Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T21:34:10.921Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Calculating Hohokam Domestic Architecture Building Costs to Test an Environmental Model of Architectural Changes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2019

David R. Abbott*
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-2402, USA
Douglas B. Craig
Affiliation:
Northland Research, 1865 E. Third Street, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA
Hannah Zanotto
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA
Veronica Judd
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-2402, USA
Brent Kober
Affiliation:
Northland Research, 1865 E. Third Street, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA
*
([email protected], corresponding author) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4912-631X

Abstract

Studies of domestic architectural variation are rare in archaeological research, possibly because the essential methods remain underdeveloped. To encourage a comparative approach to explaining the construction differences in household dwellings, we designed and utilized objective and easily applied means to calculate labor costs for constructing a variety of domestic architectural styles in Hohokam society. We applied Abrams's (1989, 1994) approach, labelled “architectural energetics,” which converts architecture into its labor equivalents for building structures. By doing so, we derived standard units of measurement that promote comparative analysis. To demonstrate the method's utility, we turned to the pithouses and adobe surface structures at Pueblo Grande. We wanted to test whether the history of construction was driven by environmental degradation, and, in particular, a depletion over time of wood resources for home building (see Loendorf and Lewis 2017). Our analysis indicated that factors in addition to wood depletion likely contributed to the architectural changes at Pueblo Grande and across the Hohokam world.

Los estudios de variación arquitectónica doméstica son raros en la investigación arqueológica, posiblemente debido a que los métodos esenciales permanecen subdesarrollados. Para fomentar un enfoque comparativo para explicar las diferencias de construcción en viviendas familiares, diseñamos y utilizamos medios objetivos y fáciles de aplicar para calcular los costos laborales para construir una variedad de estilos arquitectónicos domésticos en la sociedad Hohokam. Aplicamos el enfoque de Abrams (1989, 1994), denominado “energía arquitectónica”, que convierte la arquitectura en sus equivalentes de trabajo para las estructuras de construcción. Al hacerlo, derivamos unidades de medida estándar que promueven el análisis comparativo. Para demostrar la utilidad del método, recurrimos a las estructuras de superficie de adobe y adobe en Pueblo Grande. Deseamos probar si la historia de la construcción se debió a la degradación ambiental y, en particular, al agotamiento de los recursos de madera para la construcción de viviendas (ver Loendorf y Lewis 2017). Nuestro análisis indicó que factores además del agotamiento de la madera probablemente contribuyeron a los cambios arquitectónicos en Pueblo Grande y en todo el mundo de Hohokam.

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by the Society for American Archaeology 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Abbott, David R. 2000 Ceramics and Community Organization Among the Hohokam. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Abbott, David R. 2002 Chronology at Palo Verde Ruin. In Phoenix Basin to Perry Mesa: Rethinking the “Northern Periphery,” edited by Hackbarth, Mark R., Hays-Gilpin, Kelly, and Neal, Lynn, pp. 4146. Arizona Archaeologist No. 34. Arizona Archaeological Society, Phoenix.Google Scholar
Abbott, David R. 2003 The Politics of Decline in Canal System 2. In Centuries of Decline during the Hohokam Classic Period at Pueblo Grande, edited by Abbott, David R., pp. 201228. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Abbott, David R. 2006 Hohokam Ritual and Economic Transformation: Ceramic Evidence from the Phoenix Basin, Arizona. The North American Archaeologist 27:285310.Google Scholar
Abbott, David R. 2007 The Process, Location, and History of Hohokam Buff Ware Production: Some Experimental and Analytical Results. Journal of Archaeological Science 35:388397.Google Scholar
Abbott, David R. 2009 Extensive and Long-Term Specialization: Hohokam Ceramic Production in the Phoenix Basin, Arizona. American Antiquity 74:531557.Google Scholar
Abbott, David R. 2010 The Rise and Demise of Marketplace Exchange among the Prehistoric Hohokam of Arizona. In Archaeological Approaches to Market Exchange in Pre-Capitalist Societies, edited by Garraty, Christopher P. and Stark, Barbara L., pp.6184. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Abbott, David R., and Foster, Michael S. 2003 Site Structure, Chronology, and Population. In Centuries of Decline During the HohokamClassic Period at Pueblo Grande, edited by Abbott, David R., pp. 2447. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Abbott, David R., Ingram, Scott E., and Kober, Brent G. 2006 Hohokam Exchange and Early Classic Period Organization in Central Arizona: Focal Villages or Linear Communities? Journal of Field Archaeology 31:285305.Google Scholar
Abbott, David R., Smith, Alexa M., and Gallaga, Emiliano 2007 Ballcourts and Ceramics: The Case for Hohokam Marketplaces in the Arizona Desert. American Antiquity 72:461484.Google Scholar
Abrams, Elliot M. 1989 Architecture and Energy: An Evolutionary Perspective. In Archaeological Method and Theory Volume 1, edited by Schiffer, Michael B., pp. 4787. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Abrams, Elliot M. 1994 How the Maya Built Their World: Energetics and Ancient Architecture. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Bayham, Frank E., and Hatch, Pamela 1985 Hohokam and Salado Animal Utilization in the Tonto Basin. In Studies of the Hohokam and Salado of the Tonto Basin, edited by Rice, Glen E., pp. 191210. Office of Cultural Resource Management, Department of Anthropology, Report No. 63, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Bohrer, Vorsilla L., and Kwiatkowski, Scott M. 1999 Flotation, Macrobotanical, Wood Charcoal Analyses. In The Rio Salado Project: Prehistoric and Historic Archaeological Investigations at the Foot of Tempe Butte, Tempe, Maricopa County, Arizona, edited by Kwiatkowski, Scott M., pp. 125140. Archaeological Research Services, Project Report 98:10, Tempe, Arizona.Google Scholar
Bostwick, Todd W. 1994 Trash Mounds. In Archaeology of the Pueblo Grande Platform Mound and Surrounding Features, Volume 2: Features in the Central Precinct of the Pueblo Grande Community, edited by Bostwick, Todd W. and Downum, Christian E., pp. 147. Pueblo Grande Museum, Anthropological Papers No.1, Phoenix.Google Scholar
Bostwick, Todd W., and Downum, Christian E. 1994 Site Structure and Ceremony at Pueblo Grande. In Archaeology of the Pueblo Grande Platform Mound and Surrounding Features, Volume 2: Features in the Central Precinct of the Pueblo Grande Community, edited by Bostwick, Todd W. and E. Downum, Christian, pp. 297386. Pueblo Grande Museum, Anthropological Papers No.1, Phoenix.Google Scholar
Cameron, Catherine 1998 Coursed Adobe Architecture Style and Social Boundaries in the American Southwest. In The Archaeology of Social Boundaries, edited by Stark, Miriam T., pp. 183207. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Cook, Sherbourne F. 1972 Prehistoric Demography. Modular Publications 16, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Craig, Douglas B. 2001 Domestic Architecture and Household Wealth at Grewe. In The Grewe Archaeological Research Project, Volume 3: Synthesis, edited by Craig, Douglas B., pp. 115130. Anthropological Papers No. 99-1. Northland Research, Tempe, Arizona.Google Scholar
Crary, Joseph. S., and Craig, Douglas B. 2001 The Design Mechanics of Hohokam Pit Houses. In The Grewe Archaeological Research Project Volume 1: Project Background and Feature Descriptions, edited by Craig, Douglas B., pp. 3962. Anthropological Papers No. 99-1, Northland Research, Flagstaff, Arizona.Google Scholar
Crown, Patricia A. 1991 The Role of Exchange and Interaction in Salt-Gila Basin Hohokam Prehistory. In Exploring the Hohokam: Prehistoric Peoples of the American Southwest, edited by Gumerman, George J., pp. 383416. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Dering, Phil 1998 Macrobotanical Remains from Classic Period Farming Villages in the Tonto Basin. In Environment and Subsistence in the Classic Period Tonto Basin: The Roosevelt Archaeology Studies, 1989 to 1998, edited by Spielmann, Katherine A., pp. 87132. Arizona State University, Office of Cultural Resource Management, Roosevelt Monograph Series 10, Anthropological Field Studies 39, Tempe.Google Scholar
Doelle, William H. 1995 Tonto Basin Demography in Regional Perspective. In The Roosevelt Community Development Study, New Perspectives on Tonto Basin Prehistory, edited by Elson, Mark D., Stark, Miriam T., and Gregory, David A., pp. 201226. Center for Desert Archaeology, Anthropological Papers No. 15, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Doelle, William H. 2000 Tonto Basin Demography in a Regional Perspective. In Salado, edited by Dean, Jeffrey S., pp. 81105. New World Study Series 4. Amerind Foundation, Dragoon, Arizona.Google Scholar
Doelle, William H., and Wallace, Henry D. 1991 The Changing Role of the Tucson Basin in the Hohokam Regional System. In Exploring the Hohokam: Prehistoric Desert People of the American Southwest, edited by Gumerman, George J., pp. 279346. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Dove, Donald E. 1984 Prehistoric Subsistence and Population Change along the Lower Agua Fria River, Arizona: A Model Simulation. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Downum, Christian E., and Bostwick, Todd W. 2003 The Platform Mound. In Centuries of Decline during the Hohokam Classic Period at Pueblo Grande, edited by Abbott, David R., pp. 166200. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Doyel, David E. 1981 Late Hohokam Prehistory in Southern Arizona. Gila Press, Contributions to Archaeology No. 2, Scottsdale, Arizona.Google Scholar
Doyel, David E. 1991 Hohokam Exchange and Interaction. In Chaco and Hohokam: Prehistoric Regional Systems in the American Southwest, edited by Crown, Patricia A. and Judge, W. James, pp. 225252. School of American Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Doyel, David E. 2000 The Santan Phase in the Phoenix Basin. In The Hohokam Village Revisited, edited by Doyel, David E., Fish, Suzanne K., and Fish, Paul R., pp. 221244. Southwestern and Rocky Mountain Division of the American Association of Science, Fort Collins, Colorado.Google Scholar
Elson, Mark D. 1998 Expanding the View of Hohokam Platform Mounds: an Ethnographic Perspective. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Ensor, Bradley E. 2013 The Archaeology of Kinship: Advancing Interpretation and Contributions to Theory. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Erasmus, Charles J. 1965 Monument Building: Some Field Experiments. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 21:277301.Google Scholar
Feinman, Gary M., and Neitzel, Jill 1984 Too Many Types: An Overview of Sedentary Prestate Societies in the Americas. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 7, edited by Schiffer, Michael B., pp. 39102. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Fish, Suzanne K. 1996 Dynamics of Scale in the Southern Deserts. In Interpreting Southwestern Diversity: Underlying Principles and Overarching Patterns, edited by Fish, Paul R. and Reid, J. Jefferson, pp. 107114. Anthropological Papers No. 48, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Fish, Sizanne K., and Fish, Paul R. (editors) 2008 The Hohokam Millennium. School of Advanced Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Foster, Michael S. 1995 The Pueblo Grande Museum Expansion Data Recovery Project. Technical Report No. 95-17. Soil Systems, Phoenix.Google Scholar
Gladwin, Harold S. 1957 A History of the Ancient Southwest. Bond Wheelwright , Portland, Maine.Google Scholar
Gregory, David A., and Nials, Fred L. 1985 Observations Concerning the Distribution of Classic Period Platform Mounds. In Proceedings of the 1983 Hohokam Symposium, Part 1, edited by Dittert, A. E. Jr., and Dove, Donald E., pp. 373388. AAS Occasional Paper No. 2, Arizona Archaeological Society, Phoenix.Google Scholar
Hassan, Fekri A. 1981 Demographic Archaeology. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Haury, Emil W. 1945 The Excavations of Los Muertos and Neighboring Ruins in the Salt River Valley, Southern Arizona. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 24, No. 1. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Haury, Emil W. 1976 The Hohokam: Desert Farmers and Craftsmen. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Haury, Emil W. 1991 Afterward. In The Hohokam: Ancient People of the Desert, edited by Noble, David Grant, pp. 6973. School of American Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Hayden, Irwin 1931 Field Report on Major Antiquities: Grewe Site, Coolidge, Arizona. Manuscript on file, Arizona State Museum Library, Tucson.Google Scholar
Hill, J. Brett, Clark, Jeffery J., Doelle, William H., and Lyons, Patrick D. 2004 Prehistoric Demography in the Southwest: Migration, Coalescence, and Hohokam Population Decline. American Antiquity 69:689716.Google Scholar
Hirth, Kenneth 1989 Domestic Architecture and Social Risk in a Mesoamerican Urban Center. In Households and Communities, edited by MacEachern, Scott, Archer, David, and Garvin, Richard, pp. 441449. Proceedings of the 21st Annual Chacmool Conference, University of Calgary, Alberta.Google Scholar
Howard, Jerry B. 1988 Casa Buena Architectural Types and Descriptions. In Excavations at Casa Buena: Changing Hohokam Land Use along the Squaw Peak Parkway, Volume 1, edited by Howard, Jerry B., pp. 67144. Publications in Archaeology No. 11, Soil Systems, Phoenix.Google Scholar
Howard, Jerry B. 1990 Los Hornos: Site Structure and Community Patterning at a Large Hohokam Village. In One Hundred Years of Archaeology at La Cuidad de los Hornos, edited by Wilcox, David R., Howard, Jerry B., and Nelson, Rueben H., pp. 73110. Publications in Archaeology No. 16, Soil Systems, Phoenix.Google Scholar
Howard, Jerry B. 1991 System Reconstruction: The Evolution of an Irrigation System. In The Operation and Evolution of an Irrigation System: The East Papago Canal Study, edited by Howard, Jerry B. and Huckleberry, Gary, pp. 5.15.33. Publications in Archaeology No. 18, Soil Systems, Phoenix.Google Scholar
James, Steven R. 2003 Hunting and Fishing Patterns Leading to Resource Depletion. In Centuries of Decline during the Hohokam Classic Period at Pueblo Grande, edited by Abbott, David R., pp. 70–81. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Ingram, Scott E. 2008 Streamflow and Population Change in the Lower Salt River Valley of Central Arizona, ca. 775–1450. American Antiquity 73:136165.Google Scholar
Kohler, Timothy A., and Matthews, Meredith 1984 Unraveling Cause and Effect in Changing Wood Use in the Dolores Area. Paper presented at the 49th Annual Meetings of the Society for American Archaeology, Portland, Oregon.Google Scholar
Kohler, Timothy A., and Smith, Michael E. (editors) 2017 Ten Thousand Years of Inequality: The Archaeology of Wealth Differences. Amerind Studies in Anthropology, University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Kramer, Carol 1979 An Archaeological View of a Contemporary Kurdish Village: Domestic Architecture, Household Size and Wealth. In Ethnoarcheology, edited by Kramer, Carol, pp. 139163. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Kwiatkowski, Scott M. 1994 Prehistoric Biotic Communities and Ecosystem Dynamics near Pueblo Grande. In The Pueblo Grande Project, Volume 5: Environment and Subsistence, edited by Kwiatkowski, Scott M., pp. 534. Publications in Archaeology No. 20, Soil Systems, Phoenix.Google Scholar
Kwiatkowski, Scott M. 2003 Evidence of Subsistence Problems. In Centuries of Decline during the Hohokam Classic Period at Pueblo Grande, edited by Abbott, David R., pp. 4869. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Kwiatkowski, Scott M., and Miller, Jo Anne 1995 Pueblo Salado Flotation, Wood Charcoal, Macrobotanical, and Daub Impression Analyses. In The Sky Harbor Project: Early Desert Farming and Irrigation Settlements: Archaeological Investigations in the Phoenix Sky Harbor Center, Volume 3:Pueblo Salado, edited by Greenwald, David H., Chenault, Mark L., and Greenwald, Dawn M., pp. 259296. Anthropological Research Paper No. 4, SWCA, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Loendorf, Chris, and Lewis, Barnaby V. 2017 Ancestral O'odham: Akimel O'odham Cultural Traditions and the Archaeological Record. American Antiquity 82:123139.Google Scholar
Marshall, James T. 2001 Appendix J: Hohokam Regional Ballcourt Data. In The Grewe Archaeological Research Project, Volume 1: Project Background and Feature Descriptions, edited by Craig, Douglas B., pp. 571586. Anthropological Papers No. 99-1, Northland Research, Tempe, Arizona.Google Scholar
McGuire, Randal H. 1992 A Marxist Archaeology. Academic Press, San Diego, California.Google Scholar
McGuire, Randal H., and Schiffer, Michael B. 1983 A Theory of Architectural Design. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 2:277303.Google Scholar
Miksicek, Charles H. 1995 Temporal Trends in the Eastern Tonto Basin: An Archaeobotanical Perspective. In The Roosevelt Community Development Study: Vol. 3, Paleobotanical and Osteological Analyses, edited by Elson, Mark D. and Clark, Jeffery J., pp. 4384. Anthropological Papers No. 14, Center for Desert Archaeology, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Miksicek, Charles H., and Gasser, Robert E. 1989 Hohokam Plant Use at Las Colinas: The Flotation Evidence. In The 1982–1984 Excavations at Las Colinas: Vol. 5. Environment and Subsistence, by Graybill, Donald A., Gregory, David A., Nials, Fred L., Fish, Suzanne K., Gasser, Robert E., Miksicek, Charles H., and Szuter, Christine R., pp. 95115. Archaeological Series No. 162, Arizona State Museum, Tucson.Google Scholar
Mitchell, D. R. 1994 Architecture feature descriptions. In The Pueblo Grande Project, Volume 2: Feature Descriptions, Chronology, and Site Structure, edited by Mitchell, D. R., pp. 3384, Publications in Archaeology No. 20, Soil Systems, Phoenix.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Douglas R. (editor) 1994 The Pueblo Grande Project, Volume 2: Feature Descriptions, Chronology, and Site Structure. Publications in Archaeology No. 20, Soil Systems, Phoenix.Google Scholar
Nials, Fred L., Gregory, David A., and Graybill, Donald A. 1989 Salt River Streamflow and Hohokam Irrigation Systems. In The 1982–1984 Excavations at Las Colinas: Environment and Subsistence, by Graybill, Donald A., Gregory, David A., Nials, Fred L., Fish, Suzanne K., Miksicek, Charles H., Gasser, Robert E., and Szuter, Christine R., pp. 5978. Archaeological Series 162, Volume 5, Arizona State Museum, Tucson.Google Scholar
Nelson, Margaret C., Kintigh, Keith W., Abbott, David R., and Anderies, J. M. 2010 The Cross-Scale Interplay between Social and Biophysical Context and the Vulnerability of Irrigation-Dependent Societies: Archaeology's Long-term Perspective. Ecology and Society 15:31.Google Scholar
Olson, J. M., and Smith, Michael E. 2016 Material Expressions of Wealth and Social Class at Aztec-Period Sites in Morelos, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 27:133147.Google Scholar
Schroeder, Albert H. 1940 A Stratigraphic Survey of Pre-Spanish Trash Mounds of the Salt River Valley, Arizona. Master's thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Sires, Earl W. 1987 Hohokam Architectural Variability and Site Structure during the Sedentary-Classic Transition. In The Hohokam Village: Site Structure and Organization, edited by Doyel, David E., pp. 171182. Southwestern and Rocky Mountain Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Glenwood Springs, Colorado.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E., Dennehy, Timothy, Kamp-Whittaker, April, Colon, Emily, and Harkness, Rebecca 2014 Quantitative Measures of Wealth Inequality in Ancient Central Mexican Communities. Advances in Archaeological Practice 2:311323.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E., Dennehy, Timothy, Kamp-Whittaker, April, Stanley, B., Stark, Barbara L., and York, Abigail 2016 Conceptual Approaches to Service Provision in Cities through the Ages. Urban Studies 53:15741590.Google Scholar
Turney, Omar 1929 Prehistoric Irrigation. Arizona Historical Review 2(5).Google Scholar
Wallace, Henry D., Heidke, James M., and Doelle, William H. 1995 Hohokam Origins. Kiva 60:575618.Google Scholar
Waters, Michael R., and Ravesloot, John C. 2001 Landscape Change and Cultural Evolution of the Hohokam along the Middle Gila River and Other Valleys in South-Central Arizona. American Antiquity 66:285299.Google Scholar
Watts, Joshua 2013 The Organization and Evolution of the Hohokam Economy Agent-based Modeling of Exchange in the Phoenix Basin, Arizona, AD 200–1450. PhD dissertation, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Wilcox, David R. 1987 Frank Midvale's Investigation of the Site of La Ciudad. Anthropological Field Studies No. 19, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Wilcox, David R. 1991 Hohokam Social Complexity. In Prehistoric Regional Systems in the American Southwest, edited by Crown, Patricia A. and Judge, W. James, pp. 253276. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Wilcox, David R., Samples, Terry, Keller, Donald, and Laughner, Maria 1996 The Wagner Ballcourt Community and Other Cohonina Sites. Kiva 61:433456.Google Scholar
Wilcox, David R., and Shenk, Lynette O. 1977 The Architecture of Casa Grande and Its Interpretation. Archaeological Series No. 160, Arizona State Museum, Tucson.Google Scholar
Wilcox, David R., and Sternberg, Charles 1983 Hohokam Ballcourts and their Interpretation. Archaeological Series No. 160, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Wilk, Richard R. 1983 Little House in the Jungle: the Causes of Variation in House Size among Modern Kechi Maya. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 2:99116.Google Scholar
Wilshusen, Richard. H. 1988 Architectural Trends in Prehistoric Anasazi Sites during A.D. 600 to 1200. In Dolores Archaeological Program Supporting Studies: Additive and Reductive Technologies, edited by Blinman, Eric, Phagan, C. J., and Wilshusen, Richard H., pp. 599615. United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation Engineering and Research Center, Denver.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Abbott et al. supplementary material

Abbott et al. supplementary material 1

Download Abbott et al. supplementary material(File)
File 1.2 MB