THRIVE Lecture Series
O’odham ties to the land—Mo’ has mas ma wud ha apendagĭ heg t-jewed heg t-hemajkam—Leland Thomas
Leland Thomas as he presents a lecture titled, Mo’ has mas ma wud ha apendagĭ heg t-jewed heg t-hemajkam—O’odham ties to the land at the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa, Arizona. Leland Thomas, Tohono O’odham/Akimel O’odham, is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation. He comes from the village of Checho Weco (Chuichu) in the Sif Oidak District but currently resides in Hanamkam (Casa Grande). He is an Assistant Curator/Exhibits Project Manager at the Huhugam Heritage Center on the Gila River Indian Community. Leland has worked in exhibition design and development, collections management, cultural education and museum interpreter. For many years he has been continuously working in the field of cultural preservation within museum programs and is culturally involved within his O’odham communities. Sections of the lecture have been removed from this edition at the request of Mr. Thomas.
Flows of Time: Ancestral O’Odham (Hohokam) Irrigation along the Lower Salt RiverSub Heading
Dr. Chris Caseldine spoke during the THRIVE Speaker Series at AZMNH. Chris Caseldine is an Assistant Research Professor and Curator of Collections in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. Irrigation has been the foundation of life in the Phoenix Basin for thousands of years. The Ancestral O’Odham, commonly known as the Hohokam, developed one of the most expansive and sophisticated irrigation systems in the ancient world. Contrary to popular beliefs, the Hohokam did not disappear, but live on through O’Odham communities today. In this talk, I will discuss the history of irrigation along the lower Salt River through the present day. I will highlight ways that an extremely large flood and highly interconnected irrigation canals contributed to the Hohokam Classic period. Further, I will discuss how combining understandings of Ancestral O’Odham irrigation, historic traditional irrigators, and institutions provides insights into the management of irrigation systems in other ancient agrarian societies.
Piipaash (Maricopa): The Other Indigenous People of the Salt River Valley
Most residents of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area are familiar with the term ‘Maricopa’, but relatively few are aware it is a name referring to one of the indigenous tribal groups of the land upon which they reside. Even fewer are familiar with the distinct culture and history of the Maricopa who refer to themselves as Piipaash in their own language. There is very little information written about the Piipaash/Maricopa, and what little does exist is usually not from a first-person perspective. In this presentation, I will share a brief history of the Piipaash along with aspects of our origins, language and culture, past and present. Kelly Washington, Xalychidom Piipaash, is from the Lehi District of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC). For the past twenty years, Kelly has served as the director of the SRPMIC Cultural Resources Department that is comprised of the Huhugam Ki: Museum, O’odham-Piipaash Language Program, Tribal Historic Preservation Office and Community Garden. During the ten years prior, he worked for the SRPMIC Education Department where he documented, studied and taught the Piipaash language.
Prehistoric exchange networks and the significance and use of Scarlet Macaws in the Southwest.
Although not native to the region, vibrantly colored scarlet macaws (Ara macao) have been encountered at hundreds of archaeological sites within the U.S. Southwest and Mexican Northwest. This talk explores how—through their acquisition, circulation, and deposition over a period of more than 1,000 years—these birds developed significant relationships with pre-Hispanic Indigenous communities in the U.S. Southwest and Mexican Northwest that have led to their incorporation into artistic traditions, ceremonies and dances, clan systems, and oral traditions, including communities at pre-Hispanic Phoenix Basin sites such as S’edav Va’aki. Additionally, this talk will explore the reasons for procuring these multifaceted and challenging birds, their significance in processes of placemaking and widespread social transformations, and their continued significance to descendant communities in this region. Chris Schwartz is the City of Phoenix Archaeologist, works at S’edav Va’aki Museum, and holds a Visiting Faculty appointment at Arizona State University. Most of his work is focused on the U.S. Southwest and Mexican Northwest, where his research interests include long-term human-animal interactions and the transformative social impacts of long-distance exchange in the past. He is also the lead editor of Birds of the Sun, a University of Arizona Press volume that explores the significance of non-local scarlet macaws (Ara macao) to past and present Indigenous communities in the U.S. Southwest and Mexican Northwest.