VIM. PIMAN INDIANS OF THE SONORAN DESERT
493
hundreds of articles written about agriculture and its related fields as they
are presently practiced in the Sonoran Desert (see Paylore, 1966).
In aboriginal times the human fauna included people whose cultures
have been labeled Piman (including Pimas, Papagos, Sobaipuris, Sobas,
and Lower Pimas); Cahitan (Yaquis and Mayos); Yuman [Cocopas,
Quechans (Yumas), Cocomaricopas, and Halchidhomas]; Seris; and
taking southern California and Baja California into account, Kamia,
Dieguefio, and Cochimi.
The ethnographic and ethnohistorical literature concerning these people
is abundant (see Murdock, 1960, pp. 99-106 and 297-354), but few authors indicate a primary interest in the mutual adaptations evolved in the
desert among man, other animals, flora, and such resources as salt, soil,
and water. The works of Aschmann (1959), Castetter and Bell (1942,
1951), Castetter and Underhill (1935), Fontana (1964), Hackenberg
(1962, 1964a,b), Hoover (1929, 1935a,b, 1938), Mark (1960), and
Woodbury and Woodbury (1964), perhaps more than others, recognize the
importance of the total Sonoran Desert setting in their discussions of the
Indians who live here. But they are exceptions which prove the rule.
The prehistorians have fared better than ethnographers in paying due
respect to the total environment. Excavators in the Sonoran Desert, as well
as those other scientists involved in examining long-term change—the dendrochronologists, paleontologists, palynologists, and geologists—have
looked intensively and extensively at the evidences for alterations in vegetation, climate, and nonhuman fauna that they might better understand how
man's cultures situated here have evolved over a 12,000-year period (summaries and bibliographies can be found in Martin, 1963; el-Zur, 1965).
Finally, and with the emphasis on human physiology, there have been
studies in the Sonoran Desert on the ability of man to withstand its heat
and dryness (see, for example, Adolph, 1947; McGee, 1906).
II. The Sonoran Desert Setting
Based on its types of vegetation, the Sonoran Desert has been classified
into subdivisions. These are the Lower Colorado Valley, Arizona Upland,
Plains of Sonora, Foothills of Sonora, Central Gulf Coast, Vizcaino Region, and the Magdalena Region (Shreve and Wiggins, 1964, Map 1).
Characterized as ". . . far and away the most varied of North American
deserts," the Sonoran Desert is the lowest and the hottest of these. It is
comprised of innumerable microclimates and scores of habitats. "The end
result . . . is a multitude of little worlds, fragmented and varied, all exist-
493
hundreds of articles written about agriculture and its related fields as they
are presently practiced in the Sonoran Desert (see Paylore, 1966).
In aboriginal times the human fauna included people whose cultures
have been labeled Piman (including Pimas, Papagos, Sobaipuris, Sobas,
and Lower Pimas); Cahitan (Yaquis and Mayos); Yuman [Cocopas,
Quechans (Yumas), Cocomaricopas, and Halchidhomas]; Seris; and
taking southern California and Baja California into account, Kamia,
Dieguefio, and Cochimi.
The ethnographic and ethnohistorical literature concerning these people
is abundant (see Murdock, 1960, pp. 99-106 and 297-354), but few authors indicate a primary interest in the mutual adaptations evolved in the
desert among man, other animals, flora, and such resources as salt, soil,
and water. The works of Aschmann (1959), Castetter and Bell (1942,
1951), Castetter and Underhill (1935), Fontana (1964), Hackenberg
(1962, 1964a,b), Hoover (1929, 1935a,b, 1938), Mark (1960), and
Woodbury and Woodbury (1964), perhaps more than others, recognize the
importance of the total Sonoran Desert setting in their discussions of the
Indians who live here. But they are exceptions which prove the rule.
The prehistorians have fared better than ethnographers in paying due
respect to the total environment. Excavators in the Sonoran Desert, as well
as those other scientists involved in examining long-term change—the dendrochronologists, paleontologists, palynologists, and geologists—have
looked intensively and extensively at the evidences for alterations in vegetation, climate, and nonhuman fauna that they might better understand how
man's cultures situated here have evolved over a 12,000-year period (summaries and bibliographies can be found in Martin, 1963; el-Zur, 1965).
Finally, and with the emphasis on human physiology, there have been
studies in the Sonoran Desert on the ability of man to withstand its heat
and dryness (see, for example, Adolph, 1947; McGee, 1906).
II. The Sonoran Desert Setting
Based on its types of vegetation, the Sonoran Desert has been classified
into subdivisions. These are the Lower Colorado Valley, Arizona Upland,
Plains of Sonora, Foothills of Sonora, Central Gulf Coast, Vizcaino Region, and the Magdalena Region (Shreve and Wiggins, 1964, Map 1).
Characterized as ". . . far and away the most varied of North American
deserts," the Sonoran Desert is the lowest and the hottest of these. It is
comprised of innumerable microclimates and scores of habitats. "The end
result . . . is a multitude of little worlds, fragmented and varied, all exist-