[Aztlan] MORE HOHOKAM CANALS FOUND AT ASU CONSTRUCTION SITE

[michael ruggeri]

Hohokam canals found at ASU construction site
Kristi Eaton
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 31, 2007 11:43 AM

When Arizona State University students move into a new residence hall  
and honors college in fall 2009, they will be living and learning  
among historical findings.

Two canals from the Hohokam time period have been unearthed at Apache  
Boulevard and Rural Road - the future home of ASU's Barrett Honors  
College. The college is currently housed at Apache Boulevard and  
College Avenue.

Pieces of pottery were also found at the site, said Glen Rice, of Rio  
Salado Archaeology and an ASU emeritus faculty member in the School  
of Human Evolution and Social Change.

The canals, dating back as far as 1000 A.D., show that the land was  
most likely used for agriculture fields and not home to an entire  
village.

"Maybe a mom and a few kids lived out there to weed," Rice said. "Or  
two teenage boys. But not a whole family."

The canals were constructed to carry large amounts of water from the  
Salt and Gila rivers. The inhabitants used the water to grow food,  
Rice said.

"Corn, beans, squash were their first priority," he said.

Occasionally, Rice said, they might have grown cotton or tobacco.

Samples were taken from the canals and will be sent to local  
laboratories for analysis. The pottery will be given to ASU's  
Archaeological Research Institute, Rice said. The canals, which have  
three soil marks indicating different time periods, will be filled in  
to construct the honor's college.

"What we're after is data," Rice said. "We're not after the objects  
per se."

ASU and archaeologists from Rio Salado Archaeology expected to find  
the canals because of maps made in the 1920s that pinpointed their  
locations, Rice said. Omar Turney, the city of Phoenix engineer at  
the time, created the first comprehensive maps of the Hohokam canals.

"We know the locations of main villages and canals," Rice said. "But  
sometimes the maps are inaccurate."

Rice said the closest village to these canals was believed to have  
been at the base of Tempe Butte. Approximately 500 people lived there.

Because the land is owned by the state, ASU was required to test the  
land to see if there was any historical significance to the land.  
Once it was determined there was, archaeologists have worked for  
about a month excavating the canals and pottery, Rice said.

Several pieces of pottery - most likely rims of jars and pots - were  
found at the bottom of one of the canals near the end of the  
excavation process.

"It immediately solved one of our problems," Rice said.

The designs and patterns on the pieces - black markings on white clay  
with glitter - helped the team determine the pottery was from 1320  
A.D., giving the team a better idea of when the canals were used. The  
pottery probably came from someone who lived along the Gila River -  
about 18 miles away.

Rice said people would often throw pieces of pottery into the canals  
to keep the floor solid.

All traces of the canals and the pottery pieces will be long gone by  
the time the new Barrett Honors College opens in 2009. American  
Campus Communities is constructing the college, which will include  
classrooms, residence halls, a dining hall, faculty offices and a  
student center, said Sam Newman, director of Construction Management  
for the company


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