Las Capas — Early Hohokam Village (Tucson Basin)
Las Capas · Las Capas Ruin · Los Pozos–Las Capas Early Agricultural Period
Early Agricultural Period–Early Ceramic (1200 BCE–500 CE; peak 1000–500 BCE)·Early Agricultural / Cienega phase (pre-Hohokam)·🇺🇸 Arizona, Pima County, Tucson Basin, Santa Cruz River floodplain, United States
About
About Las Capas — Early Hohokam Village (Tucson Basin)
Las Capas is a massive Early Cienega-phase Early Agricultural Period village (1200–800 BCE, also 800 BCE–50 CE) on the Santa Cruz floodplain excavated by Jonathan Mabry (Desert Archaeology, 1998–2005). Largest known Early Formative settlement in Southwest (100 ha) with 400+ pithouses, 500 pit storage, 1000 m adobe-lined canal system predating Hohokam by 1500 years, and earliest maize-beans irrigation sequence.
Why it mattersRevolutionizes Southwest prehistory proving canal irrigation and village life 1500 years before classic Hohokam and large sedentary communities.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why such large aggregation before pottery ceramics?
Theories
- 01Mabry: Santa Cruz desert floodplain oasis surplus supports earlier sedentism than previously supposed
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.1200 BCE (Early Cienega phase)
- Period
- Early Agricultural Period–Early Ceramic (1200 BCE–500 CE; peak 1000–500 BCE)
- Culture
- Early Agricultural / Cienega phase (pre-Hohokam)
- Builders
- Early Agricultural maize irrigators
- Purpose
- Floodplain farming metropolis pioneering canal irrigation
- Abandoned
- c.500 CE (transition to Hohokam)
- Rediscovered
- 1998 Desert Archaeology I-10 salvage (Mabry)
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1998–2005
Mabry–Pilles 4 km canal transect
c.1000 BCE
400-pithouse aggregation and primary canal deepening
On the ground
Structures & features
32.2800° N · 111.0500° W · 610 m · 4 mapped features
Las Capas Canal System 1000 BCE
hydraulicAdobe-lined 2 m wide canal with headgate and laterals 1000 m
32.2807° N · 111.0494° WLas Capas Pithouse Block 400
habitation400 pithouses with central hearth cluster
32.2793° N · 111.0492° WLas Capas Pit Storage Field 500
structure500 bell-shaped roasting pits with maize cups
32.2810° N · 111.0506° WLas Capas Early Maize Cache
structureCarbonized primitive maize cob cache in canal silt
32.2805° N · 111.0490° W