican cultures never achieved dominant status or left impressive archaeological remains but are nevertheless noteworthy. These include the Otomi , Mixe–Zoque groups (which may or may not have been related to the Olmecs), the northern Uto-Aztecan groups, often referred to as the Chichimeca , that include

10556-588: The Kaqchikel at Iximche in the Guatemalan highlands. The Pipil resided in El Salvador , the Nicarao were in western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica , and the Ch'orti' were in eastern Guatemala and northwestern Honduras . In central Mexico, the early portion of the Postclassic correlates with the rise of the Toltec and an empire based at their capital, Tula (also known as Tollan ). Cholula , initially an important Early Classic center contemporaneous with Teotihuacan, maintained its political structure (it did not collapse) and continued to function as

10738-407: The Maya , with the rise of centers such as Aguada Fénix and Calakmul in Mexico; El Mirador , and Tikal in Guatemala, and the Zapotec at Monte Albán . During this period, the first true Mesoamerican writing systems were developed in the Epi-Olmec and the Zapotec cultures. The Mesoamerican writing tradition reached its height in the Classic Maya logosyllabic script . In Central Mexico,

10920-401: The Mesozoic era the region was affected by a series of orogenies ( mountain -building events) that deformed western North America and caused a great deal of uplift. Eruptions from volcanic mountain ranges to the west buried vast regions beneath ashy debris. Short-lived rivers, lakes, and inland seas left sedimentary records of their passage. Streams, ponds and lakes produced formations such as

11102-440: 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

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11284-657: The Monte Alto Culture may have preceded the Olmec. Radiocarbon samples associated with various sculptures found at the Late Preclassic site of Izapa suggest a date of between 1800 and 1500 BCE. During the Middle and Late Preclassic period, the Maya civilization developed in the southern Maya highlands and lowlands, and at a few sites in the northern Maya lowlands. The earliest Maya sites coalesced after 1000 BCE, and include Nakbe , El Mirador , and Cerros . Middle to Late Preclassic Maya sites include Kaminaljuyú , Cival , Edzná , Cobá , Lamanai , Komchen , Dzibilchaltun , and San Bartolo , among others. The Preclassic in

11466-400: The Nahua peoples began moving south into Mesoamerica from the North, and became politically and culturally dominant in central Mexico, as they displaced speakers of Oto-Manguean languages . During the early post-Classic period, Central Mexico was dominated by the Toltec culture, and Oaxaca by the Mixtec . The lowland Maya area had important centers at Chichén Itzá and Mayapán . Towards

11648-424: The Postclassic are differentiated by the cyclical crystallization and fragmentation of the various political entities throughout Mesoamerica. The Mesoamerican Paleo-Indian period precedes the advent of agriculture and is characterized by a nomadic hunting and gathering subsistence strategy. Big-game hunting, similar to that seen in contemporaneous North America, was a large component of the subsistence strategy of

11830-412: The Purépecha ) were located in Michoacán and Guerrero. With their capital at Tzintzuntzan , the Tarascan state was one of the few to actively and continuously resist Aztec domination during the Late Postclassic. Other important Postclassic cultures in Mesoamerica include the Totonac along the eastern coast (in the modern-day states of Veracruz , Puebla , and Hidalgo ). The Huastec resided north of

12012-480: The San Juan Basin of New Mexico and Colorado, the Uinta Basin of Utah, the Piceance Basin of Colorado, and the Paradox Basin of Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. The Colorado Plateau holds major uranium deposits, and there was a uranium boom in the 1950s. The Atlas Uranium Mill near Moab has left a problematic tailings pile for cleanup. As of 2019 , 10 million tons of tailings had been relocated out of an estimated 16 million tons. Major coal deposits are being mined in

12194-404: 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 the Phoenix metropolitan area was the most complex in the pre-contact Western Hemisphere. A portion of

12376-416: The pueblos of the Ancestral Puebloan culture. There are nine U.S. National Parks , a National Historical Park, nineteen U.S. national monuments and dozens of wilderness areas in the province along with millions of acres in U.S. National Forests , many state parks, and other protected lands. In fact, this region has the highest concentration of parklands in North America. Lake Powell , in foreground,

12558-574: 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

12740-462: 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,

12922-477: The Basin and Range means that the Colorado Plateau receives six to sixteen inches (15 to 40 cm) of annual precipitation. Higher areas receive more precipitation and are covered in forests of pine, fir, and spruce. Though it can be said that the Plateau roughly centers on the Four Corners, Black Mesa in northern Arizona is much closer to the east–west, north–south midpoint of the Plateau Province. Lying southeast of Glen Canyon and southwest of Monument Valley at

13104-680: 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

13286-630: 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

13468-722: The Chiapas highlands, and Kaminaljuyú in the central Guatemala highlands, were important southern highland Maya centers. The latter site, Kaminaljuyú, is one of the longest occupied sites in Mesoamerica and was continuously inhabited from c. 800 BCE to around 1200 CE. Other important highland Maya groups include the Kʼicheʼ of Utatlán , the Mam in Zaculeu , the Poqomam in Mixco Viejo , and

13650-795: The Chinle, Moenave, and Kayenta in the Mesozoic era. Later a vast desert formed the Navajo and Temple Cap formations and dry near-shore environment formed the Carmel (see geology of the Zion and Kolob canyons area for details). The area was again covered by a warm shallow sea when the Cretaceous Seaway opened in late Mesozoic time. The Dakota Sandstone and the Tropic Shale were deposited in

13832-540: The Colorado Plateau in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, though large coal mining projects, such as on the Kaiparowits Plateau , have been proposed and defeated politically. The ITT Power Project, eventually located in Lynndyl, Utah , near Delta, was originally suggested for Salt Wash near Capitol Reef National Park. After a firestorm of opposition, it was moved to a less controversial site. In Utah

14014-466: The Colorado Plateau region and the region to the west some 20 million years ago (as much as 3 kilometers of uplift occurred). Streams had their gradient increased and they responded by downcutting faster. Headward erosion and mass wasting helped to erode cliffs back into their fault-bounded plateaus, widening the basins in-between. Some plateaus have been so severely reduced in size this way that they become mesas or even buttes . Monoclines form as

14196-489: The Colorado Plateau, but others do not. The mostly flat-lying sedimentary rock units that make up these plateaus are found in component plateaus that are between 4,900 to 11,000 feet (1,500 to 3,350 m) above sea level. A supersequence of these rocks is exposed in the various cliffs and canyons (including the Grand Canyon ) that make up the Grand Staircase . Increasingly younger east–west trending escarpments of

14378-528: The Colorado Plateau. It is composed of six sections: As the name implies, the High Plateaus Section is, on average, the highest section. North-south trending normal faults that include the Hurricane , Sevier, Grand Wash , and Paunsaugunt separate the section's component plateaus. This fault pattern is caused by the tensional forces pulling apart the adjacent Basin and Range Province to

14560-572: 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,

14742-538: The Grand Staircase extend north of the Grand Canyon and are named for their color: Within these rocks are abundant mineral resources, including uranium, coal, petroleum, and natural gas. A study of the area's unusually clear geologic history (laid bare due to the arid and semiarid conditions) has greatly advanced that science. A rain shadow from the Sierra Nevada far to the west and the many ranges of

14924-586: 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

15106-528: 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

15288-505: 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

15470-452: 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

15652-501: The Hurricane Fault, developed that separate the two regions. The dry climate was in large part a rainshadow effect resulting from the rise of the Sierra Nevada further west. Yet for some reason not fully understood, the neighboring Colorado Plateau was able to preserve its structural integrity and remained a single tectonic block. A second mystery was that while the lower layers of the Plateau appeared to be sinking, overall

15834-726: 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

16016-535: The Mesoamerican Paleo-Indian. These sites had obsidian blades and Clovis -style fluted projectile points . The Archaic period (8000–2000 BCE) is characterized by the rise of incipient agriculture in Mesoamerica. The initial phases of the Archaic involved the cultivation of wild plants, transitioning into informal domestication and culminating with sedentism and agricultural production by

16198-536: 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

16380-798: The NPS, the United States Forest Service , and the Bureau of Land Management are Bears Ears , Rainbow Bridge , Dinosaur , Hovenweep , Wupatki , Sunset Crater Volcano , Grand Staircase–Escalante , El Malpais , Natural Bridges , Canyons of the Ancients , Chaco Culture National Historical Park and the Colorado National Monument . This province is bounded by the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and by

16562-749: The Navajo Volcanic Field, produced about 25 million years ago. The Hopi Buttes in northeastern Arizona are held up by resistant sheets of sodic volcanic rocks, extruded about 7 million years ago. More recent igneous rocks are concentrated nearer the margins of the Colorado Plateau. The San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff , south of the Grand Canyon , are volcanic landforms produced by igneous activity that began in that area about 6 million years ago and continued until 1064 CE, when basalt erupted in Sunset Crater National Monument . Mount Taylor , near Grants, New Mexico ,

16744-579: The Olmec include San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán , La Venta , and Tres Zapotes . Specific dates vary, but these sites were occupied from roughly 1200 to 400 BCE. Remains of other early cultures interacting with the Olmec have been found at Takalik Abaj , Izapa , and Teopantecuanitlan , and as far south as in Honduras . Research in the Pacific Lowlands of Chiapas and Guatemala suggest that Izapa and

16926-857: 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

17108-607: The Plateau was rising. The reason for this was discovered upon analyzing data from the USARRAY project. It was found that the asthenosphere had invaded the overlying lithosphere , as a result of an area of mantle upwelling stemming from either the disintegration of the descending Farallon Plate , or the survival of the subducted spreading center connected to the East Pacific Rise and Gorda Ridge beneath western North America, or possibly both. The asthenosphere erodes

17290-474: The Plateau. The Colorado Plateau has the greatest concentration of U.S. National Park Service (NPS) units in the country outside the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Among its nine national parks are Grand Canyon , Zion , Bryce Canyon , Capitol Reef , Canyonlands , Arches , Black Canyon , Mesa Verde , and Petrified Forest . Among its 18 national monuments and other protected areas managed by

17472-510: 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

17654-564: 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

17836-536: 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

18018-581: The Totonac, mainly in the modern-day states of Tamaulipas and northern Veracruz. The Mixtec and Zapotec cultures, centered at Mitla and Zaachila respectively, inhabited Oaxaca. The Postclassic ends with the arrival of the Spanish and their subsequent conquest of the Aztecs between 1519 and 1521. Many other cultural groups did not acquiesce until later. For example, Maya groups in the Petén area, including

18200-608: 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

18382-681: The Wasatch Fault that lies along the Wasatch Range form the boundaries between the plateaus in the High Plateaus Section. The Uinta Basin, Uncompahgre Uplift, and the Paradox Basin were also formed by movement along structural weaknesses in the region's oldest rock. In Utah, the province includes several higher fault-separated plateaus : Some sources also include the Tushar Mountain Plateau as part of

18564-533: 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 the Mormon pioneers settling

18746-573: 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

18928-557: The central Mexican highlands is represented by such sites as Tlapacoya , Tlatilco , and Cuicuilco . These sites were eventually superseded by Teotihuacán , an important Classic-era site that eventually dominated economic and interaction spheres throughout Mesoamerica. The settlement of Teotihuacan is dated to the later portion of the Late Preclassic, or roughly 50 CE. In the Valley of Oaxaca , San José Mogote represents one of

19110-576: 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

19292-516: The city of Teotihuacan ascended at the height of the Classic period; it formed a military and commercial empire whose political influence stretched south into the Maya area and northward. Upon the collapse of Teotihuacán around 600 CE, competition between several important political centers in central Mexico, such as Xochicalco and Cholula , ensued. At this time during the Epi-Classic period,

19474-465: The civilization extended North and South from its heartland in southern Mexico. The term was first used by the German ethnologist Paul Kirchhoff , who noted that similarities existed among the various pre-Columbian cultures within the region that included southern Mexico, Guatemala , Belize , El Salvador , western Honduras , and the Pacific lowlands of Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica . In

19656-480: The close of the period. Transformations of natural environments have been a common feature at least since the mid Holocene. Archaic sites include Sipacate in Escuintla , Guatemala, where maize pollen samples date to c. 3500 BCE. The first complex civilization to develop in Mesoamerica was that of the Olmec , who inhabited the Gulf Coast region of Veracruz throughout the Preclassic period. The main sites of

19838-611: 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,

20020-592: The control of a Toltec empire. Chronological data refutes this early interpretation, and it is now known that Chichén Itzá predated the Toltec; Mexican architectural styles are now used as an indicator of strong economic and ideological ties between the two regions. The Postclassic (beginning 900–1000 CE, depending on area) is, like the Late Classic, characterized by the cyclical crystallization and fragmentation of various polities. The main Maya centers were located in

20202-407: 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

20384-564: 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

20566-531: The end of the post-Classic period, the Aztecs of Central Mexico built a tributary empire covering most of central Mesoamerica. The distinct Mesoamerican cultural tradition ended with the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Eurasian diseases such as smallpox and measles , which were endemic among the colonists but new to North America, caused the deaths of upwards of 90% of the indigenous people, resulting in great losses to their societies and cultures. Over

20748-491: 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

20930-473: 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

21112-438: 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

21294-536: The formation of New World cultures from the mixtures of the indigenous Mesoamerican peoples with the European, African, and Asian peoples who were introduced by the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Mesoamerica is one of the six areas in the world where ancient civilization arose independently (see cradle of civilization ), and the second in the Americas, alongside the Caral–Supe in present-day Peru . Mesoamerica

21476-471: 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

21658-587: 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

21840-604: 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

22022-405: 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

22204-699: 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;

22386-404: The interval from 20 to 31 million years: some igneous intrusions in these mountains form laccoliths , a form of intrusion recognized by Grove Karl Gilbert during his studies of the Henry Mountains . Ship Rock (also called Shiprock ), in northwestern New Mexico, and Church Rock and Agathla , near Monument Valley , are erosional remnants of potassium-rich igneous rocks and associated breccias of

22568-418: 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

22750-444: 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

22932-739: The largest deposits are in aptly named Carbon County. In Arizona the biggest operation is on Black Mesa , supplying coal to Navajo Power Plant. Perhaps the only one of its kind, a gilsonite plant near Bonanza, southeast of Vernal, Utah , mines this unique, lustrous, brittle form of asphalt, for use in "varnishes, paints,...ink, waterproofing compounds, electrical insulation,...roofing materials." This relatively high, semi-arid to arid province produces many distinctive erosional features such as arches, arroyos , canyons, cliffs, fins, natural bridges , pinnacles, hoodoos , and monoliths that, in various places and extents, have been protected. Also protected are areas of historic or cultural significance, such as

23114-583: 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

23296-432: The low flatlands of the northern Yucatán Peninsula. The tallest mountain in Mesoamerica is Pico de Orizaba , a dormant volcano located on the border of Puebla and Veracruz . Its peak elevation is 5,636 m (18,490 ft). The Sierra Madre mountains, which consist of several smaller ranges, run from northern Mesoamerica south through Costa Rica . The chain is historically volcanic . In central and southern Mexico,

23478-488: The lower levels of the Plateau. At the same time, as it cools, it expands and lifts the upper layers of the Plateau. Eventually, the great block of Colorado Plateau crust rose a kilometer higher than the Basin and Range. As the land rose, the streams responded by cutting ever deeper stream channels. The most well-known of these streams, the Colorado River , began to carve the Grand Canyon less than 6 million years ago. The Pleistocene epoch brought periodic ice ages and

23660-421: The lowlands and coastal plains settled down in agrarian communities somewhat later than did highland cultures because there was a greater abundance of fruits and animals in these areas, which made a hunter-gatherer lifestyle more attractive. Fishing also was a major provider of food to lowland and coastal Mesoamericans creating a further disincentive to settle down in permanent communities. Ceremonial centers were

23842-474: 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)

24024-423: 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,

24206-420: The more important ones served as loci of human occupation in the area. The longest river in Mesoamerica is the Usumacinta , which forms in Guatemala at the convergence of the Salinas or Chixoy and La Pasión River and runs north for 970 km (600 mi)—480 km (300 mi) of which are navigable—eventually draining into the Gulf of Mexico . Other rivers of note include the Río Grande de Santiago ,

24388-408: The more well known are the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System , the second largest in the world, and La Mosquitia (consisting of the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve , Tawahka Asangni, Patuca National Park , and Bosawás Biosphere Reserve ) a rainforest second in size in the Americas only to the Amazonas . The highlands present mixed and coniferous forest. The biodiversity is among the richest in

24570-440: The most geologically intriguing features of the Colorado Plateau is its remarkable stability. Relatively little rock deformation such as faulting and folding has affected this high, thick crustal block within the last 600 million years or so, although there are some newer features such as the Waterpocket Fold of Capitol Reef (estimated 50–70 million years old). In contrast, provinces that have suffered severe deformation surround

24752-511: The most well-known structures in Mesoamerica, the flat-top pyramids are a landmark feature of the most developed urban centers. Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus , roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States . This plateau covers an area of 336,700 km (130,000 mi ) within western Colorado , northwestern New Mexico , southern and eastern Utah , northern Arizona , and

24934-402: The mountains and evaporites from the sea were deposited (see geology of the Canyonlands area for detail). Most of the formations were deposited in warm shallow seas and near-shore environments (such as beaches and swamps) as the seashore repeatedly advanced and retreated over the edge of a proto-North America (for detail, see geology of the Grand Canyon area ). The province was probably on

25116-441: The next centuries, Mesoamerican indigenous cultures were gradually subjected to Spanish colonial rule. Aspects of the Mesoamerican cultural heritage still survive among the indigenous peoples who inhabit Mesoamerica. Many continue to speak their ancestral languages and maintain many practices hearkening back to their Mesoamerican roots. The term Mesoamerica literally means "middle America" in Greek. Middle America often refers to

25298-689: 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

25480-530: The north end of the Hopi Reservation, this remote coal-laden highland has about half of the Colorado Plateau's acreage north of it, half south of it, half west of it, and half east of it. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists divides the Colorado Plateau into four geologic provinces. These are: The Ancestral Puebloan People lived in the region from roughly 2000 to 700 years ago. A party from Santa Fe led by Fathers Dominguez and Escalante , unsuccessfully seeking an overland route to California, made

25662-437: The northern lowlands. Generally applied to the Maya area, the Terminal Classic roughly spans the time between c. 800/850 and c. 1000 CE. Overall, it generally correlates with the rise to prominence of Puuc settlements in the northern Maya lowlands , so named after the hills where they are mainly found. Puuc settlements are specifically associated with a unique architectural style (the "Puuc architectural style") that represents

25844-437: The northern lowlands. Following Chichén Itzá, whose political structure collapsed during the Early Postclassic, Mayapán rose to prominence during the Middle Postclassic and dominated the north for c. 200 years. After Mayapán's fragmentation, the political structure in the northern lowlands revolved around large towns or city-states, such as Oxkutzcab and Ti’ho ( Mérida, Yucatán ), that competed with one another. Toniná , in

26026-415: The nuclei of Mesoamerican settlements. The temples provided spatial orientation, which was imparted to the surrounding town. The cities with their commercial and religious centers were always political entities, somewhat similar to the European city-state , and each person could identify with the city where they lived. Ceremonial centers were always built to be visible. Pyramids were meant to stand out from

26208-410: The oldest ages recorded by these rocks fall from 1950 to 1680 million years. An erosion surface on the Vishnu Basement Rocks is covered by sedimentary rocks and basalt flows, and these rocks formed in the interval from about 1250 to 750 million years ago: in turn, they were uplifted and split into a range of fault-block mountains . Erosion greatly reduced this mountain range before the encroachment of

26390-449: The oldest permanent agricultural villages in the area, and one of the first to use pottery. During the Early and Middle Preclassic, the site developed some of the earliest examples of defensive palisades , ceremonial structures, the use of adobe , and hieroglyphic writing . Also of importance, the site was one of the first to demonstrate inherited status , signifying a radical shift in socio-cultural and political structure. San José Mogote

26572-473: The organization of sedentary agricultural villages. In the subsequent Formative period, agriculture and cultural traits such as a complex mythological and religious tradition , a vigesimal numeric system, a complex calendric system , a tradition of ball playing , and a distinct architectural style , were diffused through the area. Villages began to become socially stratified and develop into chiefdoms , and large ceremonial centers were built, interconnected by

26754-618: The past few decades has established that it was first settled during the Early/Late Classic transition but rose to prominence during the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic. During its apogee, this widely known site economically and politically dominated the northern lowlands. Its participation in the circum-peninsular exchange route, possible through its port site of Isla Cerritos , allowed Chichén Itzá to remain highly connected to areas such as central Mexico and Central America. The apparent "Mexicanization" of architecture at Chichén Itzá led past researchers to believe that Chichén Itzá existed under

26936-594: The plateau. Mountain building thrust up the Rocky Mountains to the north and east and tremendous, earth-stretching tension produced the Basin and Range Province to the west and south. Sub ranges of the Southern Rocky Mountains are scattered throughout the Colorado Plateau. The Precambrian and Paleozoic history of the Colorado Plateau is best revealed near its southern end, where the Grand Canyon has exposed rocks with ages that span almost 2 billion years. The oldest rocks at river level are igneous and metamorphic and have been lumped together as Vishnu Basement Rocks ;

27118-523: 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

27300-411: 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

27482-404: The region, which acted as a rigid crustal block. The Colorado Plateau Province was uplifted largely as a single block, possibly due to its relative thickness. This relative thickness may be why compressional forces from the orogeny were mostly transmitted through the province instead of deforming it. Pre-existing weaknesses in Precambrian rocks were exploited and reactivated by the compression. It

27664-431: 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,

27846-418: 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

28028-415: The remainder of the northern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula . Other areas include Central Mexico, West Mexico, the Gulf Coast Lowlands, Oaxaca , the Southern Pacific Lowlands, and Southeast Mesoamerica (including northern Honduras ). There is extensive topographic variation in Mesoamerica, ranging from the high peaks circumscribing the Valley of Mexico and within the central Sierra Madre mountains to

28210-440: The remains of several low trash mounds found in the Old Guadalupe Village Cemetery. Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize , Guatemala , El Salvador , and parts of Honduras , Nicaragua and Costa Rica . As

28392-416: The rest of the city, to represent the gods and their powers. Another characteristic feature of the ceremonial centers is historic layers. All the ceremonial edifices were built in various phases, one on top of the other, to the point that what we now see is usually the last stage of construction. Ultimately, the ceremonial centers were the architectural translation of the identity of each city, as represented by

28574-453: The sandstone is predominantly of eolian origin and locally more than 500 meters thick. The Chuska Sandstone caps the Chuska Mountains , and it lies unconformably on Mesozoic rocks deformed during the Laramide orogeny . Younger igneous rocks form spectacular topographic features. The Henry Mountains , La Sal Range , and Abajo Mountains , ranges that dominate many views in southeastern Utah, are formed about igneous rocks that were intruded in

28756-462: The shallow marine waters. During times when the seas retreated, stream deposits and dune sands were deposited or older layers were removed by erosion. Over 300 million years passed as layer upon layer of sediment accumulated. It was not until the upheavals that coincided with the formation of the supercontinent Pangea began about 250 million years ago that deposits of marine sediment waned and terrestrial deposits dominate. In late Paleozoic and much of

28938-486: The standard terminology of precolumbian anthropological studies. Conversely, the sister terms Aridoamerica and Oasisamerica , which refer to northern Mexico and the western United States, respectively, have not entered into widespread usage. Some of the significant cultural traits defining the Mesoamerican cultural tradition are: Located on the Middle American isthmus joining North and South America between ca. 10° and 22° northern latitude , Mesoamerica possesses

29120-401: The start of the Cenozoic era and were accompanied by some basaltic lava eruptions and mild deformation. The colorful Claron Formation that forms the delicate hoodoos of Bryce Amphitheater and Cedar Breaks was then laid down as sediments in cool streams and lakes (see geology of the Bryce Canyon area for details). The flat-lying Chuska Sandstone was deposited about 34 million years ago;

29302-513: The time following the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century is classified as the Colonial period. The differentiation of early periods (i.e., up through the end of the Late Preclassic ) generally reflects different configurations of socio-cultural organization that are characterized by increasing socio-political complexity , the adoption of new and different subsistence strategies , and changes in economic organization (including increased interregional interaction). The Classic period through

29484-412: 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

29666-407: The tradition of cultural history , the prevalent archaeological theory of the early to middle 20th century, Kirchhoff defined this zone as a cultural area based on a suite of interrelated cultural similarities brought about by millennia of inter- and intra-regional interaction (i.e., diffusion ). Mesoamerica is recognized as a near-prototypical cultural area. This term is now fully integrated into

29848-411: The veneration of their gods and masters. Stelae were common public monuments throughout Mesoamerica and served to commemorate notable successes, events, and dates associated with the rulers and nobility of the various sites. Given that Mesoamerica was broken into numerous and diverse ecological niches, none of the societies that inhabited the area were self-sufficient, although very long-distance trade

30030-407: 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

30212-423: The warm shallow waters of this advancing and retreating seaway. Several other formations were also produced but were mostly eroded following two major periods of uplift. The Laramide orogeny closed the seaway and uplifted a large belt of crust from Montana to Mexico, with the Colorado Plateau region being the largest block. Thrust faults in Colorado are thought to have formed from a slight clockwise movement of

30394-482: 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

30576-430: The west, making this section transitional. Occupying the southeast corner of the Colorado Plateau is the Datil Section. Thick sequences of mid- Tertiary to late- Cenozoic -aged lava covers this section. The development of the province has, in large part, been influenced by structural features in its oldest rocks. Part of the Wasatch Line and its various faults form the province's western edge. Faults that run parallel to

30758-421: 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

30940-483: The world, though the number of species in the red list of the IUCN grows every year. The history of human occupation in Mesoamerica is divided into stages or periods. These are known, with slight variation depending on region, as the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic (or Formative), the Classic , and the Postclassic . The last three periods, representing the core of Mesoamerican cultural fluorescence, are further divided into two or three sub-phases. Most of

31122-459: 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

31304-456: Was allied with Caracol and may have assisted in the defeat of Tikal), and Dos Pilas Aguateca and Cancuén in the Petexbatún region of Guatemala. Around 710, Tikal arose again and started to build strong alliances and defeat its worst enemies. In the Maya area, the Late Classic ended with the so-called " Maya collapse ", a transitional period coupling the general depopulation of the southern lowlands and development and florescence of centers in

31486-462: Was along these ancient faults and other deeply buried structures that much of the province's relatively small and gently inclined flexures (such as anticlines , synclines , and monoclines ) formed. Some of the prominent isolated mountain ranges of the Plateau, such as Ute Mountain and the Carrizo Mountains , both near the Four Corners , are cored by igneous rocks that were emplaced about 70 million years ago. Minor uplift events continued through

31668-400: Was common only for very rare goods, or luxury materials. For this reason, from the last centuries of the Archaic period (8000 BCE– 1000 BCE) onward, regions compensated for the environmental inadequacies by specializing in the extraction of certain abundant natural resources and then trading them for necessary unavailable resources through established commercial trade networks. The following

31850-544: 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

32032-615: 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 ,

32214-420: Was eventually overtaken by Monte Albán , the subsequent capital of the Zapotec empire , during the Late Preclassic. The Preclassic in western Mexico, in the states of Nayarit , Jalisco , Colima , and Michoacán also known as the Occidente, is poorly understood. This period is best represented by the thousands of figurines recovered by looters and ascribed to the " shaft tomb tradition ". The Classic period

32396-470: 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

32578-413: Was predominantly used by the Maya during the Early Classic), and jade from the Motagua valley in Guatemala. Tikal was often in conflict with other polities in the Petén Basin , as well as with others outside of it, including Uaxactun , Caracol , Dos Pilas , Naranjo , and Calakmul . Towards the end of the Early Classic, this conflict lead to Tikal's military defeat at the hands of Caracol in 562, and

32760-408: 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

32942-506: Was the staple crop in the region, and remained so through modern times. The Ramón or Breadnut tree ( Brosimum alicastrum ) was an occasional substitute for maize in producing flour. Fruit was also important in the daily diet of Mesoamerican cultures. Some of the main ones consumed include avocado , papaya , guava , mamey , zapote , and annona . Mesoamerica lacked animals suitable for domestication, most notably domesticated large ungulates . The lack of draft animals for transportation

33124-430: 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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