The Bajada Canals of the Safford Basin: Small Corporate Group …9_13.pdf · scarlet macaws, and others (Mathio-wetz 2011). A major hindrance to understand-ing the bigger picture

Glyphs: The Monthly Newsletter of . . . . . . The Arizona Archaeological and Historical SocietyPage 8 Page 9

The Safford Basin is knownarchaeologically as an area cul-

tivated extensively in prehistorictimes. Both dry and irrigation farm-ing, principally by means of elabo-rate canal systems on the floodplainand lower terraces of the Gila River,are well documented. Not appreci-ated, due principally to their recentdiscovery, are the canal systems southof the river that took flows out ofwashes heading in the PinaleñoMountains to fields on the tops ofPleistocene terraces.

Presently, 26 canal systems andsegments of systems have been iden-tified, some beginning in the bajada,while others branch from drainagesoriginating in the bajada. Becausesome of these features appear down-stream from another, it is likely thatthey were once joined as a single sys-tem. The two longest systems (FryeMesa/Robinson canal and the AshCreek/Mud Springs canal) are about9.5 km (circa 6 miles) in length andcourse northeastward to relic fieldsatop the terrace just above and southof the Gila River floodplain. The to-tal length of all of these canals is esti-mated at about 75 km (circa 46 miles).

Systems were identified by a com-bination of pedestrian field survey

The Bajada Canals of the Safford Basin: Small CorporateGroup Collaboration in Southeastern Arizona

by James A. NeelyUniversity of Texas at Austin

Don LancasterP.O. Box 809

Thatcher, AZ 85552

and using the satellite function ofAcme Mapper 2.0. Additional fieldverification and hand-held GPSunits recorded canal channel coor-dinates that were transferred to AcmeMapper 2.0 to generate initial loca-tion maps.

These canals have been difficultto date since our study has beenbased solely on surface survey. Wehave depended on surface artifactfinds and associated prehistoric sitesto provide temporal parameters.While a few of these canals may dateas early as circa A.D. 800, the vastmajority appear to have originatedafter circa A.D. 1250, and persisteduntil circa 1450. As with many of theGila River bottomland canals of thearea, some of these prehistoric canalswere refurbished by the historic in-habitants of the greater Safford area,but retain enough integrity to be rec-ognized as having a prehistoric ori-gin. Unfortunately, both historic andmodern constructions and landmodifications have negatively af-fected these systems.

These canal systems differ fromthose found in the vicinity of Phoe-nix and elsewhere in the Southwestin that they obtained their water frommountain drainages fed by runoff,

springs, and artesian sources, ratherthan from rivers. They are also un-usual in that they traverse the verti-cally undulating to severely erraticuplands of basin and range topogra-phy rather than being restricted to anearly level riverine floodplain. Somecarry their water load from more than1,650 m (circa 5,400 ft) down to justabove the floodplain of the Gila Riverat about 900 m (circa 2,950 ft). Inplaces, the canals are of the tradi-tional type—narrow, linear excava-tions into the ground surface that fol-low the contours of the landscape. Inother locations within the same ca-nal system, they appear as “perch-ed” or “hanging” canals traversing

sheer sides of mesas—with someabout 60 m above the basin floor.

The canals often create the illu-sion of water flowing uphill in thatthe mesa top slope is usually some-what steeper than the rate of fall ofthe canal itself. In these latter cases,the perched or hanging segments areessentially independent of their sur-rounding terrain, thus reducing en-ergy input resulting from the need toexcavate additional canal segmentsto cut and fill to follow the irregu-larities of the topography.

After reaching a mesa top througha long, gentle, and an apparently

Locations of the bajada drainage sourced canals recorded to date in the Safford Basin.

(continued on page 10)


The Safford Basin is knownarchaeologically as an area cul-

tivated extensively in prehistorictimes. Both dry and irrigation farm-ing, principally by means of elabo-rate canal systems on the floodplainand lower terraces of the Gila River,are well documented. Not appreci-ated, due principally to their recentdiscovery, are the canal systems southof the river that took flows out ofwashes heading in the PinaleñoMountains to fields on the tops ofPleistocene terraces.

Presently, 26 canal systems andsegments of systems have been iden-tified, some beginning in the bajada,while others branch from drainagesoriginating in the bajada. Becausesome of these features appear down-stream from another, it is likely thatthey were once joined as a single sys-tem. The two longest systems (FryeMesa/Robinson canal and the AshCreek/Mud Springs canal) are about9.5 km (circa 6 miles) in length andcourse northeastward to relic fieldsatop the terrace just above and southof the Gila River floodplain. The to-tal length of all of these canals is esti-mated at about 75 km (circa 46 miles).

Systems were identified by a com-bination of pedestrian field survey




Thatcher, AZ 85552

and using the satellite function ofAcme Mapper 2.0. Additional fieldverification and hand-held GPSunits recorded canal channel coor-dinates that were transferred to AcmeMapper 2.0 to generate initial loca-tion maps.

These canals have been difficultto date since our study has beenbased solely on surface survey. Wehave depended on surface artifactfinds and associated prehistoric sitesto provide temporal parameters.While a few of these canals may dateas early as circa A.D. 800, the vastmajority appear to have originatedafter circa A.D. 1250, and persisteduntil circa 1450. As with many of theGila River bottomland canals of thearea, some of these prehistoric canalswere refurbished by the historic in-habitants of the greater Safford area,but retain enough integrity to be rec-ognized as having a prehistoric ori-gin. Unfortunately, both historic andmodern constructions and landmodifications have negatively af-fected these systems.

These canal systems differ fromthose found in the vicinity of Phoe-nix and elsewhere in the Southwestin that they obtained their water frommountain drainages fed by runoff,

springs, and artesian sources, ratherthan from rivers. They are also un-usual in that they traverse the verti-cally undulating to severely erraticuplands of basin and range topogra-phy rather than being restricted to anearly level riverine floodplain. Somecarry their water load from more than1,650 m (circa 5,400 ft) down to justabove the floodplain of the Gila Riverat about 900 m (circa 2,950 ft). Inplaces, the canals are of the tradi-tional type—narrow, linear excava-tions into the ground surface that fol-low the contours of the landscape. Inother locations within the same ca-nal system, they appear as “perch-ed” or “hanging” canals traversing

sheer sides of mesas—with someabout 60 m above the basin floor.

The canals often create the illu-sion of water flowing uphill in thatthe mesa top slope is usually some-what steeper than the rate of fall ofthe canal itself. In these latter cases,the perched or hanging segments areessentially independent of their sur-rounding terrain, thus reducing en-ergy input resulting from the need toexcavate additional canal segmentsto cut and fill to follow the irregu-larities of the topography.

After reaching a mesa top througha long, gentle, and an apparently

Locations of the bajada drainage sourced canals recorded to date in the Safford Basin.



carefully calculated optimal grade,and then continuing as far as pos-sible along the characteristically flatbut gently sloped ground surface, thecanals will typically “fall off” the farend of the mesa in steep but appar-ently highly controlled and nonde-structive cascades descending innearly vertical French Drain-like con-structs.

Canal cross-sections at theground surface vary from 0.30 m to1.00 m, with atypical examples up to2.00 m in width, and 20-40 cm indepth. Their use seems to be prima-rily long distance water delivery tofields, but canals also apparently

Suggested Readings:

Lancaster, Don 2013 Prehistoric Hanging Canals of the Safford Basin (Update III). Electronic docu-

ment, The Guru’s Lair, GuruGram #123. <http://www.tinaja.com/canal/newhang3.pdf> Generated 13 July 2013. Last accessed: 20 July 2013.

Neely, James A. 2013 Prehistoric Agricultural Strategies in the Safford Basin, Southeastern

Arizona. In Between Mimbres and Hohokam: Exploring the Archaeology andHistory of Southeastern Arizona and Southwestern New Mexico (Draft), editedby H. D. Wallace. Anthropological Papers No. 52. Archaeology Southwest,Tucson.

2005 Prehistoric Agricultural and Settlement Systems in Lefthand Canyon,Safford Valley, Southeastern Arizona. In Inscriptions: Papers in Honor ofRichard and Nathalie Woodbury, edited by R. N. Wiseman, T. O’Laughlin,and C. T. Snow, pp. 145-169. Papers of the Archaeological Society of NewMexico No. 31. Albuquerque.

Neely, James A., and Everett J. Murphy 2008 Prehistoric Gila River Canals of the Safford Basin, Southeastern Arizona:

An Initial Consideration. In Crossroads of the Southwest: Culture, Identity,and Migration in Arizona’s Safford Basin (Proceedings of the AAC Fall 2005Meeting), edited by D. E. Purcell, pp. 61-101. Cambridge Scholars Publish-ing, Newcastle, United Kingdom.

supplied water to small habitationsites and complexes. Assisted by his-toric rebuilds, several reaches of thecanals still flow to this day. Portionsof most of the systems remain largelypristine, and are currently filled withfine-grained sediments. These sys-tems are located mostly on ArizonaState and Coronado National Forestlands that remain largely undevel-oped. While often of difficult access,major canal portions are usually eas-ily traced. There are few access roadsand fewer mesa top trails.

To be continued in the October issueof Glyphs...

(continued from page 9) The Aztatlán Culture and the Puebloan World:Assessing the Role of Postclassic West Mexico in

Southwestern Cultural Changeby Michael Mathiowetz

California State University, Dominguez Hills (adjunct)[Final Report for 2012 AAHS Research Grant]

Archaeologists have long ana- lyzed social changes that oc-

curred among Pueblo cultures overthe past millenium, such as the riseof Chaco Canyon and the Pueblo IVcultural reorganization. The fact thatsuch changes correspond with thePostclassic period (A.D. 900–1521)has led to speculation that Me-soamerican societies and socialchange impacted Southwestern cul-tures. This era saw the influx of newreligious ideas from Mesoamericacentered upon sun and rain ceremo-nialism and imported ritual com-modities, including cacao, copper,scarlet macaws, and others (Mathio-wetz 2011).

A major hindrance to understand-ing the bigger picture is that South-western archaeologists rarely ven-ture beyond the modern U.S./Mexi-can border for data that could poten-tially alter the general perception thatSouthwestern social change was alargely endemic process with minorMesoamerican influence. To sharpenthe focus of the discussion aboutMesoamerican influence on theSouthwest, we must turn our collec-tive attention to the Aztatlán culture(A.D. 900–1450), a major West Mexi-can tradition with a heartland largelysituated in Nayarit, southern Si-

naloa, and northern Jalisco (Kelley2000).

A 2012 AAHS Research Grant en-abled the further documentation ofAztatlán ceramics and rock art. Theunfortunate death of the guardian ofone private collection just prior to myresearch trip necessitated a changein research plans. Fortunately, theabundance of research opportunitiesthat exist in the Aztatlán region al-lowed for a backup research agendawith my host Arqlgo. MauricioGarduño Ambriz, including docu-menting collections at Centro INAH-Nayarit, a rock art panel with Morn-ing Star imagery at Cantil LasAnimas, a ceramic collection nearTuxpan, Nayarit, and a research visitto the Museo Regional in Guadala-jara.

This trip furthered my ongoing re-search into the growth and ritual useof cacao by Aztatlán people. My pre-sentation in July at the Museo Re-gional de Nayarit, entitled “The WestMexican Origin of Cacao found inthe Ancient American Southwest,”argued that archaeological, ethno-historic, and ethnographic data in-dicate that cacao has been grown andritually used in Nayarit for 1,000






Thatcher, AZ 85552

A number of unusual constructions were incorporated into some of these canal systems; two examples are: an aqueduct, about 1.5 m in height and

100 m long, was constructed to bridge a “saddle” in the topography associ-ated with prehistoricsegment of the LebanonCanal. At a point wherethe primary Frye MesaCanal is situated nearthe top edge of themesa, a branching“counterflow” canalwas excavated downthe mesa slope at anacute angle, appar-ently to irrigate fieldslying below and be-hind the point ofbranching.

Several canal sys-tems illustrate elabo-rate methods of pur-poseful switching ofthe water routes be-tween major delivery drainages. In sum, these systems appear to represent amajor understanding and a very careful exploitation of both hydraulic funda-mentals as well as extreme energy and use efficiency.

Engineering can be defined as a sense of the fitness of things. Aptly meet-ing these criteria, the Safford Basin bajada canal systems are a sophisticatedinnovation that is superbly energy optimal and a brilliant engineering solu-tion for reliable water transport and delivery over the basin and range topog-raphy of the area. They are a phenomenal adaptation to an arid environment

Suggested Reading:

Hunt, R. C., D. Guillet, D. R. Abbott, J. Bayman, P. Fish, S. Fish, K. Kintigh, and J.A. Neely

2005 Plausible Ethnographic Analogies for the Social Organization of Ho-hokam Canal Irrigation. American Antiquity 70:433–456.

Continued from the September 2013 issue of Glyphs...

Looking down canal at the narrow, nearly completely filledchannel of the Robinson Canal as it courses along the steepside of a mesa on its way to fields on Robinson Flat. Note theillusion of the canal coursing upslope.

to irrigate agriculturalfields distant from a onceapparently abundantwater source.

The discovery ofthese canals and ourcontinuing survey in theSafford Basin suggeststhe basin was a prehis-toric population centerand a major supplier ofcultivated crops. Surveyin Lefthand Canyon(near the western bound-ary of our survey) andMarijilda Canyon (nearthe eastern boundary ofour survey) has recorded a ratherheavy population concentratedalong the canals, but the sites arenearly all small and scattered. Sur-vey along many of the other canalsrecorded only a few small sites. Thesefindings provide evidence in the formof agricultural intensification andsettlement that points to a sociopo-litical organization based on the col-laboration and collective action of

Canal (middle ground) going around a contour on the west-ern side of the long, narrow mesa landform near the mouthof Marijilda Canyon. At this point, the canal is approxi-mately 50 m above the basin to the west. Again, the canalcoursing upslope illusion is discernible.

GLYPHS: Information and articles to be included in Glyphs must be re-ceived by the 10th of each month for inclusion in the next month’s issue.Contact me, Emilee Mead, at [email protected] or 520.881.2244.

small corporate groups rather than amore complex social stratificationand sociopolitical structure. Thesefinding parallel those reported byHunt et al. (2005) on the Hohokamarea. As a Hohokam presence hasbeen noted for the Safford Basin, wemight suggest that Hohokam mi-grants may have, at least in part, en-gineered the sophisticated canal con-structions.





Thatcher, AZ 85552

A number of unusual constructions were incorporated into some of these canal systems; two examples are: an aqueduct, about 1.5 m in height and

100 m long, was constructed to bridge a “saddle” in the topography associ-ated with prehistoricsegment of the LebanonCanal. At a point wherethe primary Frye MesaCanal is situated nearthe top edge of themesa, a branching“counterflow” canalwas excavated downthe mesa slope at anacute angle, appar-ently to irrigate fieldslying below and be-hind the point ofbranching.

Several canal sys-tems illustrate elabo-rate methods of pur-poseful switching ofthe water routes be-tween major delivery drainages. In sum, these systems appear to represent amajor understanding and a very careful exploitation of both hydraulic funda-mentals as well as extreme energy and use efficiency.

Engineering can be defined as a sense of the fitness of things. Aptly meet-ing these criteria, the Safford Basin bajada canal systems are a sophisticatedinnovation that is superbly energy optimal and a brilliant engineering solu-tion for reliable water transport and delivery over the basin and range topog-raphy of the area. They are a phenomenal adaptation to an arid environment

Suggested Reading:

Hunt, R. C., D. Guillet, D. R. Abbott, J. Bayman, P. Fish, S. Fish, K. Kintigh, and J.A. Neely

2005 Plausible Ethnographic Analogies for the Social Organization of Ho-hokam Canal Irrigation. American Antiquity 70:433–456.

Continued from the September 2013 issue of Glyphs...

Looking down canal at the narrow, nearly completely filledchannel of the Robinson Canal as it courses along the steepside of a mesa on its way to fields on Robinson Flat. Note theillusion of the canal coursing upslope.

to irrigate agriculturalfields distant from a onceapparently abundantwater source.

The discovery ofthese canals and ourcontinuing survey in theSafford Basin suggeststhe basin was a prehis-toric population centerand a major supplier ofcultivated crops. Surveyin Lefthand Canyon(near the western bound-ary of our survey) andMarijilda Canyon (nearthe eastern boundary ofour survey) has recorded a ratherheavy population concentratedalong the canals, but the sites arenearly all small and scattered. Sur-vey along many of the other canalsrecorded only a few small sites. Thesefindings provide evidence in the formof agricultural intensification andsettlement that points to a sociopo-litical organization based on the col-laboration and collective action of

Canal (middle ground) going around a contour on the west-ern side of the long, narrow mesa landform near the mouthof Marijilda Canyon. At this point, the canal is approxi-mately 50 m above the basin to the west. Again, the canalcoursing upslope illusion is discernible.

GLYPHS: Information and articles to be included in Glyphs must be re-ceived by the 10th of each month for inclusion in the next month’s issue.Contact me, Emilee Mead, at [email protected] or 520.881.2244.

small corporate groups rather than amore complex social stratificationand sociopolitical structure. Thesefinding parallel those reported byHunt et al. (2005) on the Hohokamarea. As a Hohokam presence hasbeen noted for the Safford Basin, wemight suggest that Hohokam mi-grants may have, at least in part, en-gineered the sophisticated canal con-structions.

Documents

The Bajada Canals of the Safford Basin: Small Corporate Group …9_13.pdf · scarlet macaws, and others (Mathio-wetz 2011). A major hindrance to understand-ing the bigger picture