Pueblo Grande Ruin and Irrigation Sites are
pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
s and ruins, located in
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
,
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
. They include a prehistoric
platform mound
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system or ...
and irrigation canals. The City of Phoenix manages these resources as the Pueblo Grande Museum Archaeological Park.
History
Long before
Euroamericans moved into the area that is now Phoenix, it was home to a thriving civilization called Huhugam by the culturally affiliated
O’odham and the
Hohokam by archaeologists. These Ancestral
Native Americans created the archaeological structures preserved at Pueblo Grande.
Pueblo Grande features a large
platform mound
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system or ...
with retaining walls. This massive structure contains over 20,000 cubic meters (yards) of fill. There were also many dwellings, and at least three
ball courts.
The
Hohokam archaeological culture developed some of the largest and most advanced canal systems in all of pre-Columbian North America. They were the first people to practice irrigated agriculture in the region. The remnants of their
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
s are part of the archaeological site at Pueblo Grande.
Pueblo Grande was occupied from approximately AD 450 to 1450, at which time it was abandoned like many other villages throughout the Phoenix basin. The reasons why these ancestral Native Americans left their villages and irrigation systems are widely debated among archaeologists. There are many competing hypotheses that include floods, droughts, warfare, and disease.
Notable Features
Canal System
Canals were built, maintained, and abandoned by the Hohokam for almost a thousand years. The site of Pueblo Grande is situated at the headgates of multiple large canals on the north side of the
Salt River. A combination of a bend in the river and a bedrock outcropping served to push river water to the surface and made this an ideal place to divert water into the canals where it was carried for long distances. The longest Hohokam canal originated near Pueblo Grande and carried water for over 16 miles into the area of modern-day
Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''.
It may refer to:
Places Australia
* Glendale, New South Wales
** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre
*Glendale, Queensland, ...
. This likely gave Pueblo Grande a prominent role among the many Hohokam villages on the north side of the Salt River.
The remains of these canals are preserved at Pueblo Grande in an area called the Park of Four Waters.
Other platform mound villages like Pueblo Grande were built at strategic locations along the Salt River, and may have been involved in controlling the flow of water to outlying villages. Complex cultural organization would have been needed to maintain all the canal systems.
Ballcourts
The site of Pueblo Grande may have had as many as 2 ball courts.
These were publicly accessible sites likely used for ceremonial purposes, possibly ritual ball games, and periodic markets. Ball games may have drawn large crowds to participate in market activities, facilitating regional trade. There may be cultural links between Hohokam archaeological culture ballcourts and
Mesoamerican
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Withi ...
ballcourts, though, there are significant architectural differences between their design.
Some time after AD 1100, the Hohokam archaeological tradition discontinued use of their ballcourts. Many of the ballcourts were filled in with trash and platform mounds, such as the one at Pueblo Grande became more prominent at Hohokam sites.
Platform Mound
The platform mound at Pueblo Grande began as two low circular mounds around A.D. 800. These were expanded over time with stone-walled cells that were filled with trash and capped with
caliche
Caliche () is a sedimentary rock, a hardened natural cement of calcium carbonate that binds other materials—such as gravel, sand, clay, and silt. It occurs worldwide, in aridisol and mollisol soil orders—generally in arid or semiarid regions ...
plaster to create a platform upon which structures were built. The platform mound was also surrounded by a 6 to 7-foot high compound wall, which would have limited access to the mound. Some archaeologists have suggested that platform mounds were used for ceremonial purposes. The platform mound at Pueblo Grande is one of the largest mound structures ever built by the Hohokam.
A possible astronomical observatory was built on top of the Pueblo Grande platform mound. One room had doors that may have, at the winter and summer solstice, aligned with Hole-in-the-rock, a natural feature in the
Papago Buttes to the northeast.
Archival records indicate that there was once also a “big house” at Pueblo Grande, similar to the one at
Casa Grande National Monument
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument ( ood, Siwañ Waʼa Ki: or ''Sivan Vahki''), in Coolidge, Arizona, just north-east of the city of Casa Grande, Arizona, Casa Grande, preserves a group of Hohokam structures dating to the Classic Period ().
H ...
.
Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park
The platform mound and approximately 5 acres of surrounding land were donated to the City of Phoenix in 1924 by Thomas Armstrong. Soon after, Phoenix purchased an additional 10 acres south of the platform mound, named “Park of Four Waters,”; which became part of the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park. In 1929 Odd S. Halseth was hired as both the director of Pueblo Grande and as Phoenix's City Archaeologist – the first City Archaeologist in the United States.
Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park continued to expand and was declared a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1964.
It consists of two parts, that were on adjacent properties, and both associated with the same history. They were listed separately in the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
as ''Pueblo Grande Ruin'' and ''Hohokam-Pima Irrigation Sites'' on the October 15, 1966 date when all National Historic Landmark sites were administratively listed. In addition to containing exhibit galleries, the museum now functions as a repository for archaeological collections from the City of Phoenix.
Gallery
See also
*
Hohokam – ''other sites'':
**
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument ( ood, Siwañ Waʼa Ki: or ''Sivan Vahki''), in Coolidge, Arizona, just north-east of the city of Casa Grande, preserves a group of Hohokam structures dating to the Classic Period ().
History of the area
...
**
Hohokam Pima National Monument
The Hohokam Pima National Monument is an ancient Hohokam village within the Gila River Indian Community, near present-day Sacaton, Arizona. The monument features the archaeological site Snaketown southeast of Phoenix, Arizona,Martin, Paul and P ...
**
Mesa Grande
Mesa Grande Cultural Park, in Mesa, Arizona, preserves a group of Hohokam structures constructed during the Classic Period. The ruins were occupied between AD 1100 and 1400 ( Pueblo II – Pueblo IV Era) and were a product of the Hohokam civi ...
**
Snaketown
The Hohokam Pima National Monument is an ancient Hohokam village within the Gila River Indian Community, near present-day Sacaton, Arizona. The monument features the archaeological site Snaketown southeast of Phoenix, Arizona,Martin, Paul and P ...
**
Indian Mesa
Indian Mesa is a flat top hill whose sides are steep cliffs. Indian Mesa is located within the Lake Pleasant Regional Park grounds by the shores of Lake Pleasant and Agua Fria River in the Bradshaw Mountain Range. Lake Pleasant Regional Park is ...
*
List of historic properties in Phoenix, Arizona
This is a list, which includes photographic galleries, of some of the remaining historic structures and monuments, of historic significance, in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. Included are photographs of properties identified by the African, Asia ...
*
Phoenix Historic Property Register
The Phoenix Historic Property Register is the official listing of the historic and prehistoric properties in the city of Phoenix, the capital and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona.
History
The register was established on 1986 with the ai ...
References
Further reading
* Andrews, John P. and Todd W. Bostwick. 2000. ''Desert Farmers at the River’s Edge: The Hohokam and Pueblo Grande.'' Pueblo Grande Museum, City of Phoenix.
* Fish, Suzanne K. and Paul R. Fish, eds. 2008. ''The Hohokam Millennium.'' School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe. New Mexico.
* George J. Gumerman, ed.1991. ''Exploring the Hohokam, Prehistoric Desert Peoples of the American Southwest''. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
* Haury, Emil W. 1976. ''The Hohokam: Desert Farmers and Craftsmen – Excavations at Snaketown, 1964–65.'' University of Arizona Press.
* Abbott, David ed. ''Centuries of Decline During the Hohokam Classic Period at Pueblo Grande''. University of Arizona Press. Tucson, Arizona. 2003.
* Woodson, Kyle. ''The Social Organization of Hohokam Irrigation in the Middle Gila River Valley, Arizona''. Gila River Indian Community Cultural Resource Management Program. Sacaton, Arizona. 2016.
* Wright, Aaron. ''Religion on the Rocks: Hohokam Rock Art, Ritual Practice, and Social Transformation''. University of Utah Press. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2014.
External links
Pueblo Grande Museum Archaeological Park official site,
City of Phoenix
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the onl ...
Pueblo Grande Museum Auxiliary a non-profit organization that supports the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archeological Park
Pueblo Grande Ruin & Irrigation Sites NHL
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Hohokam
Museums in Phoenix, Arizona
Archaeological sites in Arizona
Native American museums in Arizona
Parks in Phoenix, Arizona
Archaeological museums in Arizona
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Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona
National Historic Landmarks in Arizona
Former populated places in Arizona
Ancient Puebloan archaeological sites in Arizona
Ruins in the United States
Former populated places in Maricopa County, Arizona
National Register of Historic Places in Maricopa County, Arizona