Archaeology Magazine - November/December 1998 - 44

Others believe that a remnant population survived into
the mid- 1500s in the Salt and Gila river valleys as the Pima
and Tohono O'odham tribes. To the Pima, the Hohokam
were a people of myth and legend, boastful predecessors
who had been slain by the Pima's great hero, Elder Brother.
But excavations at the site of Pueblo Grande in Phoenix,
Arizona, have provided new clues to the collapse of the
Hohokam. One of the largest archaeological projects in the
Southwest in years, the excavations were undertaken in
advance of the construction of the Hohokam Expressway,
part of the metropolitan Phoenix freeway system.
Pueblo Grande was founded toward the end of the Pioneer period (ca. 300 b.c.-a.d. 500) and occupied until the
Hohokam collapse around 1450. Our excavations uncovered 14 living areas. Some consisted of pit-house groups
occupied from 1050 to 1275 and aboveground adobe
compounds built atop pit-houses from 1275 to 1350; others consisted solely of aboveground compounds. One
included portions of a Great House, a large multistory
adobe dwelling that may have housed village elite, similar
to that at the site of Casa Grande southeast of Phoenix.
More than 500,000 potsherds, 2,000 whole vessels,
59,000 pieces of chipped stone, and a wealth of shell and
turquoise jewelry were recovered during the excavation.
The most provocative finds, however,
were more than 800 burials, the majority
of which dated from the Classic period
(a.D. 1100-1450). Grave pits, most with
single burials, often had earthen benches
along the sides, which had supported
perishable coverings probably made of
ocatillo or saguaro cactus. Offerings
included highly polished redware vessels
of local manufacture and Salado polychrome pottery, decorated in black,
white, and red geometric designs, from
east-central Arizona. Almost three-quarters of the burials were inhumations; the
rest were cremations. The skeletal
remains from the inhumations allowed
us to study the health of Pueblo Grande s
population over a 350-year period. Analyzed by Dennis Van Gerven of the University of Colorado and Susan Guise
Sheridan, now at Notre Dame, the remains proved critical to our understanding òf the demise of the Hohokam.
Skeletal remains of 632 people were
recovered. By comparing the number of
a particular age to the total number, Van
Ë Gerven and Sheridan could calculate life
i expectancy at each age. At birth it was
"D
3
w5
over 15 years; those who survived to
I just
age nine could expect to live to about 37.
I Only a small fraction lived into their
Hovenber/Decenber

1 998

fifties or sixties, and this number declined in the late Classic
period. Ninety-nine percent of the population suffered from
hypoplasia, defects in tooth enamel caused by childhood
malnutrition or disease, compared to an average of -28 percent for three other Hohokam sites nearby. This discrepancy
is puzzling, but it clearly indicates that the people of Pueblo
Grande were suffering from malnutrition and possibly disease. Femurs of children up to four years old had an abnormally thin cortex (outermost layer), also suggesting a poor
diet. Lesions on the skull known as porotic hyperostosis
indicate that nearly 20 percent of children and 54 percent of
adults suffered from iron deficiency. Diploic thickening of
the skull, a swelling of the layer of bone between the braincase and the exterior of the cranium, was also observed; this,
too, is caused by iron deficiency. Measurements of levels of
iron and other elements in bones support these data.
To the Pima, the Hohokam were a people of
myth and legend, boastful

predecessors

who had

been slain by the Pima hero. Elder Brother.
In the early Classic period far more women and children
than men suffered from malnutrition, partly because childbearing women and growing children require more food
than men, who need only maintain their own body weight,
and partly because of dietary differences. Higher levels of
strontium, magnesium, and zinc in bones of adult males
than in those of juveniles and adult females indicate that
men ate more meat. Why this is so is open to debate; perhaps social convention restricted women and children to a
more or less vegetarian diet. In any case, the meat may have
helped men make up for the deficiencies of a diet otherwise
composed of corn, beans, and agave. During the late Classic
the plight of women and children grew worse, and malnutrition caught up with men. Lower levels of strontium, magnesium, and zinc suggest that not even they were eating much
meat. Paleobotanist JoAnne Miller found a change in the
proportion of different kinds of plant remains in cooking
areas and trash pits between the early and late Classic periods. While in the early Classic, people were eating a fairly
well balanced combination of corn, beans, and agave, by the
late Classic they seem to have been surviving almost on
agave alone- something like eating only bubble gum.
What caused the villagers' poor health? Overpopulation
may have strained a limited food supply. If people used the
canals as toilets, waterborne parasites and other diseases
could have spread quickly through a population whose
immune systems were already weakened by an inadequate
diet. Natural disasters may have exacerbated the problem.
Tree-ring data from northern Arizona indicate a series of
droughts from the mid-700s to the mid- 1300s, punctuated
45

Archaeology Magazine - November/December 1998

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - November/December 1998