ballcourts at the time of excavation. Each was about long, apart, and high. In 2009 it was suggested that the shape of an oval bowl with curved sides, and the uneven embankments on the long sides, are unsuited for any kind of ball game. However, they correspond with dance floors of the Tohono O'odham (Papago) people, used for their Vikita ceremonies until at least the 1930s. Snaketown's pottery was generally homogeneous during the periods of its occupation. However, most specialists agree that pottery samples contain elements implying the presence two different, but probably related groups, over time. Snaketown is dated by some scholars to around 300 BCE. Whether or not these were the Hohokam people is subject to debate. Paul Sidney Martin and Fred Plog argued that these were the Ootam people, which was a subdivision of the Cochise culture. According to these two, the Ootam were conquered and subsumed around 1000 CE by the Hohokam people from Mexico. Martin and Plog credit the Mexican Hohokam people with bringing extensive irrigation works, as well as other features attributed to what is thought of as Hohokam culture, from the south. Emil Haury, an established scholar on the subject, makes no mention of this apparently hostile takeover. Furthermore, he views the Hohokam as a harmonious people, particularly in the way they shared water. Archaeologist Brian Fagan dates Hohokam culture to 500 CE, and sums up the situation by stating that there are simply two separate schools of thought on the subject. Martin and Plog belong to the first group and Haury belongs to the second. The second group argues that these features the first group believes came from Mexico were developed locally. While there is much dispute on the origin of Snaketown, most scholars are able to agree that Hohokam culture peaked between 700 and 900 CE. Snaketown derives its name from another O’odham word meaning “place of snakes” and is considered to be one of the larger Hohokam settlements. A type of pottery (called red-on-buff) that is identified as distinctly Hohokam is found over ca. of the southwest. This indicates the extent and prominence of the Hohokam people at their height. Archaeology The site of Snaketown is positioned on the Gila River and the community is estimated to have been 250 acres in size at its maximum extent, with much more farmland and smaller settlements surrounding it. It has been estimated