a ritual "game" also played in mesoamerica.oval depressions 60 m (195 feet) long, with sloping sides 4.5-6 m high (15-20 feet).they began to build ball courts, including one at Snaketown.possibly a special-purpose building: shrine? men's house? etc.larger patios also had one square structure (rest were oblong rectangles).maybe a shift from more communal to more nuclear family living arrangements.just divided into smaller, more private parts.so the total size of the economic unit may not have changed much.some still had only two houses, but others had up to six pithouses per patio.maybe 125 pithouses, holding 500 - 1000 people.Snaketown grew, reaching 1 square kilometer by its peak at 900 AD.by 600 AD, many more villages, rising regional population.arranged in pairs facing a common patio.near the confluence of the Gila and Salt rivers.by 300 AD, they were diverting river water into many canals to irrigate maize fields.saguaro, barrel, cholla, prickly pear cactus.
"basin and range" terrain, divided by parallel mountain ranges.Mogollon near the Mogollon rim, edge of the high plateau in central Arizona, and in eastern Arizona/western New Mexico.Anasazi in the high desert four corners area.Hohokam in southern Arizona, northern Mexico low desert.typical dwellings were pithouses with mud-plastered superstructures.maybe because of reliable crops near rivers.villages of just houses in open, undefended spots.in the lower, hotter, southern desert areas.maybe because of pressures during harsh winters.in the higher, cooler, northern areas of the Southwest.ceramics (not very portable, good for boiling plant foods).By 1 AD, people were settling down more and eating more farmed crops.people continued mostly foraging, with small supplemental farming.Maize was adopted from Mexico between 20 BC, but it had little impact.As megafauna disappeared, they shifted to more diversified foraging.First inhabitants arrived around 9,000 BC, hunting big game in the immediate Post-Pleistocene (as far as we know!).hot in lower elevations, high desert with cold winters and snow at higher elevations.
The setting: Southwest of US, northwest of Mexico.
The Southwest: Hohokam, Mogollon, and Anasazi