A’AGA: Something to be Told or Talked About
September 11, 2026
Submitted By
Bill Allen
It's human to wonder about one's origins. Origin stories laid out footprints we walk with today. Where will our footprints lead?
Our Gila River Indian Community accepts Huhugam as the spelling for the Hohokam. In O’otham, huhug means ‘no more,’ so Huhugam are the ‘no more people.’
Huhugam culture existed for about 1,000 years, then the culture seemed to disappear around 1450 CE. (CE refers to the Common Era or year 0.)
Huhugam did not leave written records, chronicles, or record their language, what we have learned is from their man-made structures and artifacts. We know they marked their territory. What they left behind may tell us about what they valued.
Let us look at what is generally accepted about the Huhugam.
In the early stage of their development, Huhugam lived in groups of pit-housed or clusters, referred to as ‘courtyard groups.’ This arrangement was repeated and became known as the Snaketown style. Of course, no air conditioning or Wifi back then. The people—not just kids—lived most of the day outside. Those Snaketown ‘courtyard group’ villages raised Huhugam children. Now how are our children raised?
Along the Salt River, stone was used to make tools for digging irrigation canals and small, beautiful, delicate artifacts. At this time, Huhugam cremated their dead. Some Piipaash follow the cremation custom today.
Travel and trade lead to borrowing styles and materials. (And now we travel over the internet and ‘influencers’ have women wearing spider eyelashes and men putting big holes in their earlobes. Ha’u, I am a keli.) Our southern cousins deep in Mexico started making ballcourts about 600-900 CE, ballcourts began to appear here around 700 CE. A distinctive red-on-buff pottery became common and has been found far beyond the Salt and Gila Rivers. The trading of Huhugam red-on-buff pottery continued for another 200 years. Such trading must have had ideas going in both directions. O’otham of today are following a northern USA/southern Canadian style in wearing ribbon skirts/shirts which evolved in the 1800s. Google it.
Along the Salt River, more and longer canals had to be dug as additional lands were cleared for irrigation. Raised high dirt mounds appeared. Were the high mounds used to observe the lay of the land when digging canals? Or were they used to watch over the people, like ‘flock’ cameras of today? Or were they used as dance platforms, like a stage?
During the peak of Huhugam development, ballcourt construction declined. (I don’t know, maybe the players were just getting too soft.) The Huhugam style of grouping houses, canal irrigation, and staying in one place was continued along the Santa Cruz and San Pedro rivers. The settlements looked Huhugam, as the early Spanish explorers noted. The building of platform mounds continued.
Then at about 1190 CE, cremations fell out of favor. When individuals were buried, they were laid facing east. (What was the significance of facing east, for the Huhugam?)
During the late Classic Huhugam Period, 1300-1450 CE, pottery with black and red painted designs became the style. Morning trips to the river and seeing nature may have inspired potters to paint fish, toads, snakes, lizards, water birds. Red-on-buff pottery, carved stone, and shell work almost disappeared. Today, we can appreciate O’otham artisans who have revived stone carving and shell work.
Then the building of tall, large, multi-storied buildings, surrounded by adobe walls appeared, looking more like a pueblo. The tall buildings required long beams for the floors/roof and the closest timber of that kind was up in the Pinal mountains south of Globe. Changing to life in a ‘modern’ world, people moved towards these settlements. The Snaketown style of living around a plaza continued. New groups of houses were built but some houses were rebuilt on top of old houses. Archaeologists have suggested that by staying within a group, houses and property rights were passed within families. Disputes could be limited. Today we have wills, hopefully.
Platform mounds plastered on the sides and top were made bigger. Mounds became the focus of Huhugam settlements. Such construction involved planning, organization, and supervision.
Did someone or a group of someones take control? It seemed like a different people had moved on to our keli akimel, old river (Gila).
All of a sudden, the multi-storied buildings and settlements were abandoned. People moved away. Life changed again for our ancestors. Did the someone or someones battle each other? Mesquite was a mainstay—the best wood for carving articles of war, cooking fires. Was too much mesquite being used for enlarging one story-houses? Huhugam in the Phoenix area stopped making platform mounds and the thick wall adobe houses. Smaller villages appeared reflecting a return to a simpler life. Even with those changes, the land itself was not abandoned. The Creation Story tells of how O'otham reclaimed this land.
Much later when the Spanish explorers came through our area, canals irrigated crops, pit-houses stood, red-on-brown pottery was being made. They saw a less rigid village structure and reasoned O’otham did not build the big houses. Traveling along the rivers, they noted each village seemed to rule on their own but would help neighboring villages. This would give rise to the O’otham – Piipaash Confederacy.
Our seven districts are a bit similar to that confederacy. What changes might come with the upcoming GRIC election? What footprints will be laid down for future O’otham? What will our descendants' treasure that we leave behind?
Information was taken from The Hohokam Millennium edited by Suzanne Fish and Paul Fish. A key article; Houses, Households and Household Organization by Douglas B. Craig and T. Kathleen Henderson.