Beginning in 300 BC, the Hohokam tribes in today’s United States’ state of Arizona were heavily invested in the shell trade with Chacoan and Mogollon tribes. To the extent that in the Papaguería area of today’s Tohono O’odham National Reservation, there is evidence of a large habitation site dedicated to the production and export of shells. The period of 550-1150 AD saw the zenith of Mesoamerican goods finding their way into Hohokam culture via the Sonoran Corridor and it was in this time of increased Mesoamerica contact that Hohokam shell work achieved its highest artistic level. As with trade, so too comes culture and Hohokam society seems to have absorbed a number of Mesoamerican traits: platform mounds and ball courts, to name a few. In fact, by 600 AD there were even ball courts located at the remote Hohokam sites of Winona and Stony Canyon (outposts along the western birder of Chacoan territory).
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| Ball Court Hoop, Anthropology Museum, Mexico City (Author's collection. copyright 2019) |
Due to their out-lying locations, it is surmised that these two sites were actually trading posts due to their proximity to Chacoan/Mogollon settlements. Commerce activity in this region was very dynamic during this entire period and shouldn’t be thought of as locked containers passing customs checks with end user certificates for verification or even clipboards with inventory lists received via Email. It was more like the old town five and dime store owner who was aware of all facets of inventory and supply/demand in his head because he was familiar with every nuance of change that his town and customers experienced.
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| Ball court marker, Teotihuacan (Author's collection. copyright 2019) |
Trade continued like this for a long time but in about 1,000 AD things began to change; that is when social complexity changed in the Sinaloa region of today’s Mexico: the southern end of the Chihuahua Corridor. The Chalchihuites were the northern most representatives of Mesoamerica culture and between 950 and 1150 AD their seat of power was the city of Zape in northern Durango.
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| Ball court hoops from Teotihuacan, Anthropology Museum, Mexico City (Author's collection. copyright 2019) |
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