hohokam pithouse

Parallel to the Grand Canal and northwest of Tempe is S'edav Va'aki Museum, where visitors can see a platform mound, a ballcourt, and centuries-old irrigation canals that are ancestral to the Salt River and Gila River O'Odham people.

The earliest homes in the area, called pithouses, date to AD 950. Their wood framework was covered with adobe mud. The Hohokam arranged these one-room homes around shared courtyards.

The exterior of the dwelling is designed to insulate, while the interior supports and provides surfaces to organize items of use and necessity. The frame is made from mesquite or cottonwood trees. Branches or saguaro ribs are lashed to the supports.

The dense woodwork is functional and aesthetically memorable in pattern and texture.