Buried beneath the metropolitan areas of Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa are a thousand miles of sophisticated irrigation canals engineered by the Hohokam, or Ancestral Sonoran Desert People. Water from the Salt River was harnessed by their enormous human effort, enabling the growth of farms and cities throughout this area.

The Sun City Lifelong Learning Club recently took a field trip to study this vital part of Phoenix history at the newly-renovated S’edav Va’aki Museum and Archaeological Site (formerly Pueblo Grande).

The first stop inside the museum is a wall-sized map of the intricate water arteries that branched out from the Salt River to farmed plots of varying sizes and to population centers. A model of the va’aki, or huge platform mound, holds center space in the room, just as they were the center of spiritual and administrative activities in each community. The people produced beautiful examples of pottery, jewelry, cotton textiles and tools, which are on display in several rooms.

The tour of the outdoor trail included a demonstration garden showing water channels feeding typical crops, several re-creations of dwellings centered around space for communal food preparation and the important social-hub ball court like those found in great Mayan and Aztec cities.

With only stone tools, utilizing gravity and controlling flow with weirs and headgates, the Hohokam brought the desert to life, cultivating food on more than 100,000 acres. Their crops included corn, beans and squash. Cotton provided quality woven cloth for trade all over the southwest.

This system of hydraulic and agricultural engineering required a corollary system of organized co-operation among the entire population. Everyone worked so that everyone ate. Ongoing construction was necessarily combined with constant maintenance to remove silt and salt build-up and to repair periodic monsoon flood damage.

Canals were up to 27 miles long, and some were 50 feet wide and 10 feet deep. It was the best and largest water system constructed in the ancestral pre-contact New World, and thrived for more than 1,000 years.

After occupying large urban settlements, around 1450 the Hohokam quietly disappeared for reasons unknown: prolonged drought, over-population which led to malnutrition, disease? It remains a mystery.

Much of the footprint of these ancient canals is still found in today’s Phoenix water canal system. S’edav Va’aki Archaeological Site and Museum proudly shares their historic origins with all visitors.