Hidden HOHOKAM Indian Homes | The Ancestral Sonoran Desert People of Phoenix, Arizona

[@marshmallows5641]

The history of Phoenix, and building a city in the desert is so fascinating! From the ancient irrigation ditches that became the canals to modern air conditioning.

[@CactusAtlas]

As two people who moved here at different times, I think we both feel the same way too. Some times it amazes me that this entire city exists at all. 😅

[@SongOfSongsOneTwelve]

I really appreciate your respect for the ancient people and your humility in recognizing that you may not have been calling them by the most respectful names (of course, out of ignorance, as many people also do). We all have room to learn!

[@artistirmafeliciarodriguez7752]

Hello, We are still here, Hohokam moved around because of drought and war, changed there name to Oodham, then settlers came and called us Papago, then we changed our name again to Tohono Oodham. The spiral (like the baskets) represent our origins, "The Man in the Maze".

[@jpranger242]

I just came across your channel last week and it’s easily one of the best. Keep up the content!

[@CactusAtlas]

Thank you! Will do and welcome! 😄

[@SidetrackAdventures]

It sure would be something to be able to look back in time and see the Hohokam in their time. I can just imagine those canals. Great job as always.

[@CactusAtlas]

Thank you! I think just seeing Phoenix before all the urban spread, with canals and the developments would be fascinating. That map in the Pueblo Grande museum really makes me ponder things like that.

[@lzwnn]

Such fascinating history, and all right in your own city. You and Amy are making your mark, as these ancient ones did, not by making inscriptions on stones but by sharing this history with the rest of us. Thanks for all you do!

[@CactusAtlas]

Oh, wow! Thank you so much. 😊 We're just trying to bring sites in our backyard (so to speak) to others to enjoy as well. We're glad you are.

[@kreggossmer2029]

😎👋

[@SwiftyTravels]

That great house in Casa Grande! Wow! Thanks for showing us these gems that we never knew were in and around Phoenix!!

[@CactusAtlas]

So impressive, isn't it? It makes one really wonder if some of the other places we've been had structures that once looks like that.

[@SueTay.]

I have lived here in north Phoenix all of my life and I have never heard of this place. I guess it’s time for a visit. Thank you.

[@CactusAtlas]

Awesome! I hope you have the opportunity to check it out. Any of the three places are worth a visit in our opinion. 😊

[@SongOfSongsOneTwelve]

12:10 I used to live in Arizona. There is something so energizing and spiritual about the mountains and valleys in the southwest. We would often go tubing down the Salt River. I would hike up Squaw Peak or Camelback mountain and get to the top and feel so relaxed, yet refreshed. This video really brings back memories! ❤

[@SomeplaceOrAnother]

It is pretty amazing that so much still remains in a big city. 😎

[@CactusAtlas]

It really is! Sometimes when one thinks of urban sprawl, you think of things being bulldozed over. It's wonderful that these sites were preserved.

[@carolguezen5829]

Love this kinda stuff. Thanks for such an in-depth tour on these sites.

[@CactusAtlas]

Our pleasure! These sites are really the sort that we love visiting. It brings so much context to some of the smaller places we visit. 😊

[@1a1u0g9t4s2u]

Really enjoyed this episode. Thanks for sharing.

[@CactusAtlas]

So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching. 😄

[@bradfordbarrettluckotheIrish]

Another fascinating video Glenn.

[@CactusAtlas]

Thank you! We're glad you enjoyed the video we made. 👍

[@alexmineff5596]

Wonderful video. Have been to all these places but you inspired me again to go back soon. Part of my reason for studying history at ASU here was all the fascinating local history. Thank you your contemplation at this sites provokes that side of me.

[@CactusAtlas]

Wonderful! You can't go wrong with locations like these. A lot of people think colonial when thinking of history in America, but when one looks around, especially out here in the Southwest, there's so much that goes so far back. It's truly amazing. 😊

[@Witchcraft467]

Quite a drive from north to south :) Great vid!

[@CactusAtlas]

Yes it was! Phoenix isn't exactly a small city. 😂 Thank you so much!

[@SongOfSongsOneTwelve]

Thank you for this video! Loved it. New subscriber.

[@CactusAtlas]

Welcome! Thanks so much! 😄

[@andibowe6890]

I was on a mission to visit old ruins 45 years ago when my son was one...hiked canyon de chelley, Grand Canyon, even Little Grand canyon of the Yellowstone that year!

[@CactusAtlas]

Sounds like us! We've enjoyed going out and finding some of the hidden and lesser known sites as well. 😄

[@user-ku1np8bs8n]

What if the spirals are a way to help you retrace your steps later? Like leaving bread crumbs to help you retrace your steps later

[@CactusAtlas]

Interesting theory I haven't heard before! 👍

[@fluffyotter1601]

Have you been the Heard Museum in Phoenix yet? I was fortunate to visit there on layover in PHX a few years ago:). Please do a episode on Havasu Falls…. it’s on my bucket list:) enjoyed this episode!

[@CactusAtlas]

Not yet on the Heard museum. We would LOVE to do a video on Havasu Falls but it's challenging to do solo with all our filming gear as well as any backpacking gear. Would really really love to though one day.

[@millicentheavencooper4318]

Perhaps the two facing deer battle each other in mating season? Very interesing video!

[@CactusAtlas]

Possibly! That's a really good thought! 😊👍

[@vickiesheppard495]

What a delightful video! So enjoyed traveling and exploring w you! Always do. Now you’ve given me three more places near my home I can visit. Btw- I went to Bash Be Gawa ruins a few yrs back (near Globe) and it was even more impressive than Casa Grande. Thanks for ur video.

[@CactusAtlas]

Thank you! It's our pleasure! And that's really awesome about Besh Ba Gowah. The work they did there is really impressive. 😊

[@SwiftyTravels]

I never knew about this place! I love it! The hillside full of big lava rocks looks just like the landscape at our Petroglyph National Monument. That’s so fascinating! I like to think the spirals are a sign off a spiritual portal- but of course I’m just guessing

[@CactusAtlas]

It's really a tucked away place and doesn't get the attention others seem to. The spirals are fascinating. I've heard so many thoughts and theories about what the mean.

[@carlosmacmartin4205]

Two bucks facing each other likely meant rutting season beginning in September. Spirals could indicate the Celestial Sphere of the night sky. Zig zags could be lightning bolts or monsoon season.

[@gblount98]

Thanks for the videos you do.

[@CactusAtlas]

So nice of you! Thank you so much! 😊

[@SongOfSongsOneTwelve]

15:04 Drought and famine drove the ancient people out. The canyons were originally filled with high water. This is why dwellings were in the cliffs, originally. As the water receded, the people had to move lower and lower. Resources began to be scarce when water supplies dwindled.

[@gordondeans2549]

After seeing thousands of these scratchings across the Southwest and their repetitiveness, I conclude that they are the ancient versions of the grafitti that plagues the downtown areas of major cities of the US. Just the territorial markings of clans (gangs) accumulating over the centuries as the peoples move through the landscape augmented by mundane signs of the presence of water, local "meat" and rattlesnakes. Iroquois hunters in the Northeast used to blazed such markings on the sides of large trees as they passed through the forests.

[@CactusAtlas]

It's certainly one theory but given that mankind has been making markings longer than written language I can't help but think there is more meaning to it. 🤷‍♀️ That said, it's also not out of the question that someone somewhere in time came across them and tried to replicate it not knowing of any significance.

[@SongOfSongsOneTwelve]

22:50 Aqua pronounced OW wah 😊

[@haroldhoskison7239]

I have always heard that the 3 wavy lines were for rivers and streams.

[@CactusAtlas]

We've heard that one too. There's a few symbols we've heard referring to water. I wonder if different cultures might have used similar symbols differently throughout time? I often think to characters/letters we use in English and how similar they look to ones in entirely different languages. It's fascinating to ponder.

[@BroadwayRonMexico]

@@CactusAtlas Most writing systems derive from pictograms if you go back far enough, including the Latin letters that we use (which come ultimately from Egyptian hieroglyphics). They often come to mean different things as time goes on (and that context is what we dont have), but in basic forms, pictograms are meant to be pretty obvious what they depict. Water very often tends to be depicted as squiggly or wavy lines in pictogram writing (such as Egyptian and Early Chinese, for example), and those petroglyphs are found right next to a creek, so it seems the most likely interpretation to me. But that being said, even with that guess, I have no clue if it was meant to be a marker meaning "hey, river ahead" or if it was for some sort of religious purpose.

[@SongOfSongsOneTwelve]

5:03 It’s been said that ancient cultures like the the Minoans traveled to the Americas. They would use concentric circles to symbolize celestial bodies. 6:25 I think those symbols are flash flood area warnings. 7:12 I like your theory about clans. Indigenous people did hunt and they likely did mark hunting trails.

[@niracdoza6995]

the spirals mean lifes journey

[@phantomsteez9954]

It’s a spiral 🌀 it means life

[@josephbryant6758]

It's the symbol for portal,or open door.A place for comings and goings.

[@SueTay.]

That’s what I have always heard as well.

[@CactusAtlas]

That is the meaning I've heard most for the spiral. There doesn't always seem to be a consensus on meanings though so the idea that we'll never know resonated with us. Perhaps different people over time used them differently as well. We'll likely never know.

[@janilsonpinheiro1778]

🇧🇷👍Nice vídeo!

[@CactusAtlas]

Thanks! 😄

[@kreggossmer2029]

🤠🧡👋

[@jenniferjaurigue9660]

I think the, swirly symbols may be volcanos? Since this area was a hot bed for volcanos and fissures, how the hills and black rocks were formed maybe it is a story of that?

[@CactusAtlas]

Curious! I've heard many things but not volcanoes and given the landscape... very thought provoking! Thanks for sharing. 👍

[@SuzanneWho]

Wonder if those markings are equivalent to modern day graffiti?

[@CactusAtlas]

It's entirely possible that some were here and there, but I think many had more meaning.

[@acerone10]

Very nice video. I always thought that the Indians were here long before any white people. But 7000 years before, WOW. As for that mountain of rock. Maybe it was a wall of rock back then. And the pictures all ran together like a story.

[@CactusAtlas]

Thank you! I like that idea that they were a story to be read together. One never knows. What may be correct at one location doesn't necessarily mean it is the same at another so it could be possible! 😊

[@oodhamman]

You videos are awesome. But you need to study the history of my people. The Hoohookam are my ancestors. And my people learned nothing from the Pueblo. The Pueblo learned it from my ancestors. And my ancestors learned it from the empire's of the south. My language O'odham is an Aztec dialect and the Pueblos and all other north American native American languages north of the border are different dialects. Your still awesome bro your videos.

[@CactusAtlas]

Appreciative of the feedback. There's sadly a lot of misinformation on the internet and while we try not to be part of it, it is sometimes inevitable when doing research. 😔 Thanks once again.

[@frankedgar6694]

Go watch KZbin channels that specialize in the archeologu of your area. Folks who’ve studies these ruins you visit have many of the answers for which you search. It’ll make your videos more informative.

[@CactusAtlas]

We actually spend a great deal of time watching videos and reading research papers on topics we cover. There is a surprisingly great amount of conflicting information out there to be honest.

[@frankedgar6694]

@@CactusAtlasSee, great minds think alike. And it is indeed sometimes hard to figure out who is right or at least more right. I’m a fan of the “Archeology Cafe” page. Lots of good lectures there.

[@frankedgar6694]

Last night, my nine year old granddaughter showed me that I could watch KZbin on my TV instead of my phone so I’m back watching this again. Much better on the big screen. Keep up the good work.

[@christinabernier4860]

You can and should call them Hohokam. My ancestors are the Pima who descended from the Hohokam. Their name simply means “the wise ones” in the Hebrew language (ha hakham). It is what the Sephardic Jews and Karaites still call their wise teachers today. Since Native Americans were the first Hebrews to live in this land, calling them “Sonoran desert peoples” is just another way for the powers that be to continue to erase their true identity.

[@standingbear998]

ancestral? everyone from the past is an ancestor.

[@whig01]

The Hohokam may have practiced slavery and human sacrifice, but they may have been thrown off by other tribes.

[@lalalisa9307]

I think it’s ancient graffiti