Hohokam Village

Nathan and CJ needed to visit an Indian village or museum for one of their Scout merit badges. We wanted something to do. We were in luck and found one in downtown Phoenix. It was the Pueblo Grande Museum for the Hohokam. The Hohokam lived in the valley from 450AD to 1450AD. They were farmers, and are the ones that built a lot of the original canal and irrigation systems. A lot of the current canals are built in the same place they built theirs. They had one that was 20 miles long. They were here for 1,000 years and then suddenly disappeared. They are not sure why they did. The central part of the village was built on a flat topped pyramid shape. There was an area that only certain people could go into. At the bottom of the mound they had more homes and then as in other civilizations a large outer wall. This is some of the ruins that are left on the mound.

Here are a couple of models of their homes. They lived in two types. About halfway in their society, suddenly they changed their homes. They used to live in communal homes, and then they went to a pithouse home.

Here is the inside of one of the Pithouses...They also had ball courts. The game was played with a fist sized round stone ball. They said that they found protective gear for the chest and arms for the game. It probably hurt if they were kicking or throwing a stone ball! Here is a picture of the court. I thought it would be a lot larger. The guide said that they were between 3 and 4 ft high. They were a small people.