Dating the Hohokam Phase Sequence: An Analysis of Archaeomagnetic Dates

Abstract

In the past decade more than 700 archaeomagnetic samples have been collected from the Hohokam area of southern Arizona. Four hundred twenty of the dated archaeomagnetic samples could be assigned to specific phases and phase transitions and this large data set is useful in analyzing the absolute chronology of the Hohokam area. Mean dates and date ranges for each phase and transition provide the data for a new calibration of the Hohokam chronology and a discussion of the nature of Hohokam phases. The exercise serves to illustrate the utility of large sets of absolute dates in general, and of archaeomagnetism in particular, in contributing to chronological issues.