Summer Travel Special AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL TOUR IN ARIZONA
By David Grant Noble
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s driving trips go, the jaunt from Phoenix to Flagstaff, Arizona, is quick and easy. Hop on Interstate 17 in Phoenix by ten o’clock on a Saturday morning and you’ll be in Flagstaff in plenty of time for lunch. If you’re interested in archaeology, however, you’ll be hard pressed to fit the same trip into a full weekend. In the tradition of the mythological Egyptian bird, which was reborn from the ashes of its own destruction, the City of Phoenix arose from the ruins of more than 50 long-abandoned Hohokam Indian settlements.Today, the remains of all but a few of these sites, as well as a vast canal system, lie buried beneath skyscrapers, factories, shopping malls, residences, streets, and freeways. Hohokam culture emerged more than 2,000 years ago and reached its apex between A.D. 1150 and 1350. By A.D. 1400, serious social or economic problems had begun to develop, which eventually caused the collapse of this vibrant and productive society. Situated in the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix is one of the hottest and most arid cities in the United States. Its more than one million residents see average annual rainfalls of less than eight inches and experience 90 days or more of temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. One wonders how
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people, today or a thousand years ago, managed to make a viable life in such a climate.The answer lies in the presence of the Salt and Gila rivers, the fertile soils of the Phoenix Basin, and the fact that the region has periods of precipitation in both winter and summer. Your first stop in Phoenix should be the Pueblo Grande Museum, located at 4619 East Washington Street (corner of 44th Street), near Sky Harbor International Airport. Here you will be introduced to the main themes of Hohokam culture and prehistory and enjoy viewing a fine selection of archaeological artifacts as well as ethnographic exhibits relating to the Tohono O’odham, Akimel O’odham, and other Indians whose reservations are located nearby. Many researchers believe these Native Americans are descendants of the Hohokam. From the museum, an interpretive trail leads to the impressive platform mound of the Pueblo Grande site. Upon completion between A.D. 1200 and 1400, this huge walled stone-and-earth structure contained an estimated 32,000 cubic yards of fill and supported a complex of residential and ceremonial houses. From its top, a community leader could easily have surveyed the entire village— which covered approximately two square miles—and monitored activities around the all-important network of summer • 2002
