This included areas along the Gila River, Colorado River and in the Lower Colorado River Valley, the nearby uplands, and north to the vicinity of the Grand Canyon. Patayan culture is sometimes known as the Hakataya culture. Their nearest cultural neighbors were the Hohokam in central and eastern Arizona. The historic Yuman-speaking peoples in this region were skilled warriors and active traders, maintaining exchange networks with the Pima in southern Arizona and with the Californian Pacific Coast tribes. Patayan remains one of the least-studied late prehispanic cultural traditions in the American Southwest.
One reason for this is the lack of research carried out in this rather remote frontier of western Arizona and southeastern California. The harsh environment limits the amount of ongoing archaeological fieldwork in the area and there are not many remains to find. Most Patayan people appear to have been highly mobile and did not build large structures or accumulate numerous possessions. In upland settings, Patayan communities were highly mobile and probably followed seasonal rounds much like historic Pai groups. Encampments were small and impermanent, and people did not accumulate much nonperishable material, on account of their mobile lifestyle.
The Patayan Culture may have originally emerged along the Colorado River, extending from the area around modern Kingman northeast to the Grand Canyon. These people appear to have practiced floodplain agriculture, a conclusion based on the discovery of manos and metates used to process corn in these areas. Stone points and other tools for hunting and hide preparation have been found, suggesting an economy based both on agriculture and hunting and gathering.
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