The Super Bowl And The Ancient Hohokams

January 31, 2008

The University of Phoenix stadium, the site of the Super Bowl XLII, has its roots in a network of sophisticated canal systems once built by the ancient Hohokams, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times:

"Centuries ago, native people known as the Hohokam built an agricultural civilization on a stretch of desert known today as Arizona's Valley of the Sun. Some archaeologists believe the brutally arid climate forced the people to scatter in search of milder environs, leaving behind miles of irrigation channels, stick-figure pictographs and no forwarding address. From the ashes of that civilization rose one of America's fastest-growing assemblies of planned urban developments, golf courses and cactus, and it will host Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3."

Here is an interesting website about this mysterious civilization believed to have lived in central and southern Arizona for about 1,500 years.

Courtesy: Michael Tang/University of Colorado at Denver