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The interplay between social and productive spheres in arid land agrarian societies with non-mechanized technologies is exemplified in a case study of the prehistoric Hohokam Indians of southern Arizona. In addition to chapters unique to the dissertation, ten papers are included that were published during the period of doctoral enrollment. Results from a variety of investigative techniques are combined to characterize Hohokam agriculture and its relationship to societal forms and dynamics. Among these are archaeological survey and settlement pattern analysis, technical studies of prehistoric fields, palynological analysis for reconstruction of agricultural environments, and comparison with methods and concepts employed by historic and modern traditional farmers in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Hohokam farming is examined at sequential scales, beginning with the setting, layout, and yield of individual fields and ending with comparison between Hohokam agricultural configurations and those of other arid land cultures. Topics receiving emphasis within the broader dissertation theme are the nature of Hohokam agrarian landscapes, the recently recognized role of cultivated agave in subsistence systems, and the social and economic framework for agricultural decision-making and strategies.

Salvage operations in Hohokam sites of the Colonial, Sedentary and Classic periods. Includes appendices on prehistoric maize and textiles.

The proposition that environment is of equal importance to time and space in the study of culture suggests that a three-dimensional approach may be a useful method for studying the process of cultural evolution. This possibility is tested by detailed investigations into the history and natural habitat of the prehistoric Hohokam Culture. This culture developed an extensive system of irrigation agriculture in the Gila River valley of southern Arizona about A. D. 1-1400. The study is carried out on the processual as well as analytical level of enquiry whereby primary attention was given to the relationship between environment and culture. This emphasis is particularly relevant in the case of the arid conditions of the region in which the Hohokani Culture developed. The interaction of the primary environmental agents, water and soil, and the cultural agent, prehistoric man, is delineated in terms of the natural processes of soil development and movement of water in the region as well as the cultural process of irrigation agriculture. During all phases of the River liohokarn Culture the relationship between soil, water, and man was interdependent and their functional interaction was exposed to the forces of the active environment, which may have become critical. An attempt is made to arrive at an interpretation along these lines for the terminal period of the Hohokam Culture at Snaketown, a major prehistoric site near Chandler, Arizona. While no definite conclusions are derived, the evidence, presented by means of inferential analysis, points strongly towards environmental causation. The impact of the prevailing climatic conditions at the end of the 13th century may have upset the precarious balance between water and soil and thus the livelihood of the desert dwellers. These events led inevitably to the termination of the Hohokam Culture.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Arizona, 1994. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 320-352).

"Downum's book provides a comprehensive overview of prehistoric settlement patterns within the Los Robles region of southern Arizona. . . . An important contribution to understanding the prehistoric patterns of settlement for the project area and surrounding region."—Journal of the West "Downum's carefully done volume is an important contribution to Hohokam archaeology. . . . Clearly written and illustrated."—AM Indian Quarterly

Hunting by horticulturalists in the Southwest examines the impact of horticulture on hunting behavior and animal exploitation among late Archaic and Hohokam Indians in south-central Arizona. A model incorporating ecological and ethnographic data discusses the impact horticulturalists had on the environment and the ways in which that impact affected other aspects of subsistence, specifically hunting behavior. The model is then evaluated using a regional faunal data base from Archaic and Hohokam sites. Five major patterns supporting the model are observed: (1) a reliance on small and medium-sized mammals as sources of animal protein, (2) the use of rodents as food, (3) the differential reliance on cottontails (Sylvilagus) and jack rabbits (Lepus) at Hohokam farmsteads versus villages, (4) the relative decrease in the exploitation of cottontails versus jack rabbits as a Hohokam site was occupied through time, and (5) the recovery contexts of artiodactyl remains, which indicate their ritual and tool use as well as for food.

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