Hohokam Culture

The Hohokam red on buff pottery traditions was firmly set in Pioneer times The earliest vahki pottery, a monochrome red or brown ware, closely resembled the early Mogollon. But  Hohokam red on gray and the characteristic red on buff painted styles appeared during later Pioneer phases.

Hohokam architecture was semi perishable wattle and daub or massive adobe without stone; and ceramics were peddle and anvil smoothed, red fired and painted a red on buff.

From pioneer to colonial periods, the Hohokam red on buff design tended to become smaller, finer and to combine small stylized live elements with geometric ones. The trend continued into the sedentary period, which also was characterized by tightly integrated design lay outs of interlocking scrolls and keys.

Many Hohokam vessel forms appeared from the pioneer through the sedentary period, especially during the sedentary peeriod,  when legged and effigy form vessels and trays, joined bowl and jar forms.

The Hohokam Sedentary period also marked the first appearance of the typical Gila olla, or jar form, a roughly globular vessel with a constricted orifice and a very low shoulder angle.

Potery figurines date to the earliest Pioneer Period. All were handmade and most were human representations, probably females. Other  Hohokam manufactured  in the pioneer period included nicely carved stone paint palettes, stone beads, ornaments, ear plugs, nose buttons, stone vessels with lizard and other animal figures in relief and a great variety of shell ornaments.
The Hohokam projectile type during the pioneer period was the large, heavy, stemmed dart point.

And during  Colonial period, Hohokam projectile point were long, very slender, stemmed and barbed points, suitable for arrow tips. In the sedentary period and later, the dominant type was the small, finely chipped triangular point with the lateral side notches. Hohokam  axes were characteristically three quarter grooved.