Las Colinas Tempe Hohokam Village
Las Colinas · Tempe Las Colinas
Pre-Classic to Classic Hohokam (700–1300 CE)·Hohokam Pre-Classic (Colonial) → Classic Sedentary·🇺🇸 Arizona, Maricopa County, Tempe Basin, Agua Fria–Salt Confluence, United States
About
About Las Colinas Tempe Hohokam Village
Las Colinas Tempe Hohokam Village is the canal-lattice village at the Agua Fria–Salt River confluence west of Tempe — a Sedentary Colonial-to-Sedentary (700–1300 CE) Hohokam canal village before Phoenix Basin Classic aggregation. Teague's CRM before industrial park exposes Sacaton red-on-buff pit-house village with a gridded canal lattice (three laterals), a Classic compound-walled adobe surface village and a cremation scatter — documenting the Tempe Basin canal lattice that watered the western Phoenix Basin before the 1300 CE contraction that prefigured the 1450 CE general collapse.
Why it mattersAgua Fria canal-lattice village — Tempe Basin Sedentary canal lattice west of Phoenix before Classic
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Canal lattice as engineered vs. natural distributary at Las Colinas?
- 021300 CE contraction before 1450 — local or basin-wide?
Theories
- 01Teague Tempe canal lattice model — western Phoenix water system
- 02Las Colinas Colonial to Sedentary continuity vs. break
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.700 CE Colonial pit houses; Classic 1100 CE
- Period
- Pre-Classic to Classic Hohokam (700–1300 CE)
- Culture
- Hohokam Pre-Classic (Colonial) → Classic Sedentary
- Builders
- Tempe Basin Hohokam canal villagers
- Purpose
- Las Colinas canal village in Tempe Basin — Pre-Classic Sedentary village at Agua Fria–Salt confluence, now under Tempe industrial
- Abandoned
- c.1300 CE Classic contraction
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1982–84 Teague (Arizona State Museum CRM) before Tempe development
- Excavation
- Excavated
1982
Teague CRM opens Las Colinas before industrial park, canal lattice found
1984
Sacaton pit houses and Classic compound village published
1994
Tempe Basin Las Colinas monograph with canal lattice GIS
On the ground
Structures & features
33.4400° N · 112.0800° W · 345 m · 3 mapped features
Sacaton Pit-House Village (Colonial)
settlementPit-house village with Sacaton red-on-buff beneath Classic 700–1000 CE
33.4408° N · 112.0794° WCanal Lattice (Three Laterals)
hydraulicGridded canal lattice with three Agua Fria–Salt laterals feeding village
33.4393° N · 112.0809° WClassic Compound Adobe Village
settlementCompound-walled caliche-adobe surface village above pit houses 1100–1300 CE
33.4411° N · 112.0793° W