 Arguably Gladwin's most famous excavations took place outside Phoenix at a place called Snaketown, which delved into the Hohokam culture.After having a chance meeting with the descendants of this culture in 1927, Gladwin wanted to find the roots of these people that the Pima referred to as Hohokam, or “those who had gone.” Finding that these people had left little behind in terms of their modes of travel and pathways, Gladwin found difficulty in locating clues to their culture while he was in the Gila Basin.After visiting numerous prehistoric sites (in his own words, thousands of sites), Gladwin and his colleagues decided upon Snaketown as their focal point for excavations into this culture.