Hohokam Political Ecology and Vulnerability: Comments on Waters and Ravesloot Author(S): Bradley E

Society for American Archaeology

Hohokam Political Ecology and Vulnerability: Comments on Waters and Ravesloot Author(s): Bradley E. Ensor, Marisa O. Ensor and Gregory W. De Vries Reviewed work(s): Source: American Antiquity, Vol. 68, No. 1 (Jan., 2003), pp. 169-181 Published by: Society for American Archaeology Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3557040 . Accessed: 04/10/2012 15:57

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Society for American Archaeology is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Antiquity.

http://www.jstor.org HOHOKAM POLITICAL ECOLOGY AND VULNERABILITY: COMMENTS ON WATERS AND RAVESLOOT

Bradley E. Ensor, Marisa O. Ensor, and GregoryW. De Vries

Watersand Ravesloot (2001) test the assumption that natural river channel change caused periods of Hohokamcultural reorganization. However, they conclude that channel changes did not correlate with all periods and areas of significant cultural changes and that landscape alone cannot explain Hohokamtransformations. An anthropologicalperspective on political ecology and disasters can explain why environmentalprocesses and events differentiallyimpact societies, differentiallyimpact societies diachronically and differentially impact social groups within societies. Wesuggest that this perspective may explain the variability described by Watersand Ravesloot.

Watersy Ravesloot (2001) examinanla presuncion de que los cambios de los canales naturales de los rios pueden haber causado periodos de reorganizacioncultural de los Hohokam.Sin embargo,concluyen que los cambios en los canales no se correlacio- nan con todos los periodos y areas que sufrieroncambios culturalessignificativos y que solo elpaisaje no puede explicar las trans- formaciones de los Hohokam.Una perspectiva antropoldgicasobre ecologia politica y el estudio de los desastres explicapor que los sucesos y procesos medioambientalestienen un impactodiferenciado en distintas sociedades, afectan de forma distinta a las sociedades diacronicamente,y tienen un impacto diferenteen distintosgrupos sociales dentro de las mismas sociedades. Suger- imos que esta perspectivapuede explicar la variabilidaddescrita por Watersy Ravesloot.

In a recent paper,Waters and Ravesloot (2001) much attentionto climate and canal sedimentation examine the relationship between landscape recordsfor this reason. However,others argue that changesand evolutionary shifts in Hohokamcul- flood-associateddamage to canalheadgates was rel- ture. Landscapechange, in this instance, refers to ativelyeasy to repairunless damageextended down riverchannel downcutting, widening, braiding, and the canal (Huckleberry1999:8) or that floods were filling duringperiods of climatologicalinstability. relativelyephemeral events having little impact on Environmentallycaused landscape change is estab- Hohokamsociety (e.g., Dean et al. 1994:57). Simi- lishedas a possible"mechanism" for cultural change. larly,Masse (1991:219)states that the destructionof Watersand Ravesloot test this possibilityby cor- irrigationsystems is not a sufficientexplanation for relatingchanges in riverchannels with periods of cul- abandonmentsat the end of the Classicperiod. How- tural reorganization among the Hohokam. The ever,Waters and Ravesloot's focus on riverlandscape Hohokamare viewed as being dependentupon irri- change adds an importantdimension to this debate. gationagriculture, which made their food production According to Watersand Ravesloot, Hohokam system susceptible to changes in river channels. cultureinitiated and flourishedbecause there were Watersand Ravesloot are not alonein suspectingthat stable channels with periodic flooding creating floods influencedprehispanic and historic society in "excellentconditions for the establishmentof canal the PhoenixBasin. Dendrochronologicaldata origi- systems and the developmentof Hohokamculture" nally suggestedthis possibility,and since Graybill's (Watersand Ravesloot 2001:290). In the Sacaton (1989), andNials et al.'s(1989) studiesthere has been phase(A.D. 950-1150) of theLate Formative period,

Bradley E. Ensor * Departmentof Anthropology,University of Florida, 1112 TurlingtonHall, PO Box 117305, Gainesville, FL 32611-7305, and SoutheasternArchaeological Research,Inc., PO Box 14776, Gainesville, FL 32604. [email protected] Marisa 0. Ensor * Departmentof Anthropology,Rollins College, 1000 Holt Avenue -2761, WinterPark, FL 32789-4499. [email protected] Gregory W. De Vries * School of NaturalResources and Environment,University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,MI 48109-1115. [email protected]

AmericanAntiquity, 68(1), 2003, pp. 169-181 Copyright? 2003 by the Society for AmericanArchaeology

169 170 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 68, No. 1, 2003]

Hohokamsettlements and ballcourt villages reached Watersand Ravesloot conclude their paper by their maximum extent and many villages reached statingthat changes in riverlandscapes were factors their maximum size and complexity as floodplain in culturalreorganization at the beginning of the deposits continuedto build vertically (Watersand Classicperiod but not atthe end of the Classicperiod Ravesloot 2001:291). According to Waters and when the most dramaticchanges in Hohokamcul- Ravesloot(2001:291-292), there was a majorchange turalhistory occurred(except in the TucsonBasin in the Middle Gila River floodplain occurring and Lower San PedroValley). They found that the betweenA.D. 1020 and 1160. The channelwas sub- environmentaldeterministic approach they entertain ject to downcuttingand widening.This period also could not explain why landscapechange correlates was markedby intensifiedhigh-magnitude flooding with culturalchange at certaintimes andplaces, but (Waters and Ravesloot 2001:292). According to not at others, except to state that landscapeis one Watersand Ravesloot (2001), these environmental factor that should be considered. However, brief changes made it difficultfor Hohokamfarmers to statementsin theirabstract and conclusionssuggest manage their canal intake structureslocated in the anawareness that cultural trends were alsomajor fac- river channels. They claim the resulting cultural tors:"As shown, a regionalepisode of channelero- changes at the beginning of the Classic period sion appearsto have contributedto social, political, included abandonment of some villages, shifts economic, and demographicchanges seen in the towardnew architecturalforms, shifts from crema- Hohokam culture area between ca. A.D. 1050 to tion burialsto inhumations,partial replacement of 1150 by accelerating cultural changes that were previous pottery types, changes in exchange pat- alreadyunderway" (Waters and Ravesloot 2001:296; terns, the collapse of the ballcourtsystem and the emphasisadded). Here, we suggest that an anthro- emergence of platform mound architecture.They pological perspectiveon political ecology and vul- claimthe canalsystems were consolidated into "irri- nerabilityto disastersmay help to explain some of gation communities"(hierarchically arranged set- the differentialimpacts of floods and riverchannel tlements along each canal network)in the Classic changesreported by Watersand Ravesloot. periodand irrigation farming was supplementedwith Political and Disaster dry and floodwaterfarming on bajadas(Waters and Ecology Vulnerability Ravesloot2001:291). "TheClassic period Hohokam Since the 1970s the growth of political ecological responded to fluvial instability by pooling their perspectivesand hazardsperspectives in the social resourcesand organizingtheir labor, reengineering sciences has led many scholarsin those disciplines theircanals, placing canalheads in stablepositions, to considerdisasters less as the result of geophysi- and increasingand diversifyingfood productionby cal extremessuch as floods, droughts,earthquakes, pursuingdry and floodwaterfarming" (Waters and or hurricanesand moreas functionsof social condi- Ravesloot2001:292). Riverfloodplains became sta- tions(e.g., Alexander 1997:28; Bassett 1988;Blaikie ble again between A.D. 1300 and 1400. At the end et al. 1994; Hewitt 1983; Lees and Bates 1990; of the Classic period (ca. A.D. 1450), villages were Schminkand Wood 1987; Stonich 1993; Susmanet abandonedand Hohokamculture ended. Although al. 1983; Toledo 1989; Wisner 1976, 1978; Wolf no majorlandscape changes occurredat the end of 1972)."It is now widely recognizedthat 'natural dis- the Classic period in the Middle Gila River,Lower aster'is a conveniencedterm that amounts to a mis- Salt River,and Tonto Creek, arroyo cutting did take nomer"(Alexander 1997:28). This approachfocuses place in the SantaCruz and San Pedrorivers.' on the effectivenessof societaladaptation to the total Watersand Ravesloot use a period of hardship environment,including the natural,modified and amongthe late nineteenth-centuryAkimel O'odham constructedmilieu of which the communityis a part as an analogyto the effects of channelinstability on (Hewitt 1983). the Hohokam.The Gila Riverchannel widened and Politicalecology is basedon thepremise that polit- frequent flooding caused the destructionof canal ical, social,and economic considerations mediate the headgates.They claim "thesituation became so crit- dynamicinteractions between humans and their envi- ical thatAkimel O'odhamwere malnourishedas a ronment.This perspectiveintegrates political econ- consequenceof repeatedcrop failures"(Waters and omy andhuman ecology by exploringthe connections Ravesloot2001:292). betweenthe currentand historicalinfluences of the COMMENTS 171 naturalenvironment on humangroups and the impact differentiatedsocial and economic impact of envi- of largerpolitical and economic forces that charac- ronmentalchange also has political implicationsin terize the society of which the people are members that the relativepower of some actorsin relationto (Cambell 1996:6).For instance,Watts (1983) views others influences the impact that the event has on famine as an economic, social, and environmental them. It follows that people's economic and politi- phenomenonand suggests that analyzing famine also cal positionsin society determinetheir vulnerability "demandsa carefuldeconstruction of the social,polit- to disastersand environmentalcrises (Bryantand ical, andeconomic structure of the society so afflicted Bailey 1997:28-29). andof its historicallyspecific systems of production" Recentanthropological analyses of culturalchange (Watts 1983:19). Human-environmentalrelations, among the Honduranpopulation after Hurricane key to the evolutionof disasters,are always mediated Mitch in 1998 stress the interrelatedsociopolitical, by the social relationsthrough which the members economic, and ecological dimensions of disaster. of a society interactwith theirsurroundings (L6pez Olivo'sstudy of culturalchange in a disaster-stricken 1999). By adoptinga political-ecologicalapproach community(2002; L6pez 1999) demonstrateslink- to the studyof disasters,anthropologists focus their agesamong a highlyvulnerable economy, unequal dis- attentionon "the dynamicrelationships between a tributionof resources,widespread food insecurityand humanpopulation, its socially generatedand politi- severeenvironmental degradation that characterized cally enforcedproductive and allocative patterns and Hondurasprior to the disaster,on the one hand,and its physicalenvironment, all in the formationof pat- theimplementation of resettlementand reconstruction, terns of vulnerability and response to disaster" gender-differentiatedvulnerability, and changes in (Oliver-Smith1998:189). These social relationsare local livelihoodstrategies and social and gender roles maintainedby the dominantforms of productionin on the other.De Vries's (2000)research on post-flood a process that determinesthe patternsof resource adaptationamong subsistence-basedriverine com- allocationand other forms of social,political, and eco- munitiesin Moskitiarelates their historically patterned nomic differentiation.This differentiation,in turn, vulnerabilitywith culturalresiliency and adaptive privilegessome individuals and groups with enhanced livelihoodstrategies as elementsin dynamicinterac- security,while subjectingothers to systemicrisks and tion with extremeecological destabilizationcondi- hazards(Blaikie et al. 1994:24;Lopez 1999; Oliver- tions and the contested process of reconstruction. Smith 1998:189). Theseand other studies (e.g., Bolin and Stanford 1999; The conceptof vulnerabilityis a fundamentalele- Lees and Bates 1990; Moore 1993; Oliver-Smith mentto the politicalecology of disasters;it has been 1999; Sen 1981; Stonich 1993;Torry 1986a, 1986b) developed in the last decade as an alternative,or a have addressedthe social constructionof vulnerabil- complement,to the previouslydominant "hazards ity,stressing the interrelated sociopolitical, economic, paradigm,"which focused exclusively on the envi- and environmentaldimensions of disastersand are ronmental hazards themselves (Blaikie et al. examplesof an alternativedisaster research agenda 1994:218).The vulnerabilityapproach, on the other thatemphasizes the need to work simultaneouslyon hand,focuses upon who is affectedand theirability politicaleconomic and environmentaldimensions. to withstand,mitigate, and recover from the damage Althoughundeniably providing critical informa- caused by disasters and other crises; this strategy tion on disasters in prehistory,early attemptsby underscoresthe importanceof the socioeconomic archaeologiststo rely solely on physical sciences orderand the ecological relationsof life in particu- divertedattention away from the historical conditions larplaces. The conceptsof vulnerabilityand risk rec- promotingdisasters as studiedin anthropologytoday ognize the importantextent to which the likelihood (Van Buren 2001:143). Archaeologistshave more of disasterdepends upon the social order,its every- recentlyfound the conceptsof disasterresilience and day relationsto the environment,as well as thelarger vulnerability useful for explaining differential historical circumstancesthat shape people's envi- impacts on societies. Sheets's (1999) study of vol- ronments(Alexander 1997:291; Hewitt 1997:141). canic eruptionsin CentralAmerica concludes that Generally,costs and benefits are unequallydistrib- some societies were more resilientto these calami- uted amongindividuals and groups, reflecting exist- ties while otherswere more vulnerable,resulting in ing social and economicinequalities. Moreover, the regionalabandonments. In one volume dedicatedto 172 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 68, No. 1, 2003] the studyof disastersand human response (Bawden speculators,grants to companiesand veterans,and and Reycraft2000), authorssought to identifyhow the General HomesteadAct (1862), thousandsof farpatterns of responsewere dependentupon social Anglos andother nonaboriginal groups settled in the organizationalcomplexity, geographic context, range PhoenixBasin in the years following the American of subsistenceresources, cultural configuration, and Civil War (Sheridan2001:143). Epidemics caused the intensityand rangeof the environmentaldisrup- rapidpopulation loss (Meister1975:119, 129; Spicer tion (Reycraftand Bawden2000:3). Two examples 1962:149). Changing internal social relations are fromthat volume include Zarins's (2000) conclusion exemplifiedby leadershipshifting from personsof that tribalsocieties were more resilientto repeated power without wealth to an emphasis on wealth typhoon storms than were city-states in southern (Hackenberg1983:161). Additionally, Anglo farm- Arabiaand Santley et al.'s(2000) suggestionthat dif- ers upriverfrom the Akimel O'odhamdiverted Gila ferentsocial variablesin southernVeracruz, Mexico, River water, "wastingwater instead of returningit influencedabandonments after volcanic eruptions in to the Gila" (Ezell 1983:158), making it extremely the Preclassicperiod but not in the Classic period. difficult for the Akimel O'odham to irrigatetheir farmlands.According to Ezell (1983:158), the only Historical The Akimel O'odham Analogy: reasonfor not ejectingthe Akimel O'odhamand Pee Like Watersand Ravesloot,we believe thathistori- Posh altogetherwas due to Anglo fears of potential cal analogy with the Akimel O'odhamis appropri- largenumbers of indigenouswarriors. ate for viewing how river channel changes could Many Akimel O'odham and Pee Posh did have have impacted the Hohokam. On the other hand, to leave theirhomes and settle along the Salt River numerous authorshave documentedthe political- upstreamfrom the Anglo andMexican settlements. economic and political-ecological factors that The Pee Posh, who were concentratednear the con- adverselyaffected the Akimel O'odhamand neigh- fluence of the Salt and Gila rivers, did not regain boring aboriginalpopulations in south-centralAri- rightsto Salt Riverirrigation water until 1903 when zona. In this section, we summarizethe historical they demonstratedprior aboriginal Salt River irri- informationon theAkimel O'odham that suggest the gation of those lands (Hackenberg and Fontana natural floods and associated landscape changes 1974:54-55). Several otherAkimel O'odham and shouldnot be viewed apartfrom social factors.2 Pee Posh irrigationsystems were finallyestablished aroundthe turnof the century(e.g., Doyel andEnsor The Late Akimel O'odham Nineteenth-Century 1997:9-10; Ensor and Doyel 1998; Gregory and Accordingto Watersand Ravesloot (2001:293), "the Huckleberry1994). With the loss of much prime periodof channeldowncutting and wideningdocu- irrigableland, loss of river water to irrigatewhat mentedon themiddle Gila River in thelate nineteenth land remained to them, pressures to acculturate, centurydecimated the traditionalfarming lifeway of unfavorablemarket and labor relations, endemic the Akimel O'odham"(citing Rea 1997). However, warfare, and shifting of alliances, environmental the 1870-1910 "years of famine" (Ezell change was clearly not the major factor resulting 1983:158-159) among the Akimel O'odham in the late nineteenth-centuryhardships. Neverthe- occurredwithin the contextof increasedAnglo set- less, there was a period of unprecedentedchannel tlement within the region and competitionfor land widening and floods in addition to these political and river water.As early as the 1840s the Akimel economic problems. However, the landscape O'odhamwere alreadymarketing beef andwheat to changes themselves were also not independentof nonaboriginal groups in the area (Ezell 1983: social factors. 155-156). Following the Mexican-AmericanWar HumanInfluence on the Gila River Channel (1846-1848), andthe GadsdenPurchase, there were American takeovers of some Akimel O'odham Waters and Ravesloot acknowledge that human homelands (Barnes 1984; Weber 1982). The nine- impacts contributedto the late nineteenth-century teenth-centuryPee Posh (Maricopa) and Akimel channelchanges to the Gila River. Dobyns (1981) O'odham were targets of frequent Apache raids critiquesthe perspectivethat the historicalerosion (Ezell 1983),which may have begun in theeighteenth and arroyocutting along the rivers of the Sonoran century.Prompted by federal parcel sales to land Desertare merely "natural" phenomena. He outlines COMMENTS 173 the historicalland-use changes occurringalong the tion of irrigationsystems and "leveled"fields radi- rivers to conclude that the nineteenth-centuryero- cally alteredthe inundationpattern of the SantaCruz sion involved a combinationof factors. In the late Riverresulting in destructiveerosion and sedimen- nineteenth century, accelerated desertification tation.Although Huckleberry (1994) suggeststhat a occurredfrom the tremendousincrease in cattlegraz- 1983 flood producedby an eastern Pacifictropical ing amongAnglos, Mexicans,and aboriginalpopu- stormwas less damagingto the Gila Riverchannel lations. Similarly, Bahre (1991) emphasizes that thana 1993 flood producedby a series of cold fronts humanimpact from livestock grazing, wildfires, fuel- fromthe northernPacific, it also seems possiblethat wood cutting,exotic plantintroductions, groundwa- increasesin leveled field constructionin the period ter pumping,logging, and wild hay harvestinghave betweenthe two floods may have contributedto the caused environmentaldegradation since the 1870s. greaterimpacts of the 1993 flood. However,these Althoughthe DesertLand Act (1877) andthe Stock- moder analogiesmay not be representativeof pre- raising HomesteadAct (1916) enlargedthe size of historicfloods given the increased density of tamarisk propertyallotments, ranching tracts remained inad- (anexotic phreatophyte introduced to theSouthwest) equate to thwartdegradation from overgrazingand withinthe GilaRiver channel, which increasedchan- land compaction (Sheridan2001:143). Adding to nel sinuositysince the 1950s andimplies significant homesteaders' herds, southern Plains droughts erosion of channel banks and increases overbank (1883-1884) and severe blizzards in the Dakotas flooding(Graf 1988:252-253). (1886-1887) instigatedenormous livestock trans- Hohokam Political and fersto otherranges including Arizona. The estimated Ecology Disaster 38,000 head of cattle thatroamed the ArizonaTer- Vulnerability ritoryin 1870 surgedto about 1.5 million cattleand In the case of the Hohokam,we find the data pre- more than one million sheep by the early 1890s sented by Watersand Ravesloot interestingin that (Sheridan2001:143). To makematters worse, some some periods and places of culturaltransformation floodplain areas were completely stripped of were accompaniedby landscapechanges while oth- mesquite(a sourceof food and floodplainstability) ers were not. Drylandrivers certainly have natural to fuel steam flour mills (Hackenberg1983:171). geomorphologicalprocesses (e.g., Graf 1988), and Wheat became an importantcash crop. Plow culti- a political-ecologicalapproach may not explain all vation of large tractsof floodplainareas devastated human-environmentrelations in prehistory.How- naturalvegetation that ordinarily prevented erosion ever,we wish to entertainthree political-ecological (Graf 1988:251). Failed attemptsby nonaboriginal hypotheseshere that may help to explain the vary- groupsto irrigateled to "streamchannel erosion that ing correlationsbetween the landscapeand cultural loweredthe surfacewater and with it the subsurface changesdescribed by Watersand Ravesloot. watertable, drying up springsand markedly altering The firsthypothesis is thatthe population growth, valley bottomvegetation" (Dobyns 1981:57).In one which may have peaked duringthe Sacatonphase failed attemptby the SouthGila CanalCompany in (A.D. 950-1150) (Doyel 1980:33),and the expand- 1890 to developland with irrigationfeatures "a sin- ing irrigationnetworks (Nicholas and Neitzel 1984) gle flood producedby errorsin watershedmanage- madethe riverchannels more susceptibleto erosion ment above the Lower Gila River oasis createdan and downcuttingtriggered by flood events at A.D. eroded channel at least six feet deep and evidently 1020-1160. That is, the channel changes docu- one mile wide!"(Dobyns 1981:75-76).A prolonged mentedby Watersand Ravesloot were the resultsof droughtand sporadicfloods from 1885 to the early anthropogenicconditioning factors with peak flood 1900s, land degradationfrom deforestationto fuel yearsacting as a catalyst.Other archaeologists work- mines and mills, livestock overgrazingand over- ing in the Phoenix Basin have concludedthat land- population,and nontraditional agriculture combined scape changes occurredfrom Hohokamsettlement to producewhat Moseley (1999) labels "convergent disturbance,irrigation, horticulture, and sediment catastrophe."It is easy to see how theAkimel O'od- salinization caused by irrigation in addition to ham and Pee Posh were highly vulnerableto disas- selectedencouragement of vegetationand small ani- ter when the floods came. malhabitats (e.g., Andersonand Smith 1994; Bohrer Graf(1988:292) statesthat the modem construc- 1991;Kwiatkowski 1994:33-34; Smith et al. 1995; 174 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 68, No. 1,2003]

Szuter 1991). The ecological impacts from settle- 1983) andcremation rites (Thomasand King 1985) mentdisturbance and increased field areasmay have illustratingthe importanceof communalevents that increasedthe chance of erosion,triggered by floods involvedregional interaction. (althoughcrop and field-edge vegetation manage- Interactionbetween settlements and irrigation ment may have bufferederosion). communitiesdeclined during the Late Formative- Because flood-inducedchannel changes should Classic periodtransition. With few exceptions,ball- affectmost or all of a watershed,one possiblemeans courts ceased to be used at the end of the Sacaton of testing the influenceof anthropogenicprocesses phase. Alongside this gradualchange was the shift couldinvolve applying the sametests that Waters and away from circular,corporate village planningwith Ravesloot apply for the Middle Gila River down- open centralplazas (likely for hosting dances),cre- stream from Hohokam irrigationcommunities to mationrituals that would have been public events and areasupstream from majorirrigation communities. an end to other public ceremonies. Because ball- If upstreamportions of the Gila Riverdid not expe- court-relatedevents, feasts, andother collective cer- rience the degree of channelerosion and downcut- emonies were the contexts for intersettlement ting Waters and Ravesloot document for the exchange and maritalalliances, their abandonment downstreamareas, there may be partialsupport for has importantimplications for social relations. anthropogenicinfluences on channelchanges. If, on In contrastto the interactivenature of Hohokam the otherhand, there is evidencefor similardramatic society in the Late Formativeperiod, the transition channelchanges upstream from major Hohokam irri- into the Classic period witnessed the beginningof gationnetworks, then greaterweight can be given to patternssuggesting irrigationnetwork isolationism environmentalcausation. and interhouseholdcompetition. By the earlyClas- The second hypothesis is that decreasinginter- sic, domesticcompounds had their own ritualspaces action between settlementsresulted in competitive surroundedby compoundwalls (Doyel 1991b:253; political relations between settlements and/or Sires 1987). The shift to inhumationburials, located between irrigationcommunities, which influenced adjacentto or within compounds,demonstrates a vulnerabilityto channelchanges. The Late Forma- shift from the elaboratepublic planningof crema- tive period was a time of increasedintersettlement tionsto compound-focusedritual. Furthermore, there interactionand populationgrowth. Over 225 ball- was farmore investment in mortuaryassemblages at courts were built throughoutcentral and southern all compoundsthan in the Late Formativeperiod, Arizonaby the end of the LateFormative indicating illustrating competition between those domestic an increasein the hosting of intersettlementcollec- units. Thereare no indicationsof otherpublic cere- tive publicevents as the contextfor maritalalliances monies.Even the platformmounds were surrounded and exchange (Doyel 1991a:247; McGuire and by compounds(presumably elite residences),which Howard1987:130; Wilcox andSternberg 1983). Vil- were surroundedby largeenclosing walls (e.g.,Bost- lages had planned circular,corporate layouts with wick and Downum 1994:341-344; Crown open plazas (likely for hosting dances). Mortuary 1991:151-152; Gregory 1987) for restrictedaccess customs,especially those for individualsof high sta- and privacy.Along with these shifts awayfrom pub- tus, involved elaborate public cremation rituals, lic interaction,Rice (1998) suggeststhat settlements which also involved intersettlementinteraction and within irrigationcommunities were competitivebut planning (McGuire 1992:48). At some sites, large thatthey formed alliances when competing with other ceremonialstructures capable of housingmany peo- irrigationcommunities. Van Keuren et al. (1997) ple were constructed(e.g., Wilcox et al. 1981:182). show a decline in intersettlementexchange of pot- Some villages had areas with numerouspits inter- tery.Abbott (2000:170) also concludesthrough pot- preted to representpublic ceremonies (e.g., Bost- tery analysesthat there was less interactionbetween wick andDownum 1994:322; Haury 1976:155-156; irrigationcommunities along the Salt River at the Wilcox et al. 1981:145). Throughoutthe Late For- beginningof the Classic period.Many of the crafts mativeperiod, the hosting of intersettlementevents that were widely circulatedthrough intraregional necessitated surplus labor for feasts, dances, and exchange were no longer produced (Doyel nonutilitarianartifact production and exchange. Even 1991a:239)or were concentratedat platformmound figurinesrepresent ballgames (Wilcox and Stemberg sites (Bayman 1999:275). Local obsidian sources COMMENTS 175 could no longerbe reliedupon, andthere was a shift alternativesto irrigationcrops (Baymanet al. 1997) towardacquiring obsidian from long-distance sources duringa period of decreasedinteraction. Thus, due (Baymanand Shackley 1999). Possibleevidence for to political ecological circumstancesalong the Gila conflictalso correlateswith this transition(e.g., Rice Riverat the end of the Late Formative,different set- 2001;Wilcox and Haas 1994:231-232). Although the tlementswere differentiallyvulnerable to floods. juryis stillout as to whetheror notthe Hohokam were Among the Salt River populations,on the other involved in warfare, such conditions should be hand,many Late Formative settlements continued to expectedto increasethe vulnerabilityof populations flourishinto the Classic period. In fact, major vil- involved,with or withoutlandscape changes. There lages all along the Lower Salt River continuedto was also increasedelite control over craft special- increasein size (Wilcox 1979:114).There also was izationand exchange in theClassic periods (McGuire more consolidationof irrigationnetworks (Wilcox andHoward 1987:137). Although canal system man- 1979:114;see also Nicholas and Neitzel 1984:161) agement was likely by elites in the Late Formative demonstratingmore cooperation in agriculturethan period, the Classic period distributionof platform among the Gila River communities.Whether one mound sites along majorcanals implies increased accepts the possibility that channel erosion and elite controlover water distribution (Dean 1987:260; downcutting occurred from anthropogenic and Gregory1987:209). Many of the changesthat began increased flooding or that channel changes were in the Sacatonphase and characterize the Soho phase purely environmental phenomena, the different of the EarlyClassic periodcan be viewed as a shift social circumstancesbetween the populationsof the from a religiousbase to a secularbase (Doyel 1976, two riversmay suggestdifferent patterns in resiliency 1980:36, 1991a:239),from public corporate ritual to and vulnerability. ostentatiousprivatized ritual, and from interaction To supportor reject this hypothesis,more syn- between irrigationsystems to isolationism. thesisof new andexisting research on politicalecon- Along the low-dischargeMiddle Gila Riverthere omy (e.g., interaction among settlements and was less consolidationof previous canal networks irrigationcommunities) with political ecology (the than occurredalong the Lower Salt River (Crown effects of increasingpopulation, irrigation agricul- 1987:158;Wilcox 1979:114).Along theMiddle Gila, ture,and other resource utilization on floodplainsta- there was an increase in the numbersand sizes of bility) is needed. Similarly,more recent settlement upstreamsettlements while downstreamthere were dataalong the MiddleGila Rivercould contribute to abandonmentsof largesettlements (including Snake- our understandingof settlementgrowth and aban- town), abandonmentsof smaller settlements, and donmentwith which to test the model on differen- only smaller settlements were founded (Wilcox tial vulnerability.Alternatively, the natureof the two 1979:106).These patterns suggest a situationof com- rivers themselves may have conditioned different petition along the Gila River. Whetherthe social strategies. Crown (1987:158) points out that the changes occurred as a response to the channel southernportion of the MiddleGila River had a more changesor wereindependent of thechannel changes, narrowirrigable floodplain than that of the Lower the social competitionalong the Gila River in the Salt River. Could this factor have influenced less Soho phase was not conduciveto regionalcoopera- consolidationof irrigationcommunities, less inter- tion in environmental management. Instead, action and competition for access to river water? upstreamlarge-scale irrigation communities would Anotherfactor that may suggest naturaldifferences have divertedriver water, making it less availableto in channelchange involves differences in sediments. downriverirrigation communities. Not only would The deeper Salt River cuts into a Pleistocene for- downstream settlements have to place canal mationwith gravelsand dense calichewhile the low headgatesfurther into the river channel to capture discharge Gila River cuts into a fine particle water,the damagecaused by otherwisenormal floods Holocene floodplain (Phillips 1997:25-27). We would have been more severe than for the upriver would like to know if the Gila River channel was communities.Interestingly, there was an increasein more susceptibleto changes for this reason. dryfarming and water storage reservoirs in the Clas- The thirdhypothesis is thatcommoners were dis- sic period, which may have providedmarginalized proportionatelymore vulnerableto environmental groupswith agriculturaland otherfloral and faunal fluctuationsthan leaders, which may explainevents 176 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 68, No. 1, 2003] at the end of the Classic period.After the Classic more vulnerableto environmentalfluctuations than period, Hohokam settlementwas characterizedby did elitesduring the transitioninto the Classicperiod. small villages and dispersed rancherias (Doyel If so, we would expect no differences in health 1991a, 1991b).We findit particularlyinteresting that between commonersand elites in the Late Forma- Watersand Ravesloot found no evidence for river tive periodbut differencesin health between com- landscape changes along the Middle Gila River, monersand elites in the Classic Periods. Lower Salt River, and Tonto Creek that correlate In conclusion,we agree with Watersand Raves- with this dramaticperiod of change in Hohokam loot thatlandscape change may have been an impor- society.Nevertheless, some investigatorshave found tant factorin culturalreorganization. However, we paleoclimatological evidence for a prolonged differby emphasizingthe possible politicalecolog- drought followed by floods (e.g., Graybill 1989; ical factors involved in landscapechange and the Nials et al. 1989). This discrepancymay involvedif- possibilitythat differential social vulnerabilitymay ferent types of data.Alternatively, those particular explain the differentimpacts on the Salt and Gila floods may not have seriouslyaltered the riverland- River Hohokam that a purely environmentalper- scapes.Teague's (1993) discussionof O'odhamoral spective cannot address.We hope that Watersand historiesdescribes an uprisingagainst specific arro- Raveslootcan test these politicalecological andvul- gant chiefs at specific sites following a droughtand nerabilityhypotheses for the Hohokam in theirreply. a flood at the end of the Classic period. Archaeo- We also hope that archaeologistsworking in other logical datasupport some of the specific accountsin culturalregions consider the potential in political the oral histories (Teague 1993). If the social rela- ecology and disasterperspectives for paleohuman- tions left commoners in a disproportionatelyvul- environmentalstudies. Otherrelated and insightful nerable position compared to chiefs, due to avenuesfor archaeologiststo pursueinclude politi- differentialwater and resourceallocation between cal-ecologicalvulnerability comparisons by gender, settlements (e.g., Crown 1987:157; Dean et al. by class in state societies, by rankedgroups in non- 1994:57),a droughtand flood may have exacerbated statesocieties and by ethnicity(where recognizable) social tensions. On the other hand, the end of the in multiethniccommunities (Van Buren 2001:145). Classic periodcould be relatedsolely to social fac- The authors thank Michael and tors, which also deservesattention. Acknowledgments. Moseley the four anonymousreviewers for their comments and sugges- One possible means for testing differentialvul- tions. nerabilitybetween commoners and elites is to com- pareosteological and dental evidence for biocultural References Cited stress (e.g., Powell 1988). For example, both com- Abbott,D. R. moner and elite cremationsof the Late Formative 2000 Ceramics and CommunityOrganization among the Hohokam. of Arizona Tucson. have been identifiedat Snaketown.Dental University Press, period Ackerly,N. W. remainsmay be preservedfor analysis.Similarly, we 1989 Summaryand Implicationsof Las Acequias Findings assume that the Classic period inhumations for HohokamIrrigation. In PrehistoricAgricultural Activi- may ties on the Lehi-Mesa Terrace: on Hohokam to the mound at Pueblo Grande Perspectives adjacent platform IrrigationCycles, edited by N. W. Ackerly andT. K. Hen- (Brunson-Hadley1994) were of an elite groupand derson,pp. 333-347. NorthlandResearch, Flagstaff. thosemore excavatedand analyzed from the Alexander,D. recently of Natural 1977-1997: Some Gervenand Sheridan 1997 The Study Disasters, surroundingcompounds (Van Reflectionson a ChangingField of Knowledge.Disasters 1994a) were of commoners.In summarizingbio- 21:284-304. culturalstress analyses on burialgroups in the com- Anderson,R. S., and S. J. Smith 1994 Pollen In ThePueblo Grande Vol.5: areas of Pueblo Van Gerven and Analysis. Project, moner Grande, Environment,and Subsistence,edited by S. Kwiatkowski, Sheridan (1994b:127-128) state that the Classic pp. 205-247. Publicationsin ArchaeologyNo. 2. Soil Sys- Pueblo GrandeHohokam were "peopleliv- tems, Phoenix. period C. J. on the of survival."Would a Bahre, ing edge comparison 1991 A Legacyof Change:Historic Human Impact on Vege- with the platformmound inhumations indicate this tation in the Arizona Borderlands.The Universityof Ari- was not the case for the elites? Paleopathological zona Press,Tucson. M. R. of such elite and commoner Bames, comparisons groups 1984 HispanicPeriod Archaeology in the TucsonBasin: An could test the hypothesis that commonersbecame Overview.Kiva 49:213-224. COMMENTS 177

Bassett, T. J. 1991 The Hohokam:Current Views of Prehistoryand the 1988 ThePoliticalEcology ofPeasant-Herder Conflicts in the Regional System. In Chaco & Hohokam: Prehistoric NorthernIvory Coast.Annals of the Association ofAmeri- Regional Systemsin the AmericanSouthwest, edited by P. can Geographers78:453-472. L. Crown and W. J. Judge,pp. 135-157. School of Ameri- Bawden, G., and R. M. Reycraft(editors) can ResearchPress, SantaFe. 2000 EnvironmentalDisaster,and theArchaeologyof Human Crumley,C. L. (editor) Response. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology,Anthropo- 1994 Historical Ecology: CulturalKnowledge and Chang- logical PapersNo. 7, Albuquerque. ing Landscapes.School of AmericanResearch Press, Santa Bayman,J. M. Fe. 1999 Craft Economies in the North American Southwest. Dean, J. S. Journalof ArchaeologicalResearch 7:249-299. 1987 Thoughtson HohokamSettlement Behavior: Comments Bayman,J. M., M. R. Palacios-Fest,and L. W. Huckell on "The HohokamVillage." In The HohokamVillage: Site 1997 Botanical Signaturesof Water Storage Durationin a Structure and Organization,edited by D. E. Doyel, pp. HohokamReservoir. American Antiquity 62:103-111. 253-262. AmericanAssociation for the Advancementof Bayman,J. M., and M. S. Shackley Science, GlenwoodSprings, Colorado. 1999 Dynamics of Hohokam Obsidian Circulationin the Dean, J. S., W. H. Doelle, and J. D. Orcutt NorthAmerican Southwest. Antiquity 73:836-845. 1994 Adaptive Stress, Environment,and Demography.In Bender,B. A. Themesin SouthwestPrehistory, edited by G. J. Gumerman, 1992 TheorizingLandscapes and the PrehistoricLandscapes pp. 53-86. School for AmericanResearch Press, SantaFe. of Stonehenge.Man 27:735-755. DeVries, G. W. 1993 Landscape:Politics and Perspectives.Berg, Oxford. 2000 Post-HurricaneReconstruction in La Moskitia, Hon- Blaikie, P., T. Cannon,I. Davis, and B. Wisner duras.Unpublished M. A. thesis, Departmentof Anthropol- 1994 At Risk: NaturalHazards, People's Vulnerability,and ogy, Universityof Florida,Gainesville. Disasters. Routledge,London. Dobyns, H. F. Bohrer,V. L. 1981 From Fire to Flood: Historic Human Destruction of 1991 RecentlyRecognized Cultivated and Encouraged Plants Sonoran Desert Riverine Oases. Ballena Press, Socorro, Among the Hohokam.Kiva 56:227-235. New Mexico. Bolin, R., and L. Stanford Doyel, D. E. 1999 ConstructingVulnerability in the First World: The 1976 Classic PeriodHohokam in the Gila RiverBasin, Ari- NorthridgeEarthquake in SouthernCalifornia, 1994. In The zona. Kiva 42:27-38. AngryEarth: Disaster inAnthropological Perspective, edited 1980 Hohokam Social Organization,and the Sedentaryto by A. Oliver-Smithand S. M. Hoffman,pp. 89-112. Rout- Classic Transition.In CurrentIssues in HohokamPrehis- ledge, New York. tory: Proceedings of a Symposium,edited by D. E. Doyel Bostwick, T. W., and C. E. Downum andF. Plog, pp. 23-40. AnthropologicalResearch Papers No. 1994 Site Structureand Ceremony at Pueblo Grande. In 23. ArizonaState University, Tempe. Archaeology of the Pueblo Grande Platform Mound and 1981 Late HohokamPrehistory in SouthernArizona. Con- Surrounding Features, Vol. 2: Features in the Central tributionsto ArchaeologyNo. 2. Gila Press,Scottsdale, Ari- Precinctof the Pueblo GrandeCommunity, edited by T. W. zona. Bostwick and C. E. Downum,pp. 297-386. Anthropologi- 1991a Hohokam Exchange, and Interaction.In Chaco & cal PapersNo. 1. Pueblo GrandeMuseum, Phoenix. Hohokam:Prehistoric Regional Systemsin the American Bottema, S., G. Entjes-Nieborg,and W. VanZeist (editors) Southwest, edited by P. L. Crown and W. J. Judge, pp. 1990 Man'sRolein theShaping of theEastern Mediterranean 225-252. School of AmericanResearch Press, SantaFe. Landscape.A. A. Balkema,Rotterdam. 1991b HohokamCultural Evolution in the PhoenixBasin. In Brunson-Hadley,J. L. Exploringthe Hohokam:Prehistoric Desert Peoples of the 1994 Inhumation Burials. In Archaeology of the Pueblo American Southwest, edited by G. J. Gumerman, pp. GrandePlatform Mound and SurroundingFeatures, Vol. 2: 231-278. Universityof New Mexico Press,Albuquerque. Featuresin the CentralPrecinct of thePueblo GrandeCom- 1998 VacantCeremonial Centers Revisited. Kiva 64:225-244. munity,edited by T. W. Bostwick and C. E. Downum, pp. Doyel, D. E., and B. E. Ensor 185-215. AnthropologicalPapers No. 1. Pueblo Grande 1997 CultureHistory of the Middle Gila. In Archaeological Museum, Phoenix. Surveyin Districts 6 and 7, Gila RiverIndian Community, Bryant,R. L., and S. Bailey Vol. 1: Research Orientationand Results,edited by D. E. 1997 ThirdWorld Political Ecology. Routledge,London. Doyel and B. E. Ensor,pp. 5-14. ReportNo. 98. Archaeo- Cable, J. S., and D. E. Doyel logical ConsultingServices, Tempe,Arizona. 1987 PioneerPeriodVillage Structure and Settlement Pattern Ensor,B. E., and D. E. Doyel in the Phoenix Basin. In The HohokamVillage: Site Struc- 1997 Trends in Subsistence, Settlement,and Land Use. In ture and Organization,edited by D. E. Doyel, pp. 21-70. ArchaeologicalSurvey in Districts6 and 7, GilaRiver Indian American Association for the Advancement of Science, Community,Vol. 1: ResearchOrientation andResults, edited Glenwood Springs,Colorado. by D. E. Doyel andB. E. Ensor,pp. 75-104. ReportNo. 98. Cambell,C. E. ArchaeologicalConsulting Services, Tempe,Arizona. 1996 Forest,Field, andFactory: Changing Livelihood Strate- 1998 Historic Pee Posh Irrigation Communities.Paper pre- gies in Two ExtractiveReserves in the BrazilianAmazon. sentedat the SpringMeeting of the ArizonaArchaeological UnpublishedPh.D. dissertation,Department of Anthropol- Council, Phoenix.Manuscript on file at the U. S. Bureauof ogy, Universityof Florida,Gainesville. Reclamation,Phoenix Area Office. Crown,P. L. Ezell, P. H. 1987 Classic PeriodHohokam Settlement, and LandUse in 1983 History of the Pima. In Southwest,edited by A. Ortiz, the Casa GrandeRuins Area, Arizona. Journal of Field pp. 149-160. Handbookof NorthAmericanIndians, vol. 10. Archaeology14:147-162. W. C. Sturtevant,general editor. SmithsonianInstitution 178 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 68, No. 1, 2003]

Press,Washington, D.C. Soil Systems,Phoenix. Gasser,R. E., and S. M. Kwiatkowski Lees, S. H., and D. G. Bates 1991 Regional Signatures of Hohokam Plant Use. Kiva 1990 The Ecology of CumulativeChange. In TheEcosystem 56:207-226. ApproachinAnthropology: From Concept to Practice,edited Graf,W. L. by E. F. Moran,pp. 247-277. Universityof MichiganPress, 1988 Fluvial Processes in DrylandRivers. Springer-Verlag, Ann Arbor. New York. Leighly, J. Graybill,D. 1965 Landand Life: A Selectionfrom the Writingsof Carl 1989 The Reconstructionof PrehistoricSalt River Stream- OrtwinSauer Universityof CaliforniaPress, Berkeley. flow. In The 1982-1984 Excavationsat Las Colinas: Envi- Leone, M. P. ronmentand Subsistence,edited by D. A. Graybill,D. A. 1995 A Historical Archaeology of Capitalism. American Gregory,F. L. Nials, S. K. Fish, R. E. Gasser,C. H. Mik- Anthropologist97:251-268. sicek, and C. R. Szuter,pp. 25-38. ArizonaState Museum L6pez, M. ArchaeologicalSeries No. 162. Universityof Arizona,Tuc- 1999 La contribuci6nde la Anthropologiaal estudio de los son. desastres: el caso del Huracan Mitch en Honduras y Gregory,D. A. Nicaragua.YAXKIN 18:5-18. 1987 The Morphologyof PlatformMounds and the Struc- Masse, W. B. tureof Classic PeriodHohokam Sites. In TheHohokam Vil- 1991 The Questfor SubsistenceSufficiency and Civilization lage: SiteStructure and Organization,edited by D. E. Doyel, in the SonoranDesert. In Chaco & Hohokam:Prehistoric pp. 183-210. AmericanAssociation for theAdvancement of Regional Systemsin the AmericanSouthwest, edited by P. Science, Glenwood Springs,Colorado. L. Crownand W. J. Judge, pp. 195-223. School of Ameri- 1991 Form and Variationin HohokamSettlement Patterns. can ResearchPress, SantaFe. In Chaco & Hohokam:Prehistoric Regional Systems in the McGuire,R. AmericanSouthwest, edited by P.L. Crown,andW. J. Judge, 1992 Death, Society, and Ideology in a HohokamCommu- pp. 159-193. School of AmericanResearch Press, SantaFe. nity.Westview Press, Boulder. Gregory,D. A., and G. Huckleberry McGuire,R. H., andA. V. Howard 1994 AnArchaeologicalSurvey in the BlackwaterArea:The 1987 The Structureand Organizationof Hohokam Shell History of HumanSettlement in the BlackwaterArea. Cul- Exchange.Kiva 52:113-146. turalResources Report No. 86. ArchaeologicalConsulting Meister,C. W. Services, Tempe. 1975 HistoricalDemography of the Pimaand Maricopa Indi- Hackenberg,R. A. ans of Arizona(USA), 1846-1974. UnpublishedPh.D. dis- 1983 Pimaand Papago EcologicalAdaptations. In Southwest, sertation,University of Michigan,Ann Arbor. editedby A. Ortiz,pp. 161-177. Handbookof NorthAmer- Miller,J. ican Indians,vol. 10. W.C. Sturtevant,general editor. Smith- 1994 Pueblo GrandeFlotation, Macrobotanical, and Wood sonianInstitution Press, Washington, D.C. CharcoalAnalysis. In The Pueblo GrandeProject, Vol.5: Hackenberg,R. A., and B. L. Fontana Environmentand Subsistence,edited by S. Kwiatkowski,pp. 1974 AboriginalLand Use and Occupancyof thePima-Mari- 127-204. Publicationsin ArchaeologyNo. 20. Soil Systems, copa Indians.Garland, New York. Phoenix. Haury,E. W. Moore, D. S. 1976 TheHohokam: Desert Farmers& Craftsmen.The Uni- 1993 ContestingTerrain in Zimbabwe'sEastern Highlands: versity of ArizonaPress, Tucson. PoliticalEcology, Ethnography, and Peasant Resource Strug- Hewitt, K. (editor) gles. EconomicGeography 69:380-401. 1983 Interpretations of Calamityfrom the Viewpoint of Moseley, M. E. HumanEcology. Allen & Unwin, Boston. 1999 ConvergentCatastrophe: Past Patterns and Future Impli- 1997 Regions of Risk:A GeographicalIntroduction to Dis- cations of CollateralNatural Disasters in the Andes. In The asters. Longman,London. AngryEarth: Disaster in Anthropological Perspective, edited Hirsch,E., and M. O'Hanlon(editors) by A. Oliver-Smithand S. M. Hoffman,pp. 59-71. Rout- 1995 TheAnthropologyof Landscape:Perspectives on Place ledge, New York. and Space. ClarendonPress, Oxford. Nials, F. L., D. A. Gregory,and D. A. Graybill Huckleberry,G. 1989 Salt River Streamflowand Hohokam IrrigationSys- 1994 ContrastingChannel Response to Floods on the Mid- tems. In The1982-1984 Excavationsat Las Colinas:Envi- dle Gila River,Arizona. Geology 22:1083-1086. ronmentand Subsistence,edited by D. A. Graybill,D. A. 1999 StratigraphicIdentification of Destructive Floods in Gregory,F. L. Nials, S. K. Fish, R. E. Gasser,C. H. Mik- Relict Canals:A Case Study from the Middle Gila River, sicek, and C. R. Szuter,pp. 59-78. ArizonaState Museum Arizona.Kiva 65:7-33. ArchaeologicalSeries No. 162. Universityof Arizona,Tuc- Ingold,T. son. 1993 The Temporalityof the Landscape.WorldArchaeology Nicholas, L., and J. Neitzel 25:152-174. 1984 CanalIrrigation and SociopoliticalOrganization in the 1995 Building, Dwelling, Living:How Animals and People Lower Salt RiverValley: A DiachronicAnalysis. In Prehis- Make Themselves at Home in the World.In Shifting Con- toric AgriculturalStrategies in the Southwest,edited by S. texts:Transformations inAnthropological Knowledge, edited K. Fish and P. R. Fish, pp. 161-178. Anthropological by M. Strathem,pp. 58-80. Routledge,New York. ResearchPapers No. 33. ArizonaState University, Tempe. Kwiatkowski,S. Oliver-Smith,A. 1994 Prehistoric Biotic Communities, and Ecosystem 1998 GlobalChanges and the Definitionof Disaster.In What DynamicsNear PuebloGrande. In ThePueblo GrandePro- is a Disaster?Perspectives on the Question,edited by E. L. ject, Vol. 5: Environmentand Subsistence, edited by S. Quarentelli,pp. 177-194. Routledge,London. Kwiatkowski,pp. 5-34. Publicationsin Archaeology No. 20. 1999 Peru'sFive HundredYear Earthquake: Vulnerability in COMMENTS 179

HistoricalContext. In TheAngry Earth: Disaster inAnthro- 36-58. Routledge,New York. pological Perspective,edited by A. Oliver-Smithand S. M. Sheridan,T. E. Hoffman,pp. 75-88. Routledge,New York. 2001 Cows,Condos, and the ContestedCommons: The Polit- Olivo, M. ical Ecology of Ranching on the Arizona-SonoraBorder- 2002 Relocating Morolica: GenderedResilience and Vul- lands. HumanOrganization 60:141-152. nerabilityin Post-MitchHonduras. Unpublished Ph.D. dis- Shipley, G., andJ. Salmon (editors) sertation, Department of Anthropology, University of 1996 HumanLandscapes in ClassicalAntiquity. Routledge, Florida,Gainesville. London. Patterson,W. A., and K. E. Sassaman Sires, E. W., Jr. 1988 Indian Fires in the Prehistory of New England. In 1987 HohokamArchitectural Variability and Site Structure Holocene HumanEcology in NortheasternNorth America, duringthe Sedentary-ClassicTransition. In The Hohokam editedby G. P. Nicholas, pp. 107-135. PlenumPress, New Village: Site Structureand Organization,edited by D. E. York. Doyel, pp. 171-182. AmericanAssociation for the Advance- Phillips, B. G. ment of Science, Glenwood Springs,Colorado. 1997 GeomorphicInvestigations. In ArchaeologicalSurvey Smith, S. J., C. H. Miksicek, S. R. James,and J. Hutira in Districts 6 and 7, Gila RiverIndian Community,Vol. 1: 1995 BiologicalRemains. In ThePrehistoricArchaeology of ResearchOrientation and Results,edited by D. E. Doyel and Heritage Square,edited by T. K. Henderson,pp. 151-177. B. E. Ensor,pp. 23-29. ReportNo. 98. ArchaeologicalCon- AnthropologicalPapers No. 3. Pueblo Grande Museum, sulting Services, Tempe,Arizona. Phoenix. Powell, M. L. Spicer,E. H. 1988 Status and Health in Prehistory:A Case Studyof the 1962 Cyclesof Conquest:The Impact of Spain,Mexico, and MoundvilleChiefdom. Smithsonian Institution Press, Wash- the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, ington, D.C. 1533-1960. Universityof ArizonaPress, Tucson. Rea, A. M. Stine, L. F., M. Zierde,L. M. Prucker,and C. Judge (editors) 1997 At the Deserts GreenEdge:An Ethnobotany of the Gila 1997 Carolina'sHistoricalLandscapes:Archaeological Per- RiverPima. The Universityof ArizonaPress, Tucson. spectives.University of TennesseePress, Knoxville. Reycraft,R. M., and G. Bawden Stonich, S. 2000 Introduction:Environmental Disaster and the Archae- 1993 "IAmDestroying the Land!":The Political Ecology of ology of HumanResponse. In EnvironmentalDisaster and Povertyand Environmental Destruction in Honduras.West- theArchaeologyof HumanResponse, edited by G. Bawden view Press,Boulder. andR. M. Reycraft,pp. 1-10. MaxwellMuseum of Anthro- Susman,P., P. O'Keefe, and B. Wisner pology, AnthropologicalPapers No. 7, Albuquerque. 1983 GlobalDisasters: A RadicalInterpretation. In Interpre- Rice, G. E. tations of Calamityfrom the Viewpointof HumanEcology, 1998 Warand Water: An EcologicalPerspective on Hohokam editedby K. Hewitt,pp. 263-283. Allen & Unwin, London. Irrigation.Kiva 63:263-301. Szuter,C. R. 2001 Warfareand Massing in the Salt,and Gila Basins of Cen- 1991 HuntingbyHohokam Desert Farmers. Kiva 56:277-291. tral Arizona. In Deadly Landscapes:Case Studies in Pre- Teague,L. S. historic SouthwesternWarfare, edited by G. E. Rice and S. 1993 Prehistoryand the Traditions of the O'Odhamand Hopi. A. LeBlanc,pp. 289-329. TheUniversity of UtahPress, Salt Kiva 58:435454. Lake City. Thomas M., and J. King Santley,R. S., S. A. Nelson, B. K. Reinhardt,C. A. Pool, and P. 1985 HohokamFigurine Assemblages: A Suggested Ritual J. ArnoldIII. Context.In Proceedingsof the 1983 HohokamSymposium, 2000 WhenDay Turnedto Night:Volcanism and the Archae- editedby A. E. Dittert,Jr. and D. E. Dove, pp. 687-732. Ari- ological Recordfrom the TuxtlaMountains, Southern Ver- zona ArchaeologicalSociety OccasionalPaper 2. Phoenix. acruz, Mexico. In Environmental Disaster and the Tilley, C. Archaeologyof HumanResponse, edited by G. Bawdenand 1994 A Phenomenologyof Landscape.Berg, Oxford. R. M. Reycraft,pp. 143-162. Maxwell Museumof Anthro- Toledo,V. M. pology, AnthropologicalPapers No. 7, Albuquerque. 1989 Naturaleza,produccion, cultura: ensayos de ecologia Sauer,C. O. politica. Universidadde Veracruz,Xalapa. 1947 EarlyRelations of Manto Plants.Geographical Review Topping,P. (editor) 37:1-25. 1997 NeolithicLandscapes. Oxbow Books, Oxford. 1975 Man in Nature:America Before the Days of the White Torry,W. I. Man. TurtleIsland Foundation, Berkeley. 1986a EconomicDevelopment, Drought, and Famine: Some Schmink,M., and C. Wood Limitations of Dependency Explanations. Geojournal 1987 The "PoliticalEcology" of Amazonia.In Landsat Risk 12:5-18. in the ThirdWorld: Local-Level Perspectives, edited by P. 1986b Morality and Harm: Hindu PeasantAdjustments to D. Little, M. M. Horowitz,and A. E. Nyerges, pp. 38-57. Famines.Social Science Information25:125-160. WestviewPress, Boulder. Ucko, P. J., and R. Layton (editors) Sen, A. 1999 The Archaeology and Anthropologyof Landscape: 1981 Poverty,and Famines:An Essay on Entitlement,and ShapingYour Landscape. Routledge, London. Deprivation.Clarendon Press, Oxford. VanBuren, M. Sheets, P. D. 2001 TheArchaeology of El Niiio Eventsand Other "Natural" 1999 The Effects of Explosive Volcanoson Ancient Egali- Disasters. Journal of ArchaeologicalMethod and Theory tarian,Ranked, and StratifiedSocieties in MiddleAmerica. 8:129-149. In TheAngry Earth:Disaster in AnthropologicalPerspec- Van Gerven,D. P., and S. G. Sheridan(editors) tive, edited by A. Oliver-Smithand S. M. Hoffman, pp. 1994a ThePueblo GrandeProject, Vol. 6: TheBioethnogra- 180 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 68, No. 1, 2003]

phy of a Classic PeriodHohokam Population. Soil Systems Notes Publicationsin ArchaeologyNo. 20, Phoenix. 1994b A Biocultural Reconstruction of a Classic Period 1. Waters and Ravesloot explain the development of HohokamCommunity. In ThePueblo GrandeProject, Vol. Hohokam culture as related to optimal river conditions occur- 6: The Bioethnographyof a Classic Period HohokamPop- ring around A.D. 700-750. However, there is now increasing ulation,edited by D. P.Van Gerven and S. G. Sheridan,pp. evidence for a gradual transitionfrom the Late Archaic into 123-128. Soil SystemsPublications in Archaeology No. 20, what is traditionallydefined as the Hohokam (e.g., Cable and Phoenix. Doyel 1987). Furthermore,many of the culturalshifts Waters Van S. L. and D. R. Abbott Keuren,S., Stinson, and Ravesloot attributeonly to the Classic period actually 1997 Productionof HohokamPlain Ware Ceram- Specialized involved a continuationof prior social processes (e.g., Doyel ics in the Lower Salt RiverValley. Kiva 63:155-175. 1998). First, Watersand Ravesloot (2001:291) include hierar- Waddington,C. chical communities the in 1999 A LandscapeArchaeological Study of the Mesolithic- irrigation among resulting changes Neolithic in the MilfieldBasin, Northumberland.Archaeo- the Classic period.However, long before the Classic period,the press, Oxford. Hohokamalong the Salt and Gila riversalready formed hierar- Waters,M. R. chical and local irrigationcommunities (Crown 1987; Doyel 1992 Principles of Geoarchaeology.University of Arizona 1981; Gregory1991; Nicholas and Neitzel 1984). Second, many Press,Tucson. of the Classic periodcanal intake locationsfor majorsites were Waters,M. R., and J. C. Ravesloot not new "more stable" locations as Waters and Ravesloot 2001 and the CulturalEvolution of the LandscapeChange (2001:292) claim, but were the same stablelocations used in the HohokamAlong the MiddleGila River and Other River Val- previous periods. Third, although Waters and Ravesloot leys in South-Central Arizona. American Antiquity 66:285-299. (2001:291) claim therewas a diversificationin subsistenceat the Watts,M. beginning of the Classic period (no citations are provided for 1983 On the Povertyof Theory:Natural Hazards Research this claim), actualpublished research on the subjectindicates the in Context.In Interpretationsof CalamityFrom the View- Hohokam always had a diversified subsistence base (e.g., point of HumanEcology, edited by K. Hewitt,pp. 124-148. Anderson and Smith 1994:246; Bohrer 1991; Miller Allen & Unwin, London. 1994:202-203; Szuter1991) with no evidencefor an increasein D. J. Weber, diversification through time (Gasser and Kwiatkowski 1982 TheMexican Frontier, 1821-1846: TheAmericanSouth- 1991:220). Fourth,Waters and Raveslootclaim that the Classic west UnderMexico.University of New Mexico Press,Albu- period "witnessedcontinued decline, and eventual collapse of querque. the ballcourt ballcourtsin use at the Wilcox, D. R. regional system."However, 1979 The HohokamRegional System. In An Archaeological beginning of the Classic period are extremely rare indicating Testof Sites in the Gila Butte - SantanRegion, South-Cen- they were largely abandonedprior to the Classic period. Fifth, tral Arizona, by G. Rice, D. Wilcox, K. Rafferty,and J. most of the Classic period platformmound sites were already Schoenwetter,pp. 77-116. AnthropologicalResearch Papers the largestand most rapidlygrowing sites withintheir respective No. 18. ArizonaState University,Tempe. irrigationcommunities prior to the Classic period. Sixth, plat- D. and J. Haas Wilcox, R., form mounds were already being constructed prior to the The Screamof the and Conflict 1994 Butterfly:Competition Classic and in size a con- in the PrehistoricSouthwest. In Themesin SouthwestPre- period, accretionallygrew illustrating tinual transitionrather than a sudden change (Bostwick and history,edited by G. J. Gumerman,pp. 211-238. School of AmericanResearch Press, SantaFe. Downum 1994:335; Doyel 1998:236; Gregory 1987:186-188; Wilcox, D. R., T. R. McGuire,and C. Sternberg Wilcox et al. 1981:135-143). Although it is generally recog- 1981 SnaketownRevisited. Arizona State Museum Archaeo- nized by Hohokamarchaeologists that there was consolidation logical Series No. 155. Universityof Arizona,Tucson. of the irrigationnetworks during the transitioninto the Classic Wilcox, D. R., and C. Stemberg period (but not everywhere[Ensor and Doyel 1997:90;Wilcox 1983 HohokamBallcourts and TheirInterpretation. Arizona 1979:114]), the sociopoliticalorganization behind those modifi- StateMuseum SeriesNo. 160. of Archaeological University cations were preexisting(Ensor and Doyel 1997:90; Nicholas Tucson. Arizona, and Neitzel B. 1984:175). Wisner, 2. Because studies 1976 Man-MadeFamine in Eastern Kenya: The Interrela- political-ecologicalvulnerability emphasize a the tionship of Environmentand Development. Institute of human-ecological approach, necessary operational Development Studies Discussion Paper 96. University of definitionof "landscape"differs from that used by Watersand Sussex, Brighton. Ravesloot.They define landscapein the following manner: 1978 Does Radical GeographyLack an Approachto Envi- ronmentalRelations? Antipode 10:84-95. The term "landscape,"as used in this paper,refers to the Wolf, E. geomorphiclandscape-the platformon which all bio- 1972 and Political Ownership Ecology. Anthropological logical organisms(plants, humans, and other animals) 45:201-205. Quarterly interactedthrough time (Waters 1992). Physical land- Zarins,J. are and constantly changing (e.g., the 2000 EnvironmentalDisruption and Human Response:An scapes dynamic channel on a and later Archaeological-HistoricalExample from SouthArabia. In floodplainmay downcut,widen, EnvironmentalDisaster and the Archaeology of Human backfill), and humans are adapting to these changes Response, edited by G. Bawden and R. M. Reycraft,pp. [Watersand Ravesloot 2001:288]. 35-49. Maxwell Museumof Anthropology,Anthropologi- cal PapersNo. 7, Albuquerque. Here, we follow the CarlSauer's definition of landscape:"an COMMENTS 181 area made up of a distinct associationof forms, both physical roundingactive environmentor emphasize the ideological role and cultural... in which the process of shapingis by no means of landscapes. Archaeologists investigating Hohokam land- thought of as simply physical" (Leighly 1965:321). This per- scapes (e.g., Ackerly 1989; Bohrer 1991; Kwiatkaowski1994; spective on prehistorichuman-environmental landscapes dates Smithet al. 1995; Szuter 1991) frequentlyview the Hohokamas back at least to Sauer's work in the 1930s and 1940s (e.g., having altered,or intentionallymanipulating, their surrounding Leighly 1965:119-312; Sauer 1947, 1975). Landscape has physical environment.These perspectiveson "landscape"are receivedmuch attentionin archaeologicalliterature over the past more compatiblewith a political ecological-perspective,which decade (e.g., Bender 1992, 1993; Bottemaet al. 1990; Crumley we apply to the remainderof this commentary. 1994; Hirsch and O'Hanlon 1995; Ingold 1993, 1995; Leone 1995:255-261; Patterson and Sassaman 1988; Shipley and Salmon 1996; Stine et al. 1997; Tilley 1994; Topping 1997; ReceivedAugust 7, 2001; RevisedJanuary 4, 2002; Accepted Ucko andLayton 1999;Waddington 1999). Most of these works June 27, 2002. Editor's note: A reply to this, by Watersand view landscape as a result of human modificationof the sur- Ravesloot,will appear in 68(2).