The day was cool and breezy. We had a cold front go through and it will remain cool until later in the week. It is nice here at the Pinal Co. fairgrounds, we are on pavement and close to the entrance which makes it handy to come and go. The Hohokam people are so interesting and they were so intelligent that they were able to survive in such a harsh environment as the desert. They were able to get water to their fields and were able to store water from rainfall when ever it was possible. They were able to build canals to channel water for miles and divert it where ever it was needed. They raised corn,the staple crop that matured quickly and provided two crops a year. Other crops were beans, squash, tobacco, cotton and agave. Wild plants like amarath were also encouraged in fields.
They used many local materials to build however hundreds of Juniper, pine and fir trees were carried or floated some 60 miles down the Gila River to the village. Anchored in the walls, the timbers formed ceiling or floor supports.
The illustration shows how saguaro ribs were laid across the beans, covered with reds and then topped with a final layer of caliche mud. Caliche is a concrete like mixture of sand, clay and calcium carbonate (limestone). It took some 3,000 tons to construct the Great House. The walls were for feet thick at the base tapering toward the top.
The visitors center has a very interesting 20 minute video that helps to explain the history of the Hohokam people. The appeared to have vanished but no one knows how or why. There are several that think they did not vanish, but still exist. There are several Tribes that claim to be partially related to the Hohokam people. Others feel they are direct descendants. No one will probably ever know, but the Hohokam was a very interesting people that lived in a very harsh period of time, but survived in the harshness of the desert.