Hohokam Human Remains Found in Arizona

NOGALES, ARIZONA—Nogales International reports that human remains belonging to a Hohokam individual were discovered by maintenance crews at a golf resort near the Arizona-Mexico border. Bioarchaeologist James T. Watson of the University of Arizona and the Arizona State Museum determined that the human remains belonged to a member of the Hohokam, a Native American group that lived in the area from about A.D. 640 to 1450. The archaeological site now occupied by the golf course was a vast Hohokam settlement, Watson explained, though it's unclear whether the human remains came from a single burial or a larger cemetery. "It's at a nice bend at the Santa Cruz River, so you can see how it would have been a nice area for a Hohokam village," he said. The remains have been transported to Tucson so that they may be returned to the appropriate descendant community, likely the Tohono O'odham Nation that is now resident in the region. To read about another culture who occupied the ancient American Southwest, go to "On the Trail of the Mimbres."