A Pre-Spanish Rubber Ball from Arizona

1937 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 282-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emil W. Haury

In the winter of 1934–35, a ball-court, analogous in many details with those of Central America, was discovered at Snaketown on the Gila River Indian Reservation in south-central Arizona, during excavations conducted by Gila Pueblo. The announcement of a ball-court 1500 miles from its supposed origin, and in a region where it was entirely unexpected, met with skepticism until the discovery was verified by men qualified to judge from first hand knowledge acquired in the Middle American field. A new angle to the problem of relationships of Southwestern, Mexican, and Central American cultures was thus brought to the fore. Now, to add to this discovery, comes another find in the form of a rubber ball. It, too, was found in south-central Arizona and may, indeed, have been used in the game for which the courts were built.

1964 ◽  
Vol 30 (2Part1) ◽  
pp. 145-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred E. Johnson

AbstractIn 1963 archaeological investigations were conducted by the Arizona State Museum in a series of Hohokam sites on the Gila River Indian Reservation of south-central Arizona. Significant data were derived from two of the eight sites tested. One site, Arizona U:13:9, included two small villages. The earlier village was first occupied during the Snaketown phase, which is estimated to date between A.D. 300 and 500. Occupation continued through the Sacaton phase or until about A.D. 1100. The later village was occupied during two phases of the Classic period, or from A.D. 1100 to about 1450. At this ruin both inhumations and cremations, apparently contemporaneous, were found in a distinct burial zone. The patterning noted in the placement of these two types of burials is a new feature for the Hohokam Classic period. The other site, Arizona U:13:11, a small Soho phase village that was occupied between A.D. 1100 and 1300, is important for the support it adds to the establishment of a pattern of burial placement during the Classic period.


1943 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emil W. Haury

The Papago Indian Reservation, touching the Mexican border in south-central Arizona, has been the scene of anthropological work by the Department of Anthropology of the University of Arizona and the Arizona State Museum during the past four years. One branch of this general study has been archaeological, consisting of reconnaissance and of excavation in what were considered to be key sites. Beyond Gila Pueblo's limited survey in Papagueria, next to nothing was known about it. The environment is harsh and arid, and scanty surface water limits agricultural possibilities. Yet more than 5000 Papago Indians somehow manage, as they have for centuries, to make a comfortable if simple living in the area. Certainly the life there today is nothing new and it is a fair conclusion that, although inhospitable, the area should furnish a fairly rich archaeological picture. As our work proceeded it became evident that there were ruins in abundance. With few exceptions, these were small and the occupation thinly spread. Occasionally, a large site with sizable trash mounds gave promise of stratigraphy.


Author(s):  
Walter D. Mignolo

This book is an extended argument about the “coloniality” of power. In a shrinking world where sharp dichotomies, such as East/West and developing/developed, blur and shift, this book points to the inadequacy of current practices in the social sciences and area studies. It explores the crucial notion of “colonial difference” in the study of the modern colonial world and traces the emergence of an epistemic shift, which the book calls “border thinking.” Further, the book expands the horizons of those debates already under way in postcolonial studies of Asia and Africa by dwelling on the genealogy of thoughts of South/Central America, the Caribbean, and Latino/as in the United States. The book's concept of “border gnosis,” or sensing and knowing by dwelling in imperial/colonial borderlands, counters the tendency of occidentalist perspectives to manage, and thus limit, understanding. A new preface discusses this book as a dialogue with Hegel's Philosophy of History.


Author(s):  
Wolfgang Gabbert

While the end of colonial rule brought formal equality it did not end discrimination and marginalization of the indigenous population in independent Central America. Many suffered land loss and proletarianization in the emerging agricultural export economy. However, indigenous people were not mere victims of exploitation, displacement, and ladinization but played an often active role in Central American politics. Participation in the market economy and access to education fostered stratification within the indigenous population. The emergence of well-off and educated Indians and changes in international politics promoting multiculturalism contributed to the emergence of indigenous movements in recent decades. While some progress has been made concerning the recognition of cultural difference and autonomy, land rights are still a much disputed issue.


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