VIM. PIMAN INDIANS OF THE SONORAN DESERT
519
supply on 0.1-1 ha family-sized farm plots. Hunting, gathering, and trading
provided the rest of their subsistence.
The planting of native crops, corn (maize), beans, and cucurbits, was
done by the men just after the onset of summer rains. There was but
a single planting period and a single crop each year.
As soon as it rained hard enough to put water in valley charcos and
to flood the ground plain at the mouths of arroyos, Papago men and older
children went to the fields. Seeds were dropped in holes made with digging
sticks and dirt was then scraped over the hole with the feet. During the
rainy season Papagos attempted to control the distribution of water in the
valley fields by judicious placing of low embankments, brush dikes, and
short and shallow ditches. The idea was to keep crops well watered until
they began to set fruit.
The harvest usually got underway in October and November. This was
women's work. Crops were variously eaten or stored, and the families remained in the valleys either until the water had dried in the charcos or
until the food supply became exhausted.
As for hunting and gathering, the inventory is the same as that for western Papagos, except that more plants and animals were at hand—more
individual specimens and more species. These included a few nondesert
foods, such as acorns from the oak forests. Relatively full descriptions of
the variety of plants and animals taken by Papagos and the many uses
to which they were put are found in Castetter and Underhill (1935). Interestingly enough, the central Papagos, like all Upper Pimans, seem to have
eschewed high mountain summits and slopes except for ceremonial purposes. Their world was that of the Lower Sonoran and Upper Sonoran
life zones in the lower altitudes. They were truly a desert people.
2. Tools, Shelter, and Village Organization
The list of material possessions of the central Papagos was not unlike
that of the Piman-speaking natives to the west. The differences were generally in quantity rather than in kind. Clothing, ornaments, hair style, body
painting, and tattooing of all Papagos were essentially the same. Central
Papagos had more tools, especially those associated with farming and food
preparation and storage. They made a wide variety of earthenware vessels
for specific purposes even as they made many styles of baskets.
The most noteworthy addition of material culture was the brush house,
a dome-shaped structure made with mesquite supports and covered with
branches or grass, especially with sacaton (Sporobolus spp.). These
houses, moreover, were arranged in village clusters. Although the houses
were often widely separated from one another, they nonetheless formed
villages called "rancherias" by the Spaniards. Village members were con-
519
supply on 0.1-1 ha family-sized farm plots. Hunting, gathering, and trading
provided the rest of their subsistence.
The planting of native crops, corn (maize), beans, and cucurbits, was
done by the men just after the onset of summer rains. There was but
a single planting period and a single crop each year.
As soon as it rained hard enough to put water in valley charcos and
to flood the ground plain at the mouths of arroyos, Papago men and older
children went to the fields. Seeds were dropped in holes made with digging
sticks and dirt was then scraped over the hole with the feet. During the
rainy season Papagos attempted to control the distribution of water in the
valley fields by judicious placing of low embankments, brush dikes, and
short and shallow ditches. The idea was to keep crops well watered until
they began to set fruit.
The harvest usually got underway in October and November. This was
women's work. Crops were variously eaten or stored, and the families remained in the valleys either until the water had dried in the charcos or
until the food supply became exhausted.
As for hunting and gathering, the inventory is the same as that for western Papagos, except that more plants and animals were at hand—more
individual specimens and more species. These included a few nondesert
foods, such as acorns from the oak forests. Relatively full descriptions of
the variety of plants and animals taken by Papagos and the many uses
to which they were put are found in Castetter and Underhill (1935). Interestingly enough, the central Papagos, like all Upper Pimans, seem to have
eschewed high mountain summits and slopes except for ceremonial purposes. Their world was that of the Lower Sonoran and Upper Sonoran
life zones in the lower altitudes. They were truly a desert people.
2. Tools, Shelter, and Village Organization
The list of material possessions of the central Papagos was not unlike
that of the Piman-speaking natives to the west. The differences were generally in quantity rather than in kind. Clothing, ornaments, hair style, body
painting, and tattooing of all Papagos were essentially the same. Central
Papagos had more tools, especially those associated with farming and food
preparation and storage. They made a wide variety of earthenware vessels
for specific purposes even as they made many styles of baskets.
The most noteworthy addition of material culture was the brush house,
a dome-shaped structure made with mesquite supports and covered with
branches or grass, especially with sacaton (Sporobolus spp.). These
houses, moreover, were arranged in village clusters. Although the houses
were often widely separated from one another, they nonetheless formed
villages called "rancherias" by the Spaniards. Village members were con-