Casa Grande ruins

From 775 to 975 C.E. the Ancestral people of the Sonoran Desert (formerly Hohokam) expanded their territory and their canal system. During this time they established an elaborate trading network. Villages were established along natural trade routes between the people of what we now call California, the Great Plains, the Colorado Plateau, and even northern Mexico.

Successful farming led to successful trade. In the American Southwest, the people produced enough cotton, beans, and corn for the entire area of what we now call the United States. They traded these products across North America.

As well they developed high artistic achievement. Because of the success of their agricultural system, they had time to devote to artistic achievement and they used that time for that purpose. They loved beautiful things and created them and traded for them. Platform mounds and ball courts were developed as well during this time.

The Ancestral people of the Sonoran Desert  traded mainly pottery and jewelry for a wide variety of items that others collected or produced. Shells from the Gulf of California were common. With people from Mexico they traded for macaws, mirrors, copper bells, and other items.

Oval pits have been unearthed on Hohokam sites that suggest they were used for ball courts for games such as those played by Aztecs. Smaller ball courts have been found near Flagstaff and Wupatki and this suggests that the area of influence of the Ancestral Peoples was quite large.

From 975 to 1150 A.D. the ancestral people in the region abandoned many of their smaller ancestral sites in favor of larger sites like Casa Grande. As well the ball court system ended, but new above ground structures were built instead to replace them. This is when the era of the Ancestral people of the Sonoran desert culture began.

The period of greatest achievement by the Ancestral people of the Sonoran Desert (Hohokam) was from 1150 to 1300 C.E. Their canal system reached its greatest extent during this time. As well, during this time platform mounds and compounds dominated their architectural style. This was a period of outstanding achievement.

As a result of their sophisticated farming techniques, during this time this part of the country supported a high density of people. Estimates vary from 100,000 people to 1,000,000 people. I was shocked at these numbers. The people were served by about 3,000 miles of canals in the Southwest.

From 1300 to 1400 C.E. the Ancestral people of the Sonoran Desert continued to develop large irrigation based communities, with great houses like we saw before us, and other structures on top of platform mounds like we also saw before us today. The Great House in Casa Grande, the ruins of which we saw, was built about 1350. This Great House as well as other Great Houses in other villages that were sited along large canals played a major role in the irrigation community.  They were likely not used as residences, since there is little evidence of things like hearths. They were likely administrative and ceremonial centers instead.