Subject Area

Anthropology

Abstract

Hohokam archaeologists have long viewed the Classic Period (1100-1375 CE) in central Arizona as a time of rapid and profound change (Doyel 1981:55; Abbott 2003b). After the Pre-Classic Period (450-1100 CE), populations coalesced into massive villages each containing one or more platform mounds (Abbott et al. 2021; Bayman 1996); Hohokam farmers built and maintained one of the largest networks of canals in the Americas, and socio-political complexity reached its peak (Abbott 2003b; Abbott et al. 2006; Haury 1976). However, prosperity was tempered by possible overpopulation, drought, floods, warfare, and social change, especially in the Late Classic (Abbott 2003b; Benson and Berry 2009; Greenleaf 1975; Huckleberry et al. 2018).

Until relatively recently, most archaeologists have relied on interpretive assumptions that portray a catastrophic end to the Hohokam (Ezell 1961, 1963; Fish and Fish 2007), despite increasing evidence and widespread recognition of Hohokam cultural continuity (Loendorf and Lewis 2017). Current reconstructions offer new perspectives regarding the relationship of descendant communities, particularly the Akimel O’Odham, with Hohokam ancestors that seek to examine social change in ways that do not rely on preconceived notions of socio-political organization and social evolution (Borck and Clark 2023; Loendorf and Lewis 2017). These new approaches emphasize social change, demography, and the organizational shifts that lead to current and historical expressions of the material culture and archaeology of descendent communities. The transitional period between the late Classic Hohokam and the Post-Classic is particularly salient to these new perspectives. It was during this period that platform mounds ceased to be used as ceremonial residences and the center of population shifted south from the lower Salt River to the middle Gila River (Abbott 2002, 2003b; Doelle and Wallace 1991; Wilcox 1989).

The goal of this dissertation is to understand the factors that affected security and well-being among the Classic Period Hohokam and by examining the nature of demographic and social inequalities that emerged during the reorganization of the Hohokam cultural system. This research draws from the Archaeology of the Human Experience (AHE) to explore how people coped with rapid or widespread change and how it affected their lives (Hegmon 2016). The analysis uses field records to examine mortuary features from S’edav Va’aki (AZ U:9:1(ASM)), in Phoenix, Arizona, which was analyzed to understand several dimensions of human security including economic, food, health, and personal/community security. Economic, food, health, and personal/community security during the Hohokam Classic Period were examined using mortuary accompaniments, burial architecture, and osteological pathologies in the S’edav Va’aki dataset.

Statistical analysis of these variables revealed that in the Early Classic, there were significant demographic differences in mortuary accompaniment richness, abundance, and distribution. Adults, overwhelmingly males, had more items than subadults and females. However, this trend wanes in the Late Classic, with all demographics becoming more equal in mortuary richness, abundance, and distribution. There are no significant differences in health diachronically by sex or between the sexes in either period. Increased labor investment in burial architecture is evident over time. Based on the results of this demographic analysis, only economic security declined diachronically, primarily for adults and males.

My analyses also show that the proportion of individuals buried with an abundance of mortuary accompaniments declined over time. This suggests that rare and/or important mortuary accompaniments were concentrated in the hands of fewer individuals, including subadults, over time. The data suggest that economic security, as measured by the access to rare or important items, declined. This could indicate a reduction in trade and/or a change in social systems affected those at the top more than the general population as documented by others (see Abbott 2003a, 2003b). These conclusions mirror O’Odham oral tradition which details an accumulation of power by platform mound leaders in the Late Classic, their loss of power, and reorganization in the Post-Classic (Borck and Clark 2023; Bahr 2001).

Ultimately, this research demonstrates that human security changed over the Hohokam Classic Period in ways that have been described by descendant communities. Health security and personal/community security as measured by the variable discussed here appears to be stable through time, while economic security declined in the adult male subset of the population. This study showcases the utility of legacy collections in new archaeological research, and it also illustrates the insights that different aspects of mortuary archaeology (mortuary accompaniments, burial architecture, and health of individuals) can provide in understanding how social and environmental change affected past peoples. Additionally, this research shows the value of collaborating with descendant populations and inclusion of traditional knowledge.

Degree Date

Winter 12-20-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Anthropology

Advisor

Karen Lupo

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by multiple sources from Southern Methodist University, specifically from the Clements Center for Southwest Studies Travel Research Grant as well as the Department of Anthropology’s Garry A. Weber Summer Research Fund and Graduate Fellowship Endowments. This funding was crucial to being able to carry out the travel and research necessary for this study. I specifically want to thank my advisor, Dr. Karen D. Lupo, for the constant support, especially in the home stretch of this project. I appreciate all of the feedback through the many iterations of chapters; thank you for being a fantastic advisor. I would also like to thank my committee members. Dr. Michael D. Adler provided essential feedback, specifically regarding research into American Southwest. Dr. Elizabeth A. Nelson was an amazing sounding board for my ideas and gave me important bioarchaeological insight for the methods used in this study. Finally, Dr. B. Sunday Eiselt has provided me immeasurable support since day one of my doctoral program. Thank you for connecting me to all of the people, institutions, and resources that have been the backbone of this project. I would also like to thank all of the staff and volunteers at the S’edav Va’aki Museum. This project could not have been completed without the previous, immense amount of Hohokam mortuary research that has been conducted by Douglas R. Mitchell. Thank you for being on the other end of the phone any time I had questions or thoughts about the project. Your expertise and mentorship throughout the past four years have been key factors in getting to this point. Lindsey Vogel-Teeter provided access to all of the S’edav Va’aki excavation paperwork in all their forms and was an all-around important source of curatorial support for this project. Laurene Montero, Lalee Bond, Rebecca Hill, Steve Rascona, and Mary Whelan from S’edav Va’aki Museum contributed their curation, archaeological, bioarchaeological, and GIS expertise to this research. You are all fantastic, and I have enjoyed working with you. To Dr. Andrew Darling: you have been a well of ethnographic knowledge, and I will forever appreciate your feedback and answers to my random emails. You helped take this dissertation from surface-level to something more. I would also like to extend a thank you to Tiffany Powell for always helping coordinate travel, school schedules, and always being able to get me the resources I need when I need them. Your help over the past 6+ years has been instrumental in completing this dissertation. I could not have gotten this far without everyone that I have met along the way in the program. Nicolette Edwards, thank you so much for letting me verbalize my random threads of thought and help me organize them onto the page. Your friendship and support over the years have been incredible. Thank you to Sam Lagos for decipher Excel when I thought I would lose my mind, and for somehow being able to understand what I am saying when I cannot articulate myself; I owe you a lot. To Dawn Crawford and Ryan Breslawski: thank you for being such a lovely support system at work and for humoring my random statistics questions. To Anne Parfitt, Katie Cross, and Jaxson Haug thank you for helping me traverse this long winding road of a PhD program, it would have been so boring without you. Thank you to my family and friends for all of your support before and during this journey. To Brad and Robin Alford: you are the best parents that I could ever ask for; thank you for letting me pursue this crazy dream even if it meant that I had to be in school forever. Thank you to my siblings, Sydney Ball, Ethan Alford, and Braden Alford, for supporting me always. To Hailey Alford, Skye Medcraft, Sidney Burgess, and Maci Chang: thank you for reminding me that there is a life outside of school. Finally, thank you to my partner, AJ Ruland. I cannot express how much you mean to me. Throughout all of the trials of researching and writing, your support and love has helped me keep going toward the finish line. I am so excited to see where life takes us next.

Number of Pages

330

Format

.pdf

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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