Oasisamerica is a cultural region of Indigenous peoples in North America. Their precontact cultures were predominantly agrarian, in contrast with neighboring tribes to the south in Aridoamerica. The region spans parts of Northwestern Mexico and Southwestern United States and can include most of Arizona and New Mexico; southern parts of Utah and Colorado; and northern parts of Sonora and Chihuahua. During some historical periods, it might have included parts of California and Texas as well.Alfredo López Austin and Leonardo López Luján, Mexico's Indigenous Past, p. 30.
The term was first proposed by German-Mexican anthropologist Paul Kirchhoff, who also coined MesoamericaPaul Kirchhoff, “Gatherers and Farmers in the Greater Southwest", p. 532. and Aridoamerica,Paul Kirchhoff, “Gatherers and farmers in the Greater Southwest: A problem in classification”, in American Anthropologist, 56 (1954) (Special Southwest Issue), pp. 529-550. and is used by some scholars, primarily Mexican anthropologists, for the broad cultural area defining pre-Columbian southwestern North America.Danna A. Levin Rojo, Return to Aztlan: Indians, Spaniards, and the Invention of Nuevo México (University of Oklahoma Press, 2014), , pp. 50ff. Excerpts available at Google Books. It extends from modern-day Utah down to southern Chihuahua, and from the coast on the Gulf of California eastward to the Río Bravo river valley. Its name comes from its position in relationship with the similar regions of Mesoamerica and mostly nomadic Aridoamerica.Alfredo López Austin and Leonardo López Luján, Mexico's Indigenous Past, pp. 29–30.
List of peoples
Ak Chin, Arizona Southern Athabaskan Chiricahua Apache, New Mexico and Oklahoma Jicarilla Apache, New Mexico Lipan Apache, Texas Mescalero Apache, New Mexico Navajo (Navaho, Diné), Arizona and New Mexico San Carlos Apache, Arizona Tonto Apache, Arizona Western Apache (Coyotero Apache), Arizona White Mountain Apache, Arizona Aranama (Hanáma, Hanáme, Chaimamé, Chariname, Xaraname, Taraname) Coahuiltecan, Texas, northern Mexico Cocopa, Arizona, northern Mexico Comecrudo, Texas, northern Mexico Cotoname (Carrizo de Camargo) Halchidhoma, Arizona and California Hualapai, Arizona Havasupai, Arizona Hohokam, formerly Arizona Karankawa, Texas Kavelchadhom La Junta, Texas, Chihuahua Mamulique, Texas, northern Mexico Manso, Texas, Chihuahua Maricopa, Arizona Mojave, Arizona, California, and Nevada Pima, Arizona Pima Bajo Pueblo peoples, Arizona, New Mexico, Western Texas Ancestral Pueblo, formerly Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah Hopi-Tewa (Arizona Tewa, Hano), Arizona, joined the Hopi during the Pueblo Revolt Hopi, Arizona Keres people, New Mexico Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico Kewa Pueblo (formerly Santo Domingo Pueblo), New Mexico Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico Zia Pueblo, New Mexico Tewa people, New Mexico Nambé Pueblo, New Mexico Ohkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan Pueblo), New Mexico Pojoaque Pueblo, New Mexico San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico Tesuque Pueblo, New Mexico Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico Tiwa people, New Mexico Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico Sandia Pueblo, New Mexico Taos Pueblo, New Mexico Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (Tigua Pueblo), Texas Piro Pueblo, New Mexico Towa people Jemez Pueblo (Walatowa), New Mexico Pecos (Ciquique) Pueblo, New Mexico Zuni people (Ashiwi), New Mexico Quechan (Yuma), Arizona and California Quems Solano, Coahuila, Texas Tamique Toboso Tohono O'odham, Arizona and Mexico Qahatika, Arizona Tompiro Ubate Walapai, Arizona Yaqui (Yoeme), Arizona, Sonora Yavapai, Arizona Tolkapaya (Western Yavapai), Arizona Yavapé (Northwestern Yavapai), Arizona Kwevkapaya (Southeastern Yavapai), Arizona Wipukpa (Northeastern Yavapai), Arizona
Geography The term Oasisamerica combines "oasis" and "America". It refers to the land dominated by the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Madre Occidental. To the east and west of these mountain ranges stretch the arid plains of the Sonora, Chihuahua, and Arizona Deserts. At its height, Oasisamerica covered part of the present-day Mexican states of Chihuahua, Sonora and Baja California, as well as the U.S. states of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, and California.The essence of anthropology, by William A. Haviland, Harald E. L. Prins, Dana Walrath, Bunny McBride
Despite being a dry land, Oasisamerica contains several bodies of water like rivers: Yaqui, Rio Grande, Colorado, Conchos and Gila Rivers. The presence of these rivers (and even some lakes that have since been swallowed by the desert), combined with a climate that was much milder than eastern Aridoamerica, allowed the development of agricultural techniques that were imported from Mesoamerica.
Characteristics of the Oasisamerican cultures
Cultural development The story of the origins of the cultural superarea of Mesoamerica takes place some 2,000 years after the cultural separation of Mesoamerica and Aridoamerica. Some of the Aridoamerican communities farmed as a complement to their hunter-gatherer economy. Those communities, including members of the Desert tradition, later would become more truly agricultural and form Oasisamerica.Mexico's Indigenous Past, By Alfredo López Austin, Leonardo López Luján, Bernard R. Ortiz De Montellano
Maize has been grown in this region since 3500 BC and possibly 4000 BC, based on maize remnants (alongside squash) found in Bat Cave, New Mexico. The oldest evidence of maize agriculture in Mesoamerica predates this, suggesting that maize agriculture entered Oasisamerica from the south. It is likely that all precontact agricultural crops, except the tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius) were imported from Mesoamerica.
There are many indications of a close relationship between the two great cultural regions of North America. For one, the turquoise used by Mesoamericans came almost exclusively from southern New Mexico and Arizona.Alfredo López Austin and Leonardo López Luján, Mexico's Indigenous Past, p. 258. Demand for this mineral may have played a large part in establishing trade relationships between the two cultural areas. At the same time, in Paquimé, a site connected to the Mogollon culture, there are ceremonial structures related to Mesoamerican religion and an important number of skeletons of Macaws that were carefully transported from the forests of southeastern Mexico.
Cultural areas
The area encompassed by Oasisamerica fostered the growth of several major cultural groups: the Ancestral Pueblo people, Hohokam, Mogollon, Pataya, and Fremont.Alfredo López Austin and Leonardo López Luján, Mexico's Indigenous Past, p. 29.Archaeology of prehistoric native America: an encyclopedia, By Guy E. Gibbon, Kenneth M. Ames Smaller cultures within this region include the Sinagua.
Ancestral Pueblo peoples
Ancestral Pueblo cultures flourished in the region currently known as the Four Corners.World Regional Geography, By Joseph J. Hobbs, Andrew Dolan The territory was covered by juniper forests which the ancient peoples learned to exploit for their own needs, since foraging among the other vegetation only sufficed for half of the year, only to fail from November to April. The Ancestral Pueblo society is one of the most complex to be found in Oasisamerica, and they are assumed to be the ancestors of the modern Pueblo people (including the Zuñi and Hopi). (The term "Anasazi" is also used to describe these cultures. It is a Navajo term meaning "enemy ancestors."
The Ancestral Pueblo is considered to be the most intensely studied precontact culture in the United States.Case studies in environmental archaeology, by Elizabeth Jean Reitz, C. Margaret Scarry, Sylvia J. Scudder Archaeological investigation has established a sequence of cultural development that began before the first century BC and extended to AD 1540 when the Pueblo Indians were subjugated by the Spanish Crown. This long period encompasses the Basketmaker I, II, and III phases followed by the Pueblo I, II, III, and IV phases. In the Basketmaker II phase, the Ancestral Pueblo took up residence in caves and rocky shelters, and in Basketmaker III Era (AD 500–750) they constructed the first subterranean cities with up to four abodes in a circular arrangement.
The Pueblo period begins with the development of ceramics. The most prominent feature of these ceramics is the predominance of pieces of a white or red color with black designs. During the Pueblo I phase (AD 750–900), the Ancestral Pueblo developed their first irrigation systems, and their former subterranean habitations were slowly replaced by houses constructed of masonry. Pueblo II (900–1150) is defined by the construction of great works of architecture, including multi-family, multi-story dwellings. The following phase of Pueblo III (1150–1350) witnessed the greatest expansion of Ancestral Pueblo agriculture as well as the construction of large regional communication networks that would persist until the Pueblo IV Era. In Pueblo IV (1350–1600), much of the earlier society disintegrated along with the communication networks. The current Pueblo V Era began with Spanish contact and the people settling at or near their current locations in the Rio Grande Valley.
The reasons underpinning the decline of the Ancestral Pueblo remain somewhat of a mystery. The phenomenon is thought to be associated with a prolonged drought that befell the region from 1276 to 1299. When the Europeans arrived at the Ancestral Pueblo region, it was populated by the Pueblo Indians, a group without a unified ethnicity. The Zuni had no apparent relatives; the Hopi spoke an Uto-Aztecan language; the Tewas and Tiwas were Tanoanos; the Zia, Acoma, Cochiti, and Kewa were Keresan; and the Navajo, who entered the southwest relatively recently, were Athabaskans.
The religion of the Pueblo Indians was based upon the worship of plant-like deities and the fertility of the earth. They believed that supernatural beings called the kachina had come to the surface of the Earth from the sipapu (center of the Earth) at the moment of the creation of the human race. Worship in Pueblo societies was organized by secret all-male groups that met in kivas. The members of these secret societies claimed to represent the kachina.
Hohokam
The Hohokam occupied the desert-like lands of Arizona and Sonora. The Hohokam territory is bounded by two large rivers, the Salt River (Arizona) and Gila Rivers, that outline the heart of the Sonora Desert. The surrounding ecosystem presented many challenges to agriculture and human life because of its high temperatures and scant rainfall. Due to these factors, the Hohokam were forced to construct irrigation systems with elaborate webs of reservoirs and canals for the Salt and Gila rivers that could reach several meters in depth and 10 km in length. Thanks to these canals, the Hohokam harvested as many as two crops of corn annually.
The principal settlements of the Hohokam culture were Snaketown, Casa Grande, Red Mountain, and Pueblo de los Muertos, all of which are to be found in modern-day Arizona. The Hohokam lived in small communities of several hundred people. Their lifestyle was very similar to that of the Ancestral Pueblo in their Basketmaker III phase: semisubterranean but with spacious interiors. Several other artifacts are unique to the Hohokam, including conch necklaces (imported from the coastal regions of Greater California and Sonora) etched with acids produced by pitaya fermentation; and axes, trowels, and other stone instruments.