Agriculture and society in arid lands: a Hohokam case study

Abstract

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.