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Plausible Ethnographic Analogies for the Social Organization of Hohokam Canal Irrigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert C. Hunt
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University, Waltham MA 02454. (Hunt@Brandeis.edu)
David Guillet
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064. (guillet@cua.edu)
David R. Abbott
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ 85287-2402. (dvdabbott@aol.com)
James Bayman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96822-2223. (jbayman@hawaii.edu)
Paul Fish
Affiliation:
Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0026. (pfish@u.arizona.edu)
Suzanne Fish
Affiliation:
Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0026. (sfish@u.arizona.edu)
Keith Kintigh
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402. (kintigh@asu.edu)
James A. Neely
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas-Austin, Austin, TX 78712. (neely@mail.utexas.edu)

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a juxtaposition of archaeological findings on Hohokam irrigation and ethnographic research on the social organization of irrigation. There are no ethnographic or historic records pertaining to the Hohokam, so the comparative ethnographic approach is perhaps more productive than in other situations. Several forms of canal irrigation organization are considered, including politically centralized, acephalous, private, and several forms of communal. We find that politically centralized, acephalous, and private forms are implausible in the Hohokam context. Several of the communal forms are plausible. We find no ethnographic basis for positing a valley-wide management system.

Résumé

Résumé

Este trabajo presenta los resultados de una yuxtaposición entre hallazgos arqueológicos sobre la irrigación Hohokam e investigación etnográfica sobre la organización social en sociedades agrícolas que emplean sistemas de irrigación. Puesto que no hay registros etnográficos o históricos sobre la cultura Hohokam, un enfoque etnográfico comparativo parece ser más productivo que en otras situaciones. Se consideran varias formas de organización de irrigación por medio de canales, incluyendo ejemplos de centralización político, de sociedades acéfalas, de empresas privadas y de obras comunales. Concluimos que formas con centralización politica, acéfalas, y privadas son poco plausibles en el contexto Hohokam, pero varias formas de organización comunal sí son factibles. No encontramos ninguna base etnográfica para proponer la existencia de un sistema administrativo macro-regional.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2005

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References

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