text:
D o w n t o w n
Under Ground:
Archaeological Clues
to Tucson's Past
The rio Nuevo Project
Teacher Guide and
Elementary Classroom Activities
Kyle Lyn McKoy
Sponsored by the City of Tucson and
Desert Archaeology, Inc.
as part of the public outreach component
of the Rio Nuevo Project
Downtown Under Ground:
Archaeological Clues to Tucson's Past
The rio Nuevo Project
Author Kyle Lyn McKoy
Project Manager Gwen Russell Harvey
Editors Nina Bell Allen, William Broughton, Bruce Dinges
Designer/Illustrator Kathleen A. Koopman
Maps Desert Archaeology, Inc., Kathleen A. Koopman
Consultants and Reviewers: James Ayres, Archaeologist; Allen Dart,
Executive Director, Old Pueblo Archaeology; Beth DeWitt, Program
Coordinator, Partnership Schools, Arizona State Museum; Dr. William
Doelle, President, Desert Archaeology, Inc.; Barry Guerrero, Professor
Emeritus, Hawaii Community College; Gwen Russell Harvey, Director of
Education, Arizona Historical Society; Bruce Hilpert, Director of Public
Programs, Arizona State Museum; Phyllis Lundquist, elementary school
teacher (retired); Dr. Jonathan B. Mabry, Archaeologist, Desert
Archaeology, Inc.; Marty McCune, Historic Program Administrator,
Citizen and Neighborhood Services, City of Tucson; Irma J. Moreno,
elementary school teacher (retired); J.Homer Thiel, Historical
Archaeologist, Desert Archaeology, Inc.
Author: Kyle Lyn McKoy, BA Anthropology, University of Arizona, is a
Curatorial Assistant in the Education Department at the Arizona
Historical Society. She develops and teaches children and youth
© 2002 by the Arizona Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
Arizona Historical Society
949 East Second Street
Tucson, AZ 85719
Cover photos by David A. Harvey.
Background photo: Downtown Tucson with "A" Mountain.
Inset photo: Sara Plescia of Desert Archaeology, Inc.
An Introduction to Rio Nuevo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
How to Use This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
12,000 Years of Tucson History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Turning Points in Tucson's History: A Timeline . . . . . . . . xiii
SECTION 1 Principles of Archaeology
Talking Trash: The Science of Archaeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Lesson Plans
1. Archaeological Techniques: Documenting Evidence . . . . . 7
2. The Science of Archaeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3. Archaeological Techniques: Digging the Past. . . . . . . . . . 21
4. Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation I 25
5. Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation II 29
6. The Garbage Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
SECTION 2 Applying Archaeology to Rio Nuevo
7. Archaeology and Rio Nuevo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
8. An Interview With an Archaeologist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
9. Fathers, Farmers, and Fighters in Tucson. . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
10. The Chinese Experience in Tucson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
11. Territorial Tucson: Water Rights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
12. Time Capsule Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Arizona State DOE Standards Addressed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Table of Contents
22nd Street
S a n t a C r u z R i v e r
Interstate 10
Silverbell Road
Grande Avenue
Congress Street
Tucson's Fields
"A" Mountain
S a n t a C r u z R i v e r
Historic Camino Real
Mission Lane
Melwood Ave.
Kroeger Lane
Clearwater Drive
Grandview Ave.
Nearmont Drive
Calle de la Mision
Mission Road
Cultural Park boundaries
Historic Camino Real
Riverpark bicycle paths
Riverpark pedestrian trails
Berms and embankments
Trees and landscaping
Sentinel Mountain
0 250 500
Rio Nuevo Excavation Areas
Location map:
1. Tucson Presidio
2. San Agustín Mission
3. Mission Gardens
4. Carrillo House
5. Well with Chinese Trash
6. Warner's Mill
7. Chinese gardener's household
Rio Nuevo Experience Areas
as of 2001
1. Convento Complex
2. Mission Gardens
3. Prehistoric dwellings
4. Pima Village
5. Carrillo House
6. Cultural Center
7. Warner's Mill
8. Historic Footbridge replica
9. Open space, historic native vegetation
In November, 1999, Tucson voters
approved Proposition 400 which
instructed the City of Tucson to create a
new cultural district, called the Rio Nuevo
District, in downtown Tucson. Rio Nuevo
("new river" in Spanish) is a 62-acre area
that extends from "A" Mountain, west of
the Santa Cruz River, and continues east
down Broadway about six miles. The Rio
Nuevo District will include shops, hotels,
restaurants, theaters, museums, and other
cultural attractions.
Although plans are not yet finalized at
this printing, the project is presently
conceived in three "experience areas."
The historic/cultural park experience is
slated for the west side of the Santa Cruz
River and Interstate 10. This park-like
setting may include the reconstructed
San Agustín Mission complex, along with
interpretation of early agricultural and
Hohokam canals and habitation sites. A
regional visitor's center, and historical
and cultural museums, have been
planned around a new plaza.
An urban/cultural experience is
planned for the east side of I-10.
Organized around a central plaza
conceived to be Tucson's new "town
square," it may include the Sonoran Sea
Aquarium, a new science center and
planetarium, a convention hotel, parking
facilities, and the renovated Tucson Civic
and Convention Center.
Upgraded and new buildings along
Congress and Pennington streets, in the
heart of the traditional downtown area,
will transform the retail district into an
expanded and improved arts and
entertainment experience. The renovated
historic Fox and Rialto theaters may serve
as anchor attractions.
The goal of the Rio Nuevo project is to
recapture and celebrate Tucson's history.
One way to capture historical evidence is
through the science of archaeology. The
city has hired Desert Archaeology, Inc., to
excavate the construction sites before the
evidence is destroyed.
The excavations have uncovered
evidence of 4,000 years of human
occupation along the banks of the Santa
Cruz River at the foot of "A" Mountain.
American Indians, Spaniards, Mexicans,
Chinese, European Americans, have all
left their marks in the earth. Once the
excavations are completed, the
information will be used to interpret
Tucson's past for visitors. The old river
will begin a new life.
An Introduction to Rio Nuevo
vi Introduction
How To Use This Manual
This manual was created by the Arizona
Historical Society's Education Department
for Desert Archaeology, Inc., and the City
of Tucson, to inform the public and
educate students in the classroom about
archaeology and Tucson history as
revealed by the excavations of the Rio
Nuevo Project.
The first part of the manual consists of
an Introduction to the Rio Nuevo Project;
12,000 Years of Tucson's History; and
Turning Points in Tucson's History: A
Section 1 provides basic concepts of
the principles of archaeology. It includes a
Vocabulary List, Talking Trash: The Science
of Archaeology, and six lesson plans that
build upon archaeological principles. By
the end of these lessons, students will be
able to define archaeology and key terms,
demonstrate archaeological skills, and
describe the work of archaeologists.
Section 2 aids students in
understanding the history of their
community by applying archaeological
concepts to the City of Tucson's Rio
Nuevo Project. This section includes six
lesson plans or activities corresponding to
periods in Tucson history. The lessons
bring together archaeological principles
and the Rio Nuevo Project.
The lesson plans are divided into
sections: Objective, Key Words, Materials,
Time, Teacher's Corner, Lesson Setup, Lesson
Outline, and Pass It On! They are uniform
throughout the manual. Teachers may use
the entire manual in the established
order, or select individual lessons that fit
into their prepared curriculum. The
Teacher's Corner provides background
information helpful in preparing the
lesson. The Pass It On! section contains
black line masters that teachers may copy
for student handouts, or for
transparencies for classroom presentation.
The final part of the manual, State
DOE Standards and Additional Resources,
features a list of field trip destinations,
speakers, and other resources to help
illustrate the concepts included in the
lesson plans.
Most of the activities have been field
tested in classrooms and work with upper
elementary classes. Much of it should
work with middle school as well. The
educators at the Arizona Historical Society
hope this manual provides an exciting
and thought stimulating resource about
archaeology and Tucson's heritage.
We encourage feedback on how this
works in your classroom.
—Kyle McKoy
pass it on!
answer Key
lesson setup corner
Introduction vii
Archaeologists continue to debate the
timing and the route of initial human
habitation of the Americas. The
possibilities include migrations by land
and by sea between 30,000 and 14,000
years ago. Most archaeologists, however,
agree that by 14,000 years ago, humans
had arrived on the North American
continent. These people successfully
adapted to new and changing
environments and spread throughout
North and South America.
For thousands of years, the Santa Cruz
River created a desert oasis that attracted
many people. The Rio Nuevo excavations
have uncovered different periods of
occupation that include early farmers,
Hohokam, O'odham, Spaniards,
Mexicans, Chinese farmers, and Anglos.
The Prehistoric Period in the Tucson
Basin began approximately 10,000 B.C.,
when Paleo-Indian hunters roamed the
area hunting mammoths and other large
mammals. As the climate warmed, these
big game animals disappeared and people
adapted to a way of life focused on
hunting smaller animals and gathering
seeds, nuts, and the fruits of wild plants.
Excavations in the southern part of the
Rio Nuevo property indicate that the
earliest occupation of the area occurred
about 2,000 B.C., when hunter-gatherers
began supplementing their diet by
planting maize. Farmers living in early
villages along the Santa Cruz made the
first irrigation canals around 1,200 B.C.
They grew squash, beans, maize, and
possibly cotton.
12,000 Years of Tucson History
Hohokam farmers digging
irrigation canals. Painting by
Charles O. Kemper. Courtesy
Salt River Project Heritage.
viii Introduction
The later cultures in the prehistoric
American Southwest are called the Anasazi
(ah nah SAH zee, also known as Ancestral
Puebloan), the Hohokam (HOE hoe
kahm), and the Mogollon (MUH gee own).
These groups developed sophisticated
societies. They built extensive trade
networks, lived in large villages, and
developed public works systems such as
irrigation canals and roads.
By A.D. 600, Hohokam villages
flourished along the Santa Cruz River.
Archaeologists have been unable to
determine whether the Hohokam people
were descendants of the earlier
populations, or a new people who moved
to the area. Centuries of plowing and
other activities have destroyed much of
these early archaeological remains.
Archaeologists know from previous
excavations in the region, however, that
at the height of the Hohokam culture in
southern Arizona, agriculture was a
sophisticated and elaborate operation.
Excavations at the Rio Nuevo sites
support these previous discoveries, as they
have revealed a series of Hohokam canals
that run from north to south across the
excavated property.
Despite the apparently successful
adaptation to their desert surroundings,
the Hohokam suffered a population
decline between A.D. 1400 and 1500,
which eventually led to the collapse of
their culture. There are many theories
about what caused the decline. One
theory suggests that a combination of
events including floods that ruined
irrigation canals, warfare, and disease all
contributed to the collapse. A different
theory claims that the Hohokam
abandoned ancestral lands and simply
migrated to new areas. Another theory
argues that the Hohokam people are
ancestors of the Tohono O'odham (TOE
hoe no AH ah tom) and never left the
area at all. Little is known about life along
the Santa Cruz between the disappearance
of the Hohokam, around 1450, and the
arrival of the Spaniards, around 1690.
Archaeologists have become detectives as
they try to piece together the story.
The transition from the Prehistoric to
the Historic Period occurs when written
language is introduced to an area. In the
case of the American Southwest, this
change happened with Spanish contact.
The Historic Period in the American
Southwest began with a shipwreck in the
Gulf of Mexico in 1528. Alvar Nuñez
Cabeza de Vaca survived the shipwreck
and, along with three other survivors,
wandered through Texas and northern
New Spain (the Spaniards' name for
Mexico) before finding his way to Mexico
City. One of Cabeza de Vaca's companions
was a black slave named Estevan de
Dorantes. In 1539, Estevan left Mexico
City and returned north with a Franciscan
friar named Marcos de Niza to search for
the legendary Seven Cities of Cíbola.
When Zuni warriors killed Estevan, Fray
Marcos returned to Mexico City. He
boasted that he had reached the Seven
Cities of Cíbola and spoke of the riches he
had found there. This aroused the interest
of the viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza.
Mendoza selected Francisco Vasquez de
Coronado to lead an expedition north to
claim the riches for the Spanish Crown.
The entry of Estevan and Fray Marcos into
Zuni territory marks the beginning of
Spanish history in Arizona.
Scholars still argue about Coronado's
exact route, but it is almost certain that
he did not enter the Tucson Basin.
Therefore, the Historic Period in the
Tucson Basin does not begin until the
Introduction ix
arrival of the missionary Father Eusebio
Francisco Kino in 1691. The arrival of
Kino also marks the beginning of the
Spanish Period.
The Spanish Period began as Kino, the
first European to visit the Santa Cruz
Valley, found villages of O'odham Indians
at Bac and at Chuk-son, later to be called
Tucson. In 1700, Kino established the
foundations for the first mission church at
San Xavier del Bac. Kino died in 1711,
without ever having seen the church
Another mission, San Agustín del
Tucsón, was constructed in the 1770s at
the base of Sentinel Peak, or "A"
Mountain. The San Agustín Mission
complex eventually included a convento,
or living quarters; a chapel; and a granary,
although they were only used for a short
period. Ultimately, most of the mission
was destroyed.
Archaeologists began excavations at
the mission site in November, 2000. They
uncovered what they believe to be the
rock foundation of the wall that
surrounded the mission complex. They
also exposed the outline of the granary
building. Artifacts such as cattle bones,
potsherds, and arrow points, provide
information about the diet and lifestyle of
the mission residents.
In the early 1770s, the Spanish Crown
decided to realign the chain of presidios,
or forts, to better protect the expanding
frontier against hostile Indian groups.
Officials decided to relocate the Tubac
presidio to Tucson. The Spanish Crown
sent Lieutenant Colonel Hugo O'Conor,
an Irishman, to claim the location on the
east bank of the Santa Cruz River. The
area had a plentiful water supply, irrigated
fields, an abundance of trees that could be
used for building purposes, and a full view
of the valley for better defense. Also it was
located near the O'odham labor force at
the San Agustín Mission. The mission and
presidio were settled across from each
other on opposite banks of the river,
separated by fertile farm fields and
irrigation canals.
Computer model of San Agustín Mission Complex developed by Doug Gann, Center For Desert Archaeology, featuring the
Convento and chapel in the foreground and the granary behind the chapel.
x Introduction
From the beginning of the 1770s,
presidio soldiers and other Spanish
colonists occupied lands that once
belonged to the Tohono O'odham.
Spanish frontier life was difficult, but the
Spanish community grew and prospered.
Presidio soldiers provided protection for
Spanish colonists. They also guarded the
peaceful natives and Spanish settlers who
farmed the fields outside the presidio
The community around the presidio
continued to grow as soldiers and their
families moved into the fort. Another
form of settlement sprang up outside the
presidio walls. In an effort to stop raiding,
Spaniards offered Apaches food and other
goods to induce them to settle in the area.
According to historical records, these
measures succeeded for a while. The
Apaches who remained in the area
became known as the peaceful Apaches,
or Apaches de Paz. They helped fight off
hostile Indians on several occasions.
Archaeological investigations at Rio
Nuevo have not uncovered signs of this
Apache settlement. This is an important
lesson about archaeological interpretation:
do not confuse absence of evidence with
evidence of absence.
The Mexican Period of Tucson's history
begins in 1821, when the Spanish
colonists won independence from Spain.
The ten year war had drained the
Mexican coffers, which left little
government support for the inhabitants of
the Tucson area. It was difficult to get
supplies into the isolated presidio. Soldiers
were not always paid and there were
constant conflicts with various Apache
In the midst of this turmoil, in 1829,
the Mexican government expelled
Spanish-born soldiers and missionaries
from the country. Without proper
staffing, the Tucson buildings began to
fall into disrepair and much
archaeological information about the
mission complex was lost due to erosion
and vandals.
Family life in a presidio.
Cal Peters. AHS #64456
Introduction xi
In the mid-1800s, Mexican residents
became alarmed by the arrival of another
group: American explorers. Fur trappers,
traders, ranchers, prospectors, and
farmers all came to southern Arizona
seeking opportunity and wealth. The
United States, with its expansionist vision
of manifest destiny, engaged in a war
with Mexico over the southwest territory
in 1846. The United States viewed the
area as a much needed travel corridor and
was looking for a railroad route to
connect the east with the west. The war
ended in 1848 with the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, which transferred
ownership of a substantial portion of
what is now the American West from
Mexico to the United States. Tucson
remained under the jurisdiction of
Mexico. Then, in 1853, James Gadsden, a
railroad promoter, concluded a deal with
Antonio López de Santa Anna, president
of Mexico, for the purchase of an
additional 29,000 square miles of
Mexican land for ten million dollars. The
U.S. Congress ratified the purchase in
1854, although American soldiers did not
arrive in Tucson until 1856. The Gadsden
Purchase ended Mexican rule in southern
Arizona as Tucson and its surrounding
communities became part of the United
The Gadsden Purchase brought
Arizona under the control of the United
States, not as a state, but as a territory.
Arizona's Territorial Period spanned the
time from the Gadsden Purchase until
statehood was finally granted in 1912.
Territorial status was a trying time for
Tucsonans. Politicians in Washington
largely ignored the Arizona Territory.
Residents could not vote in presidential
elections. The legislature could only pass
laws subject to review in Washington.
Most officials were appointed by people
in Washington who had never visited the
territory, and knew little of the needs of
territorial residents. The U.S. Congress
controlled all finances. Lawlessness and
Apache wars threatened the safety of the
population. Tucson's infrastructure was
almost nonexistent as roads and public
works were poor at best. Yet, droves of
people moved west in search of gold,
land, adventure, and opportunity.
European and Mexican immigrants;
Chinese railroad workers and miners;
blacks fleeing the South and the
remnants of slavery; Jewish families;
Mormons; single women; military men;
and many others sought their futures and
their fortunes in Arizona.
In the 1870s, the United States began
construction on a southern railroad
connecting the east and the west. The
railroad company hired Chinese
immigrants who worked for low wages.
As the Chinese immigrant population
increased, more Chinese businesses
opened such as bakeries, laundries, and
grocery stores. The Southern Pacific
Railroad reached Tucson from the west in
1880. Some of the Chinese railroad
workers chose not to follow the railroad
work, but remained behind to take
advantage of a new business opportunity:
growing fresh produce for the Tucson
By the 1880s, Chinese farmers were
regularly providing Tucson restaurants
and homes with fresh lettuce,
watermelons, and strawberries. These
crops required much water and put the
Chinese in direct competition with
Mexican farmers. A court case eventually
settled the issue. The Mexican farmers lost
xii Introduction
their water rights, just as the O'odham
had lost their water rights to the Spanish,
thereby ending a communal tradition that
dated back to Spanish presidio days.
Profitable farming along the Santa Cruz
River ended for everyone around 1930,
when the water table dropped due to
extensive pumping of ground water. Many
of the Chinese farmers became grocers,
opening stores around the Tucson area.
Excavation of one Rio Nuevo site
uncovered a deep well filled with objects
discarded by Chinese farmers between
1880 and 1890. Soup spoons, soy sauce
jugs, rice bowls, and food remnants
indicate a strong desire by Chinese
farmers to maintain their heritage in
territorial Tucson.
Politics and current events played
major roles in delaying the Arizona
Statehood Period. Arizona's fight for
statehood, which began shortly after
territorial status was granted in 1863, was
one of the longest in American history.
Finally, in 1910, Congress passed the
Enabling Act, which allowed Arizonans to
write a constitution that Congress would
either approve or disapprove. President
William Taft signed the bill on February
14, 1912, making Arizona the 48th state.
Tucson has seen many changes since
statehood. The World War II defense
industry and training facilities brought
jobs and thousands of people to Tucson in
the 1940s. Over the years, the temperate
climate attracted many more newcomers
to Tucson as a prime destination for
health, tourism, and retirement. The
growth of the University of Arizona and
Davis Monthan Air Force Base also
contributed to the population increase.
Population growth triggered a building
boom as more housing was needed for
workers and more buildings were needed
to house the new industries. In the 1940s,
the Tucson Pressed Brick Factory mined
clay in the mission area to satisfy the
need for raw building materials. Several
University of Arizona archaeology projects
attempted to salvage information from
the site before the brick company
destroyed all the evidence of the past. As
the company mined the clay and the
sand, it also removed evidence of the
earliest farming culture, Hohokam canals,
the mission, and other historic remains.
The final insult to the mission
complex site came in the mid 1950s,
when the City of Tucson destroyed the
remains of the convento and the chapel
by replacing them with a landfill.
Today, Tucson is a thriving
multicultural city, known affectionately as
the Old Pueblo. Tucson's present is a
direct reflection of its past. The City of
Tucson's Rio Nuevo Project traces the
story of 12,000 years of Tucson history. It
captures the unique flavor of the city by
exploring the past, building on the
present, and preserving for the future.
Turning Points In
Tucson's Past: A Timeline
Desert Archaeology, Inc.
Updated 9-13-01
A.D. 1999 Rio Nuevo Cultural District created. People have been living in
the Tucson Basin for the past 12,000 years. By creating the Rio
Nuevo District, Tucson has chosen to embrace the past as part of
our shared cultural heritage.
1968 Urban Renewal began. The Pueblo Center Redevelopment
Project replaced approximately 80 acres of Tucson's oldest
surviving neighborhood with the Convention Center, a shopping
center, and a four-square-block government complex.
1950 During the 1950s Tucson began using the base of "A" mountain
as a landfill.
1923 Between 1896 and 1935 bricks from the Tucson Pressed Brick
Company, located at the base of "A" Mountain, were used to
build many familiar buildings around Tucson, including San
Agustín Cathedral, the Rialto Theater, and buildings on the
University of Arizona campus.
A.D. 1912 Arizona Statehood. By 1912, life in Tucson changed
dramatically. Over the course of a few years, the river rapidly cut
down over 10 feet as far south as the Mission of San Xavier.
A.D. 1880 The arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad allowed for rapid
settlement of the Tucson basin. "Progress" arrived quickly with
the telephone, electricity, and the central water system. In the
mid-1880s, the Santa Cruz River became entrenched after an ill-fated
irrigation scheme failed. Irrigation canals were no longer
able to draw water from the river, and many farmers were no
longer able to grow crops. Tucson now relied upon wells to draw
water from an underground aquifer.
A.D. 1862 A Brief Confederacy 1861–1862. In 1861, the citizens of Tucson
voted to join the Confederate States of America. The occupying
Union troops, led by Major David Fergusson, drafted the first two
maps of Tucson. One map reveals that by 1862, the Tucson
Presidio had been mostly dismantled.
A.D. 1854 Gadsden Purchase. The 1854 purchase of the territory that
is now Arizona and New Mexico brought Tucson and its
surroundings into the American territorial system. Life began to
change as Americans from the eastern United States moved to
Tucson. Many people opened mercantile businesses, others
developed ranches and mines.
territorial state-mexican
hood modern
A.D. 1821 Mexican Revolution. As Mexico gained independence from
Spain, times were difficult in Tucson. Conflicts with various
Apache groups took a great toll on the village. In response to the
conflicts of the mid-19th century, the Tucson Presidio was
expanded to better protect the community.
A.D. 1800 Construction of the San Agustín Mission convento began. It was
used as an administrative building, dormitory, and school for the
San Agustín Mission.
A.D. 1775 On August 21, 1775, Hugo O'Conor founded the Tucson Presidio,
selecting this site for its location next to irrigated land and its
extensive view of the valley.
A.D. 1770 Although Tucson celebrates its birthday on the day that the
Tucson Presidio was founded, the San Agustín Mission and the
adjacent O'odham village were already in place. The mission was
founded in the early 1770s at the foot of Sentinel Peak ("A"
mountain) and would be part of the Tucson community for the
next 75 years.
A.D. 1700 Father Kino founded the Mission of San Xavier at the O'odham
village of Bac, on the Santa Cruz River. This first church was
never completed. Father Espinosa built the second church in
1755. In 1797, the third church, which still stands today, was
A.D. 1691 Historic period began as Father Kino, the first European to visit
the Santa Cruz Valley, found villages of Piman-speakers at Bac
and (the next year) at Chuk-son—where the San Xavier and San
Agustín missions were later established.
A.D. 1600 Apache peoples arrived in southern Arizona from the north, and
began raiding O'odham villages.
A.D. 1400 The Hohokam culture of southern Arizona collapsed after a
population decline related to a series of disastrous floods in the
Phoenix Basin that may have destroyed most canal systems.
A.D. 1275 Population aggregated, possibly in response to warfare, into a few
large villages. Platform mounds were built as public ceremonial
structures within large walled compounds containing most of the
A.D. 1150 In the Tucson Basin, many Hohokam villages were abandoned
and new ones established. Compounds and rectangular
aboveground architecture appeared.
A.D. 1050 Ballcourts were no longer built in the Tucson Basin and most
other Hohokam areas.
A.D. 1000 Villages spread out along expanded canal systems.
hohokam spanish
xiv Timeline
Timeline xv
A.D. 800 The first ballcourts were built in the Tucson Basin and elsewhere
in the southern Southwest. Villages focused on large, central
plazas grew in population. Hohokam styles and iconography
from the middle Gila Valley were adopted.
A.D. 500 Styles of architecture, artifacts, and burial practices of the
Hohokam culture, centered in the Phoenix Basin, appeared in
the Tucson Basin. Plazas became a feature of villages.
A.D. 400 Pithouses shifted from round to rectangular, and large villages
developed along the Santa Cruz River. Village locations moved to
terraces above the floodplain. Canal systems were expanded.
A.D. 100 New types of architecture, pottery, and burial practices suddenly
appeared in the Tucson Basin, perhaps representing the arrival of
a new cultural group.
800 B.C. The first ceremonial buildings in the Southwest were constructed
in villages along the Santa Cruz River. Earlier than in other areas
of the Southwest, the bow-and-arrow began to be used in
southern Arizona alongside the older spear thrower and-dart.
1,200 B.C. Farmers living in early villages along the Santa Cruz made the
first true irrigation canals in North America. They grew beans
and possibly cotton in addition to maize, and developed trade
connections with distant parts of the Southwest, California, and
northern Mexico to acquire volcanic glass (obsidian) for making
dart points and seashells for making jewelry.
2,200 B.C. Maize (corn) arrived in southern Arizona from Mexico. To
supplement wild foods, hunter-gatherers in the Tucson Basin
planted maize to grow some of their food for the first time. They
built pithouses and storage pits in summer camps near their
fields along the Santa Cruz River. They made the first ceramic
figures and pottery in the Southwest.
3,000 B.C. Groups of hunter-gatherers camped on the banks of the Santa
Cruz River during their movements around the Tucson Basin.
3,500 B.C. The climate of the Southwest became cooler and wetter. Hunter
gatherers began to spread throughout the Southwest.
6,500 B.C. A long period of hotter, drier climate began. Population began to
decline in the Tucson Basin and much of the Southwest.
9,000 B.C. As the climate warmed at the beginning of a new global climatic
era and the large Ice Age mammals disappeared, a hunting and
gathering adaptation developed. The Archaic focus was on
smaller animals, seeds, nuts, and fruits of wild plants, and seed-grinding
tools were first used.
10,000 B.C. Paleo-Indian hunters crossed the Tucson Basin in search of
mammoths and other now-extinct large mammals at the end of
the Ice Age.
archaic early agriculture early preclassic
Section 1
principles of
Artwork by Hannah Willet, age 10.
2 Talking Trash
Cultures in the American Southwest, such
as the Anasazi, Mogollon, and Hohokam,
developed complex societies, but they did
not develop a written language. Without
written records to study, researchers must
rely on the study of the objects that
people left behind. These are the clues
that archaeologists use to reconstruct
human behavior. Archaeologists operate
in a world of other people's discarded
objects—their trash.
What is archaeology and how does
the science work? Archaeology is a great
opportunity to teach and practice the
scientific method. Archaeology involves
posing questions, making hypotheses,
researching, conducting experiments,
clarifying data, organizing data, reaching
conclusions, and creating final reports.
Archaeology is a subdivision of the
broader subject of Anthropology, or the
study of humans. The four areas of study
within Anthropology are:
a. cultural the study of human
societies often involving the
comparison of one cultural system
with another in an attempt to
understand human nature.
b. physical (sometimes called
"biological") the study of the
human physical form and how
forms change over time.
c. linguistic the study of humans,
through the use of language, to
discover the role language plays in
the creation, transmission, and
interpretation of daily life and
d. archaeology the study of human
cultures using artifacts people left
Archaeology can be divided further into
prehistoric and historical archaeology.
Prehistoric archaeologists try to assemble,
through the objects people have left
behind, the story of ancient cultures that
have left no written record. With the aid
of written historical records and oral
histories, historical archaeologists try to
assemble the story of past cultures
through the interpretation of the material
objects they left behind.
A place that people inhabited or used
in some manner is called a site. When a
site is discovered, archaeologists conduct
a survey to describe its physical
appearance and location. A testing phase
may take place to determine whether a
site has deeply buried features.
Archaeologists then develop a research
design, or plan of action, to decide how
to go about excavating the site. After
defining questions they hope to answer,
archaeologists begin the excavation by
marking the site in grids, so they can
map their finds. They select certain areas
to dig. They sift dirt through screens to
find small items and save artifacts, or
items made or used by people, for further
study. They also map walls, fireplaces,
and other structures they find. The
artifacts are separated into like groupings,
called assemblages, which are studied by
field and laboratory analysts.
Talking Trash:
The Science of Archaeology and
The Rio Nuevo Project
Talking Trash 3
Archaeologists rely on experts from
other fields of study to help them
interpret what they find.
Dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating, is
a technique developed by an astronomer
at the University of Arizona. Physicists
developed radiocarbon and
archaeomagnetic dating techniques that
date artifacts by measuring radioactivity
and orientation of magnetic fields.
Geologists developed the principles of
stratigraphy, or layering of sediments,
that help date objects in relation to one
another. Botanists and zoologists may
help analyze plant and animal remains.
Other information helps archaeologists
reconstruct past cultures. They can
compare the site with others that have
already been excavated in the region. If
historical documents exist, archaeologists
consult them. They can study groups of
living people to search for similarities
with past cultures. This approach is called
ethnographic analogy.
The last step for archaeologists is to
publish their findings in a final report.
This is essential so others can build on the
Several options are available to
archaeologists and the public once a site
has been excavated and its information
recorded. What is left of the site may be
destroyed to make way for a construction
project. It can be turned into an
interpretative site for the public. Parts of a
site that have not been excavated may be
preserved for future exploration. In the
case of the City of Tucson's Rio Nuevo
project, a combination of all the options
will probably be used.
The Rio Nuevo archaeological
excavations will provide a treasure chest
of information and insight into Tucson's
past. As archaeologists sift through the
trash of the past, they will uncover the
necessary information to piece together
the story of Tucson. The Rio Nuevo
project proves that Tucson's trash of the
past may be its treasure for the future.
4 Vocabulary
agriculture cultivating crops on a large
Anasazi (a Navajo word for "ancient
enemies") a culture that lived on the
plateaus of the four corners area
(northern New Mexico, northern
Arizona, southern Utah, and
southwestern Colorado) from about A.D.
anthropology the study of humans and
human behavior. Can be divided into
four subdivisions of study:
a. cultural the study of human societies
often involving the comparison of
one cultural system with another in
an attempt to understand human
b. physical the study of the human
physical form, including the study of
those changes over time;
c. linguistic the study of human
language to discover what role
language plays in the creation,
transmission, and interpretation of
daily life and culture;
d. archaeology the study of human
culture using artifacts people left
Archaic an early culture that lived in the
Americas. In the southern Arizona area,
it lasted from approximately 8,000 B.C.
to about A.D. 200. The Archaic culture
adapted to the changing climate by
hunting small game and gathering
plants from the land.
archaeologist one who studies human
cultures by analyzing material objects
cultures left behind.
archaeomagnetic dating archaeological
dating technique based on the fact that
the exact location of magnetic north
changes over time. When clay from a
hearth is heated to a high-enough
temperature, the iron molecules realign
to magnetic north. Thus, it is possible
to determine an approximate date for
when a structure such as a clay hearth
was last heated.
artifact an object made or used by
assemblage a grouping of like artifacts, or
a group of artifacts found in the same
ceramic pertaining to anything made of
clay that was fired to hardness.
coiling a weaving and pottery technique
that involves making individual coils of
material and placing them one on top
of the last, constructing a finished
context interpretation of artifacts
determined by the relationship in
which they were found.
convento a religious administration
building and/or dormitory.
crustacean an animal that has a shell for
protection. Example: lobster, shrimp,
crab, barnacle.
data interpretation to decipher
information gathered.
dendrochronology archaeological dating
technique developed by A.E. Douglass, a
University of Arizona astronomer, most
often used to compare tree growth rings
to determine the age of wood roof
early farmers a culture that lived in the
Tucson basin area between 2,000 and
4,000 years ago.
ethnographic analogy using similar
traits of living groups of people to
interpret cultures of the past.
Vocabulary 5
event an occurrence or happening.
excavate to dig up the soil in a scientific
feature structure; could be either man-made
or naturally occurring.
final report after an excavation takes
place, all the information is gathered
by the archaeologists and written into a
final report that is released for peer
review prior to being published.
forage to gather food from land.
granary a building used to store surplus
grid a checkerboard-like network of
uniform horizontal and vertical lines
that provides guidelines for
archaeological excavations.
hearth fireplace.
history recorded past events.
Hohokam (means "all gone" or "all used
up" in the O'odham language) the
culture that occupied the desert of
south-central Arizona from about A.D.
huerta a private Mexican-owned garden
in Tucson in the 1800s, 25–30 feet
square in size.
hunter-gatherer culture people who
hunt small game animals and gather
plants from the land to satisfy their
irrigate to divert water from a river,
stream, or lake to farmland usually
using ditches and canals.
laboratory analysis to decipher
information in a scientific laboratory
usually involving tests.
Law of Original Horizontality
a geologic concept that states that soils
are deposited first horizontally.
Law of Superposition a geologic concept
that states that layers of soil deposited
first are below those deposited at a later
date. The layers that are the oldest are
beneath those that are younger.
lithic referring to stone.
maize corn.
mano a hand-held rock used to grind
grains, used in conjunction with a
metate a rock used as a base to hold
grains for grinding, used in
conjunction with a mano.
mission a community established by and
focused on the Catholic Church. Set up
by Spaniards to colonize New Spain,
the mission's purpose was to convert
North American natives to Christianity
and turn them into tax-paying Spanish
Mogollon refers to the culture found in
the Mogollon Mountains. The
Mogollon Culture existed
approximately A.D. 200–1200.
ostracod water-dwelling crustacean.
paddle and anvil method a pottery
technique used by Hohokam and
O'odham people. First, coils of clay are
stacked on top of one another. Once
the basic shape is decided, the potter
places his/her hand inside the pot
while holding a smoothing rock (the
anvil). The other hand gently pats the
pot with a paddle to smooth out the
Paleo-Indian migratory people who
crossed exposed land in the Bering
Strait from Siberia and spread
throughout the Americas, following
herds of mammoth, bison, and other
big game, around 12,000–8,000 B.C.
6 Vocabulary
Piman relating to a language from the
Uto-Aztecan family.
pithouse a house built partially below
the surface of the earth. Generally, the
above surface part was made of sticks,
desert brush, and mud. Pithouses
usually had a dome shape, no
windows, and one entrance.
plaiting braiding.
pothunter one who illegally removes
evidence from an archaeological site.
potsherd piece of pottery or ceramic.
prehistory the period of time occurring
prior to written language.
presidio a walled fort housing soldiers
and their families, built by the
Spaniards to help colonize Spanish-claimed
land in North America.
Presidios were part of a two-pronged
approach, in conjunction with
missions, to settle the land.
radiocarbon dating tests organic
materials such as charcoal, bone, or
wood, to determine the quantity of a
radioactive form called carbon 14
(usually written 14C). Living things
ingest carbon 14, which decays at a
steady known rate. By determining the
ratio between carbon 14 and regular
carbon in the object, it is possible to
discover an age range for the object.
relative dating techniques scientific
measures that tell the age of an artifact,
site, or feature by relating the object to
another object. This technique can tell
us whether an artifact is older than,
younger than, or the same age as
another. It cannot provide an exact
calendar date for an artifact.
research design a plan of action that
guides an archaeological excavation.
riverine pertaining to an aquatic setting,
such as a river or stream.
sample grids specific grids chosen by
archaeologists to excavate
sedentary to remain in one place.
sediment material deposited by water,
wind, or glaciers.
site a place or area that was used by
staple crop a principal plant raised for
food or used for manufacturing.
storage pit underground storage used for
surplus food.
strata layers.
stratification different layers of soil piled
on top of each other.
stratigraphy the study and
interpretation of soil or rock layers.
stylistic analysis determining the
meaning of an artifact by comparing an
artwork style with that of other
survey to examine a parcel of land to
ascertain location, condition, and
extent of property. An archaeological
survey examines land to identify and
record any cultural materials present.
temper adding products, such as grass,
mica, or sand to clay, to strengthen the
clay for firing
zanjero an elected water judge who
oversaw the fair and equitable
distribution of irrigated water.
In this lesson, students will practice data recording and observation
skills. Students will learn the importance of detailed and accurate
data recording by mapping a designated area, recording and
reevaluating data, and comparing final product with the original
Documenting Evidence
• to introduce students to the scientific
method, archaeological procedures, and
vocabulary terms
• to enable students to perform an
archaeological survey using scientific
Standards Addressed
Grades 4–5 1SC-E3 (PO1, PO2), 2SC-E4
Grades 6–8 1SC-E3 (PO1, PO2), 2SC-E4
Key Words
data interpretation
research design
• graph paper
• pencils
• rulers
• classroom, playground, or gymnasium
• tape, clothesline, or chalk
• compass
1–2 class periods
Getting Started
8 Lesson 1 Archaeological Techniques: Documenting Evidence
Archaeology is the study of human
behavior by examining the artifacts, or
material objects people have made or
used. Among these pieces of evidence are
ceramics (pottery), lithics (stone tools),
and features (structures). A location that
people used (blacksmith shop, school,
animal carcass preparation area) or a
location in which they lived (pithouse
community, presidio, boarding house) is
called a site. Once archaeologists excavate
a site and recover the artifacts, they must
piece together the story that the objects
tell, just like a detective pieces together
the clues at a crime scene to determine
what happened. How do archaeologists do
what they do? Archaeologists do their job
in stages:
a. Survey and records check
b. Research design
d. Excavation
e. Laboratory analysis
f. Data interpretation
g. Final report
Q. What is the first step for an
A. Archaeologists are often asked to
examine an area before development
and construction take place. The first
step is to do a records check and
survey. Archaeologists read public
records to discover if the area or
surrounding areas have been examined
before and whether any archaeological
sites are present. Archaeologists will
then walk across the surface of the
project in transects, or lines spaced at
regular intervals. Archaeologists search
for evidence of human activity, such as
broken pottery, stone chips, broken
glass bottles, or mounds of earth. Earth
mounds could indicate a buried
structure or garbage dump.
Archaeologists make detailed maps
showing the location of everything
they find. Photographs may also be
taken to record what the site looked
Q. How are archaeological excavations
A. Before archaeologists excavate a site,
they prepare a research design. This is a
plan of action that addresses the Who,
What, When, Where, How, and Why
questions. Some research design
questions might be:
1. What kinds of crops were grown
2. Who lived at this site?
3. When did the people use the area?
4. Where did the people get food?
5. Why was the site abandoned?
6. How old are the artifacts?
The research design summarizes what is
already known about the site and other
sites in nearby locations. It identifies
the best excavation methods and the
experts who will analyze the artifacts.
Q. Why do archaeologists try to preserve
some sites without digging them?
A. Archaeologists develop new techniques
all the time. Radiocarbon dating, for
example, first became available in the
early 1950s; techniques for "floating"
the burned wood and seeds to recover
them from soils were not widely
practiced until the 1970s. These new
techniques have provided a great deal
teacher's corner
Lesson 1 Archaeological Techniques: Documenting Evidence 9
of fresh information and have
improved archaeologists' abilities to
understand the past. Many more new
techniques may become available in the
next 50 or 100 years that will help
answer questions that are mysteries
today. This is one very important
reason for preserving archaeological
Another reason for preservation is
that many archaeological sites contain
cemeteries, places, or artifacts that are
important to Native Americans and
other descendants of people who lived
here in the past. Although specific
procedures for carrying out
excavations—even human burials—
have been developed, most groups
prefer to see these sites remain
undisturbed. In these cases, human
remains and other sensitive artifacts are
turned over to descendant groups for
special treatment, which generally
includes reburial of human remains.
Q. What happens during an archaeological
A. Archaeologists use a variety of tools and
methods to remove soil. Smaller tools,
such as picks, shovels, and trowels,
remove dirt to locate the edges of pits,
foundations, and floors. Sometimes
excavators lay out the site in large
squares, called grids. This allows for
easier and more accurate mapping. The
relationship between one artifact and
another gives archaeologists important
information; this is called context. For
example, finding small pieces of stone
together with drilling tools and finished
beads might tell archaeologists that a
jeweler lived in the house. Because
excavating a site is a destructive process,
accurate recording of information is
Q. What happens to artifacts after they are
A. If artifacts are large and easily visible,
archaeologists carefully remove them
and pack them for shipment to the lab.
Screening is the most efficient way to
recover small items that may be hidden
in dirt clumps or piles. Excavators
shovel dirt onto screens, which are
shaken so that dirt falls through,
leaving behind gravel and artifacts. The
artifacts are collected, sorted by material
(pottery, stone, animal bone, shell,
metal, glass, etc.), and placed in labeled
bags. The artifacts are taken to the
laboratory, where most items are
washed and dried.
Q. What happens during the analysis
A. Artifacts and samples are sent to experts
for identification and interpretation.
Experts look at potsherds to determine
the type and age of a pot, who made it,
and how it was created. Modern
materials, such as tin cans and nails,
can provide similar information. In
order to reconstruct past environments
and diets, zooarchaeologists study
animal bones and ethnobotanists study
plant parts. Once the experts have
completed their analyses, the project
director collects and collates all the
reports and then writes a final report
about the history of the site.
Q. What is in the final report?
A. The report usually includes a summary
of previous work in the area, techniques
used in excavating the site,
documentation of what was found,
conclusions, and suggestions for future
research. At the end of the project, all
of the paperwork, photographs, and
artifacts are sent to a museum, where
they may be exhibited for the public or
stored for future researchers. Sometimes
new technologies, or a reexamination of
the information, yield different
Students will map the school playground,
gymnasium, or classroom. Prior to the
activity, prepare a transparency from the
handouts in the Pass It On! Section.
Prepare one transparency of the map and
a separate one for the grid.
Prepare a grid area that students are to
map. Use masking tape, clothesline,
sidewalk chalk, etc., to establish lines for
the grid on playground, in classroom, or
in gymnasium. Grid lines should be 1' × 1'
squares, or 2' × 2' squares. Number grid
squares in any manner so long as there is
some order to the grid. Materials used will
depend on the type and location of the
Within each square, place objects that
students can draw, such as jump ropes,
balls, rocks, and pencils. Try to choose
objects that pertain to student life. To
make it interesting, place some items so
that they overlap grid marks. Have
students draw ONLY the portion of the
items that fall within their square.
Students will record data on graph paper.
Instruct students to use the graph paper
to record object information according to
scale. Students can work in teams or
Students need to be aware that they
are creating a primary source for future
researchers. Recording information
properly will insure proper context from
which researchers can make plausible
conclusions or inferences.
1. Ask students if they have ever found an
item while walking in the desert and
were either unsure of what it was or
how old it was. Did they ever drop
something outside and never see it
again? What do they think happened to
that item? What would people in the
future think they had found if they
came upon the lost item?
2. Explain to students the processes and
steps in archaeological survey. Define
context and emphasize the importance
of taking detailed notes. Inform
students that they will be participating
in a mapping activity.
3. Using the overhead map transparency,
point out different structures and areas
of activity. What artifacts could
students expect to find in the trash
area? What about the monkey bar area?
Should they expect to see playground
structures like picnic tables and
monkey bars?
4. Place the grid over the map and show
the students how the appearance of the
area changes if viewed only in smaller
squares of the grid. If students were
only responsible for one grid square,
could they still get an idea of the entire
area? Explain how archaeologists grid
an area and then choose sample
squares to determine where they will
excavate. What areas would students
choose to excavate? What about the
squares that appear to be empty?
Should archaeologists select some of
the empty squares? (Yes, because some of
the artifacts may not be visible on the
surface. If they do not choose some empty
grids, they may miss some artifacts below
the surface.)
5. Hand out the graph paper and
pencils, and lead the class to the
previously established grid.
10 Lesson 1 Archaeological Techniques: Documenting Evidence
lesson setup
lesson outline
6. Divide children into groups and
assign them to squares. This can be
either a group or an individual
project. As a group, use a compass to
determine the location of North.
Diagram the objects with north to the
top of the page.
7. Have each group diagram the items
within their square according to scale.
Include vegetation, rocks, cracks in
the playground, playground
equipment, desks, changes in material
(going from asphalt to gravel).
Remind students that they are
creating a historical document. Future
researchers may use their maps as
primary sources.
8. Once the students feel comfortable
with their squares, hang squares on
bulletin board and arrange them in
proper order to form the entire
mapped area. Have students
determine whether or not the squares
match the original area mapped.
What are the differences? What are
the similarities? By looking at the
squares, can students tell which area
was mapped? Could they reconstruct
the site? Would someone unfamiliar
with the area be able to locate the site
by consulting the student maps?
9. Explain how historical archaeologists
rely on primary sources to guide or
double check their studies.
Archaeologists may use maps,
photographs, letters, and diaries to
guide them toward areas that may
then be excavated. They may also use
primary sources to help them explain
something they might have found.
10. Once the map is complete, the teacher
should take the class back to the
mapped area. Ask students to imagine
that over many years four feet of soil
has been deposited at this site.
Illustrate to the students how high
four feet is. What structures would
still be visible on the surface? (tops of
monkey bars, swing sets or trees). What
objects would not be visible on the
surface? (jump ropes, seats, low lying
objects). Would students miss some
valuable information if they only
excavated the areas where they could
see things protruding above the
11. Based on the samples the class has
chosen, what can they conclude about
the site?
Following two (2) pages are to be used as
overhead slides or copied for handouts for
the class.
Lesson 1 Archaeological Techniques: Documenting Evidence 11
pass it on!
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
12 Lesson 1 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
Lesson 1 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 13
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60
wood chips
1" = 2 feet
trash bin
picnic table
monkey bars bushes
• to introduce students to the geologic
concept of stratigraphy
• to illustrate the Law of Superposition.
• to enable students to apply these
concepts to the archaeology of the Rio
Nuevo Project
• to learn Tucson's history through the
interpretation of stratigraphic layers
• Glass bowl in which to construct the
• Six layer dessert ingredients; ingredients
will vary
a. graham crackers
b. instant chocolate pudding
c. vanilla wafers
d. instant vanilla pudding
e. sliced bananas
f. non-dairy whipped topping
Use your imagination when deciding
upon ingredients. Experiment with
raisins, apple slices, sliced strawberries,
Jello jigglers, jelly beans, peanuts, M&Ms,
peanut butter, jelly, etc. Make certain
students' allergies, dietary restrictions,
and taste preferences are taken into
consideration when choosing
ingredients for the layer dessert.
Approximately one hour for overview;
longer if detailed extensions are
It is sometimes difficult to visualize different layers of soil. By using
a layered dessert, students will understand the layering of soils.
When spooning out the dessert, teachers illustrate how soil layers,
and therefore artifacts, can be disturbed because of digging or
animals burrowing.
The Science of
Drawing by Hannah Willet, age ten.
Getting Started
16 Lesson 2 The Science of Archaeology
One way archaeologists determine the age
of an artifact is through the use of
relative dating techniques. Relative
dating techniques provide the age of an
artifact, site, or event by relating one
object to another. There can be no
absolute calendar date assigned to the
artifact by using this method. Instead,
relative dating techniques tell us if one
object is older than another, younger than
another, or appears to be the same age as
Relative dating techniques are based
on the Law of Superposition and the
Law of Original Horizontality. The Law
of Superposition states that soils deposited
first lie below those deposited at a later
time, unless the soils have been disturbed.
Therefore, the soil layers, or strata, on the
bottom are older than those found at the
top. The Law of Original Horizontality
states that initially, soils are deposited
horizontally. Therefore, layers of soil can
be followed to determine the original
placement of the layers.
These geologic concepts can be
extended to archaeology. Artifacts found
in lower layers of soil are said to be older
than artifacts found in the higher layers.
It may be helpful to get students to think
of the classroom waste basket. When
students throw items into the trash can,
the can fills from the bottom to the top.
Items at the bottom may have been
deposited in the morning. Those items at
the top may have been deposited in the
afternoon. Therefore, students can deduce
that the items at the bottom have
probably been there longer, and are
probably older, than the items deposited
on the top. There can be exceptions to
this general theory. For instance, animals
burrowing into the ground may upset soil
layers and mix the original order. The
process of one layer of soil being
deposited on top of another is called
stratification. The study of strata is called
Prepare ingredients for layered dessert
ahead of time. Preparation time will vary
according to ingredients chosen.
1. Have you ever been on a walk in the
desert and found something lying on
the ground that looked old, like a
spoon, bottle, or piece of pottery? Did
you wonder who might have used it?
How old is it? How was it used? It's
interesting to try and guess how old the
object is; and who left it in that spot? If
you think you have found something
really old, don't pick it up and take it
home, rather contact an archaeologist
because you might have found an
artifact, which is any material object
made or used by humans.
2. Using the transparency, or copying the
master for handouts, explain how
Tucson's history can be interpreted
through six layers. You may want to
find some pictures to help illustrate
each layer to the class. A good focus for
each layer is to discuss how each group
used the river. The six layers on which
to concentrate, from youngest to oldest,
teacher's corner
lesson setup
lesson outline
Lesson 2 The Science of Archaeology 17
6. Modern Tucson (1912–present)
5. Territorial Tucson (1854–1912)
4. Mexican Period (1821–1854)
3. Spanish Colonial Period (1775–1821)
2. European Contact (1690–1775)
1. Prehistoric Tucson (10,500
3. "Layer Dessert" activity. Teacher creates
a six-layer dessert in a glass bowl so that
students can view the six layers. The
teacher writes a list of all possible
ingredients on overhead or on a
chalkboard and explains that each
ingredient represents one layer of
Tucson history. Identify which food
represents which layer and describe as
you go. For example, the first layer of
graham cracker crumbs represents
prehistoric Tucson. The dessert can be
shared with students upon completion.
The teacher can also share the recipe
with students to try at home with their
4. The teacher discusses with the class the
different layers of Tucson history,
beginning with Prehistoric Tucson.
What was the climate like? (In Paleo-
Indian times it was rainy, grassy, there
were many trees and no saguaros. Later the
climate began to dry out.) Who lived
here? (American Indians, including early
farmers, Hohokam, O'odham) How do we
know anything about the people who
lived here? (Through archaeological
discoveries) How did these people utilize
the Santa Cruz River? (Through farming
using irrigation canals. Also probably
bathed in, drank, and fished the river.)
Once the teacher feels that the students
have a sense of Tucson in prehistoric
times, put the first layer into the bowl.
5. Proceed to the next layer: European
contact. What was the climate like?
(much like today). Who lived here?
(Native American groups: O'odham,
Apache, earliest Spanish missionaries like
Father Kino). Why would we mark the
end of the Prehistoric times with the
arrival of Father Kino? (Because he
introduced the Spanish language to the
area. Prior to his arrival, the Native
American groups had no written language.)
How did the people use the Santa Cruz
River? (They farmed using irrigation
techniques. They also probably bathed in,
drank, and fished the river).
6. Proceed to the next layer: Spanish
Colonial. What was the climate like?
(little changed from the arrival of Father
Kino). Who lived here? (O'odham,
Apache, Spanish settlers, missionaries,
Spanish soldiers and their families). How
did they use the river? (farmed using
irrigation techniques, bathing).
7. Proceed to the next layer: Mexican
Period. What marks the change between
Spanish Colonial and Mexican period?
(Local people wanted their independence
from the Spanish Crown. After a ten-year
war leading to independence, the area
became Mexico.) Who lived here? (Native
American groups, Mexicans) How did they
use the river? (people continued to farm
the land using irrigation techniques,
drinking, and bathing).
8. Proceed to the next layer: Territorial
Tucson. What marks the change in
periods between the Mexican period and
the territorial period? (The Gadsden
Purchase of 1854 transferred ownership of
29,000 square miles of present-day
southern Arizona and southern New
Mexico to the United States from Mexico.)
Who lived here? (Native American groups,
Hispanics, railroad laborers, miners,
explorers, American and European pioneer
settlers, and immigrants from around the
world.) How did these people use the
river? (farming using irrigation techniques).
9. Proceed to the next layer: Modern
Tucson. What marks the change from
Territorial Tucson to Modern Tucson?
(Statehood was granted on February 14,
1912.) Who lives in this area? (people
from all over the world.) How do
Tucsonans use the river today? (There
is no river to use today unless it rains.)
10. By now, all six layers should be visible
to the students.
11. Why would it be difficult for us to
find artifacts from people who lived
in the Rio Nuevo area 2,000 or even
3,000 years ago? (The people moved
around instead of staying in one area.
River flooding and continued building on
top of older sites has covered evidence.
Pothunters, construction companies,
archaeologists, have disturbed the sites
throughout the years, and some of the
information has been removed from the
site.) What types of artifacts might we
expect to find in the excavation of the
Rio Nuevo area? (House remains, glass,
metal, pottery pieces, animal bones,
tools) Would we be able to tell which
artifact is older than another artifact?
(Possibly. We could use various dating
12. Review the six layers of Tucson's
history with the class, using the
overhead projector.
13. After the review allow students to take
a bite out of Tucson's history!
The following pages are to be used as
transparencies or copied for handouts for
the students.
18 Lesson 2 The Science of Archaeology
Science of Archaeology worksheet,
page 20.
1. relative dating techniques
2. artifacts
3. Law of Superposition
4. excavate
5. site
6. stratum
7. stratification
8. stratigraphy
9. relative age
10. artifact
pass it on!
Answer Key
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
Lesson 2 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 19
Tucson's Six-Layer History
6 __________________________________________________________________
5 __________________________________________________________________
4 ________________________________________________________
3 __________________________________________________________________
2 __________________________________________________________________
1 __________________________________________________________________
Unscramble the layers of Tucson's history and place them in the correct sequence using
the choices below.
a. Mexican Period
b. Modern Tucson
c. European Contact
d. Prehistory
e. Territorial Tucson
f. Spanish Colonial Period
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
20 Lesson 2 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society
the Science of Archaeology
Use the following word list to fill in the blanks for the following
worksheet. Use each word only once. It may be helpful to read
through the page once before trying to fill in the blanks.
One way archaeologists determine the age of an artifact is through the use of
__________________ ______________ ______________. Relative dating techniques
provide the age of __________________ , sites, or events by relating one object to
another. There will be no exact calendar date assigned to the artifact by using
this dating technique. Instead, relative dating techniques tell us which object is
older than another, which is younger than another, or which is the same age as
Relative dating techniques are based on the ______________ ______________
______________ , which states that soils deposited first are located beneath those
deposited at a later time. Therefore, those soils that are deposited first are at the
bottom and are considered older than those soils at the top. This geologic
concept can be extended to archaeology. Artifacts found in the lower layers of
soil are said to be older than those found in the higher levels of soil.
When archaeologists __________________ a __________________, they
sometimes remove one layer of earth at a time. Each layer of soil is called a
__________________ . The process of one stratum being deposited on another is
called __________________ . The study of these strata is called ________________ .
No matter how the earth rotates or tilts; no matter how the earth may be
rearranged by earthquakes or uplifting mountains, the original placement of the
sediment was horizontal, according to the Law of Original Horizontality.
By understanding the Law of Superposition and the Law of Original
Horizontality, archaeologists can determine the ______________ ______________
of an __________________ by studying the stratification of soil in which the
object was discovered.
a. excavate
b. relative age
c. law of superposition
d. stratification
e. artifact
f. site
g. stratigraphy
h. relative dating techniques
i. stratum
j. artifacts
• to enable students to assemble clues
and indicators concerning a family
• to enable them to develop an
understanding of how archaeologists
discover the story of the past by digging
for clues.
• to provide students with an exercise in
problem solving and deductive
Standards Addressed
Grades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO1, PO2),
Key Words
• shoebox
• personal items
• family items
• small paintbrush
• spoon
• sand or dirt
1 hour
Shoebox archaeology gives students the opportunity to see how
archaeologists find artifacts in different layers of soil and how the
different layers of soil help archaeologists approximate dates of
the artifacts.
Archaeological Techniques:
Digging the Past
Archaeologists at work.
Photo courtesy Desert Archaeology, Inc.
Getting Started
22 Lesson 3 Archaeological Techniques: Digging the Past
Shoebox archaeology can be performed in
the classroom or outside to minimize the
mess. Extensions to this lesson plan can
be added to include a mock excavation.
For a fee, Old Pueblo Archaeology
provides an educational experience for a
classroom excavation at their
Old Pueblo Archaeology Center
1000 East Fort Lowell
Tucson, AZ
Teachers may also want to contact a local
archaeology firm to see if it has any
excavations in progress available for class
field trips. If no excavations are underway,
teachers may want to contact Pima
Community College West Campus
Archaeology Department, 206-6022. The
college has a mock site established and
regularly train field archaeologists.
Following is a list of archaeology firms
that have been contacted and have agreed
to try to accommodate students. There are
other archaeology firms in Tucson. A
complete list can be obtained by
contacting the State Historic Preservation
Office (602) 542-7159.
Desert Archaeology, Inc.
3975 North Tucson Blvd.
Tucson, AZ 85716
(520) 881-2244
Old Pueblo Archaeology Center
P.O. Box 40577
Tucson, AZ 85717
(520) 798-1201
Statistical Research, Inc.
P.O. Box 31865
Tucson, AZ 85751
(520) 721-4309
343 South Scott Avenue
Tucson, AZ 85701
(520) 325-9194
1. Copy directions in the Pass It On!
Section. Instruct each student to
prepare at home a shoebox for
archaeology. The teacher should go
over instructions in class and send
instructions home with each student.
Shoeboxes should be layered,
alternating soil or sand with personal
objects. Teachers may choose to use
sand in various colors or soils with
various textures to represent different
soil layers. To prevent layers from
combining beyond recognition, it may
be necessary to moisten soils or sands
prior to placing them in the box.
2. Teachers may choose to create kits
complete with all materials and
instructions to send home with each
3. See directions on worksheet.
4. Once all shoeboxes are in the
classroom, the teacher should number
them. Do not place names on the
shoeboxes. Students should not know
whose shoebox they have.
5. Teacher should provide some sort of
repository for sand or soil once
students begin excavating. Students
will need something in which to place
the excavated sand or soil.
1. Once all shoeboxes are in the classroom
and numbered, pass boxes out, one per
student. Make certain no student has
his/her own shoebox.
2. Pass out plastic spoons or brushes for
the excavation.
teacher's corner lesson setup
lesson outline
Lesson 3 Archaeological Techniques: Digging the Past 23
3. Instruct students to gently remove the
soil to expose the first layer of artifacts.
Make sure they know that there may
have been shifting in the boxes, so not
all layers of soil will be the same. Some
of the artifacts may be fragile, so it is
important that the students do not
simply "dig in."
4. Once students have begun to uncover
artifacts, lead a class discussion as to
what students are finding and how they
are finding the artifacts. Sample
questions include:
a. What can you tell from the artifacts?
Male/Female? Old/Young? Ethnicity?
Family interests?
b. How many people do these artifacts
represent? Can you tell what the
people did to make a living? Were
they farmers, bankers, photo-graphers,
etc? What language did the
people speak? What other
information might you need to
complete the interpretation?
5. Instruct students to remove the top
artifacts and place them in one pile on
their desks before moving to the next
layer. The teacher may want to provide
paper lunch bags to keep artifacts
6. Have students continue excavating
until they find the next layer of
artifacts. Repeat the questions from
before. How do these new artifacts
impact the students' original
interpretations? Do the new artifacts
help interpret the preceding artifact? Do
the new artifacts add any information?
Or do they confuse the interpreter?
7. Have students remove the second layer
of artifacts and place them in a separate
pile or bag on their desks.
8. Continue the excavation until all
artifacts are removed and placed in
their separate piles.
9. Have students interpret their
assemblages for the class.
The following pages can be copied for
students as take home directions for
constructing shoebox archaeology.
pass it on!
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
24 Lesson 3 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society
Shoebox Archaeology
1. Select a few personal objects that
represent three generations. An example
of three generations is grandparents,
parents, and students. Objects to
consider include photos, coins, jewelry
(not expensive), key chains, pens,
toiletries, etc. If using actual items,
place in Ziploc bags to prevent soiling.
You may also wish to draw or make
representative objects dated from the
time periods.
2. Place a thin layer of soil (or one color of
sand) at the bottom of the shoebox. If
sand or soil is too dry, you may need to
moisten the layers with a spray bottle to
prevent shifting. Place the objects from
the oldest generation on the first layer
of soil. This will be the bottommost
layer of artifacts.
3. Place a second layer of soil deep enough
to cover the artifacts.
4. On top of the second layer, place
objects from the middle generation.
5. Place a third layer of soil on top of
these artifacts.
6. Place some of the youngest
generation's items on top of the third
layer of soil.
7. Cover with a final layer of soil.
8. Cover shoebox and tape shut to
prevent spilling.
9. Bring shoebox to class for classroom
activity. Try not to move the box
around too much.
10. DO NOT write your name on the box.
You will be excavating another
student's box.
• to enable students to learn the function
of the laboratory in interpretation of
artifacts excavated from archaeological
• to encourage students to understand
how different archaeologists may derive
different conclusions from the same
• to develop deductive reasoning skills
Standards Addressed
Grades 4–5 1SC-E1 (PO4), Language Arts
Standard 3 Listening and Speaking
Grades 6–8 1SC-E3 (PO2), 2SC-E4 (PO1)
Key Words
• Personal items children bring from
• Paper grocery bags
• Paper and pens for documenting the
artifacts and writing the story
• Motel of the Mysteries by David
Macauley, Houghton Mifflin Company,
Boston, 1979. ISBN 0395284252
Approximately 50–60 minutes.
We all have preconceived notions and personal biases, which can
lead to misinterpretation. Archaeologists have personal biases also,
some of which result from their specialized training. In this lesson,
students will interpret artifacts.
Interpretation I
Getting Started
26 Lesson 4 Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation I
Personal knowledge and biases contribute
to interpretation of an artifact. Someone
familiar with a certain subject will have
different interpretations from someone
who is unfamiliar with that same subject.
For instance, most people are familiar
with baseball artifacts such as bases, bats,
balls, and mitts. But only the most avid
fans may know what the on deck circle
(place where a batter next in line waits for
his turn to bat) or a donut (a weight that is
slipped over the large end of the bat that
helps batters practice their swing) is.
Someone who is unfamiliar with the game
may have different interpretations than
those who are familiar with it.
Archaeologists rely on their past
training and experience to determine the
function and meaning of an artifact.
Because archaeologists bring to the
laboratory different levels of knowledge
and different areas of expertise, they
sometimes do not agree on the
interpretation of an artifact.
The teacher should collect items from a
subject area with which the students will
be unfamiliar and place them in a paper
bag. Examples include objects involved in
training a dog, objects from a historical
game that children don't play any more,
or objects used in preparing a certain food
Request, one week or a few days ahead
of time, that students bring in one item
that reflects their personalities, or
something that they use often. Students
may choose to bring in items that are
familiar to other students. However,
encourage them to look for items with
which other students may not be familiar.
Teachers may also want to include items
that are broken and/or have missing
The teacher collects the items brought
in by the students. The teacher places
items inside paper bags to prevent
students from seeing items ahead of time.
Prepare one bag per group of students,
dividing the artifacts among the bags.
1. Discuss how interpretations of artifacts
can differ according to different people.
Have students ever seen an object that
they thought had one function, only to
discover that they were wrong? Have
students ever come into contact with
an object and had no idea of what it
was used for? Read excerpts from Motel
of the Mysteries to illustrate the
difference between interpretation and
2. The teacher takes one item from
his/her special collection. Lead a
discussion about the object's function.
Display all items. Have class try to put
all the clues together and discover what
the assemblage is used for. Eventually,
the teacher may have to reveal the
answers. Explain to the students that
because you had personal knowledge of
the subject matter, you were able to
interpret the artifacts. Because the
students had no prior knowledge of the
subject, they had difficulty in
interpreting the artifacts.
3. Divide class into groups, separate the
groups, and spread throughout the
teacher's corner
lesson setup
lesson outline
Lesson 4 Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation I 27
classroom. Have groups remove one
item at a time from their group bag and
analyze the item, filling out the
worksheet to document their decisions.
What is it made of? Who may have
used the item? How was the item used?
Does the artifact resemble anything
they have ever seen or used before?
What can you conclude from the item?
Can you conclude anything in
particular about the people who may
have used the item?
4. Have group justify and record its
5. Once all groups have completed their
bag, ask that one representative from
each group go to the front of the class
and report on the group's findings. Ask
the class to help interpret the items the
group may have been unable to
decipher. Does anyone have any
differing ideas about the group's
interpretation? Does everyone agree
with the group's interpretation?
The following page should be copied and
distributed to the group members to help
them record data regarding the artifacts.
pass it on!
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
28 Lesson 4 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society
Archaeological Techniques
Archaeology Laboratory Activity
Remove one artifact at a time from the bag and discuss it with your
group. Record your observations and conclusions. Repeat the process
until all artifacts have been observed, discussed, and recorded.
Item# What is it made of? What was its use?
What do these artifacts tell us about the people who used them? Why?
• Students will learn the difficult job
archaeologists have when
reconstructing damaged/partial artifacts
recovered from site excavations.
• Students will understand how
pothunters damage archaeological sites
when removing artifacts and
• Students will attain an understanding
of the importance of pottery to the
• Students will associate decorations and
artwork on pottery to the society that
created them.
Standards Addressed
Grades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO2), 1SS-E2 (PO1, PO4)
Key Words
stylistic analysis
• One terracotta flower pot large enough
to allow all students in the group to add
their artistry to the pot. Plan on using at
least an 8-inch pot.
• 4-inch terracotta flower pots, one per
• quick-drying paint, do not use acrylic
• paint brushes, twigs, feathers, etc., any
implement to apply paint
• large grocery bags, one per group
• rubber mallet or hammer to break pots
• glue and glue brushes for reassembling
• When Clay Sings by Byrd Baylor, Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York, 1972, ISBN
Note: use a glue called "Incredibly Tacky,"
available at craft stores. Glue must be brushed
onto each side of the potsherd that is being
reconstructed. Elmer's glue, rubber cement,
and glue sticks do not work. They don't dry
quickly enough.
1–2 hours depending on size of the class
Creating, breaking, and reconstructing pots is a fun way to simulate
the work archaeologists do in laboratories. An extension to this
activity includes having students create pottery from clay instead of
purchasing store-bought pots. Students can create their own designs
on the pottery or may choose to duplicate Hohokam, Anasazi, or
Mogollon designs.
Interpretation II
Getting Started
30 Lesson 5 Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation II
Archaeologists find many pieces of
pottery. Ceramic artifacts are among the
most durable objects in the archaeological
record. Pieces of pottery, or potsherds, can
survive in the soil under a variety of
circumstances. Ceramic technology is
considered a recent innovation and is
associated with the change between
humans as a hunter-gatherer society and a
more sedentary, agricultural lifestyle.
All sciences use classification to impose
order on a data group. The first step in
classification is to determine assemblages,
or groups of similar artifacts with like
characteristics. The principle behind this
method of classification is that similarities
do not occur randomly, but reflect the
culture or society that manufactured the
object. To classify an assemblage in the
present does not necessarily reflect the
classification the original creators may
have used. Archaeologists have used this
type of classification to determine the
associations of sites on a timeline.
Recently, however, archaeologists have
used this type of classification to study
cultural aspects of a community, such as
trade, population movements, and social
Stylistic analysis studies the artistic
and decorative traits within an
assemblage. This analysis documents the
traditions and decorative styles of the
community that manufactured the items.
Many archaeologists believe that these
traits are culturally conditioned by, and
reflective of, the social systems of the
community. People who live in the same
village will tend to create the same type of
pottery, using the same temper (materials
added to clay to strengthen the pottery
during firing), methods, style, and
Traditionally, archaeologists have used
stylistic analysis to focus on decorative
layouts, motifs, and configurations. The
design categories are then used to
reconstruct site sequences by
documenting stylistic changes through
time. As people change, so do their styles.
The objective of systematic analysis of
ceramic artifacts is to aid in
understanding human behavior. The goal
of such analysis is to explain the role
ceramics hold within a cultural system.
Divide class into teams of two or three.
Each team will be responsible for painting
one large pot. Make sure the students
know that the large pot is for smashing
and the little pot is the one they get to
take home. You may find resistance to the
idea that they will have to smash the pot.
Emphasize that the purpose of this
activity is to give the students an idea of
how an archaeologist really works in a
ceramic analysis laboratory. Remind them
that they will still have a pot to take
home. Make sure each student team
paints the large pot first, before painting
the smaller one. This gives the paint time
to dry prior to smashing the pots. It also
gives the students incentive not to dawdle
while painting the larger pot.
A good introduction to the meaning
and importance of pottery is the book by
Byrd Baylor, When Clay Sings. After
reading the book (entirely or partially),
you may want to ask the students, "How
does your clay sing?"
teacher's corner
lesson setup
Lesson 5 Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation II 31
1. Archaeologists find lots of pottery at
excavation sites. Why do you suppose
this is? (Fired pottery is very durable.)
Does the pottery tell us anything
in particular about the people who
made it?
2. Some artwork on prehistoric pottery
may have been somewhat like
photographs of today. It wasn't always
possible for people to take photos or
videos of things that were important to
them, or things they wanted to
remember. People used art on pottery to
record their observations, thoughts, and
3. We can learn a lot about a people by
studying their ceramics. We can learn:
a. what was important to them;
b. what types of animals might have
been around at the time;
c. what types of celebrations they had;
d. in what manner they created the
What else might we be able to learn?
4. It would be helpful to show
photographs or slides of some of the
pottery styles excavated from the Rio
Nuevo archaeological sites. This will
help illustrate the styles on pottery. If
this is not possible, the teacher may
want to compare and contrast the styles
of pottery among the Hohokam,
Mogollon, and Anasazi.
5. When archaeologists found pottery at
the Rio Nuevo sites, were all the pots
intact? (No) Were they whole or in
pieces? (Most were in pieces) How did the
archaeologists figure out what
decorations were used? (They had to put
the pots back together as best as they
6. What happens if the archaeologist
doesn't find all the pieces? (It may not
be possible to reconstruct the object.)
Where could the missing pieces have
gone? (Pieces could have been moved by
rodents or reused for other purposes.
Pothunters may have removed the pottery
or the pieces may have never been
recovered by archaeologists.) Pothunters
are people who illegally remove items
from an archaeological site. Because of
pothunters, we could be missing out
on some valuable information.
Archaeologists cannot make positive
conclusions if some of the information
is missing.
7. "Smash-a-pot" activity. Divide class
into teams and give each team one
large pot to paint. Make sure the
students know that this is the pot that
will be smashed and reconstructed.
Have them paint symbols and objects
that are important to them. The
purpose of the painting is to leave
clues for the group who will be
reassembling their pot. The team
doing the reassembly of the pot will
"read" the painting group's pot for
clues to the painter's identity.
8. Once student teams finish painting
the large pot, hand out the smaller
pots and let the students paint them
according to their personal tastes. By
the time they finish painting the
smaller pots, the larger ones should
have dried.
9. Set the small pots aside and place one
large pot in each paper grocery bag.
10. The teacher should be the one to
smash the pots. Take the rubber mallet
and hit the bag with the pot inside
once. If the pot doesn't break into
more than two pieces hit it again.
Once all the pots are broken, hand
them out to the teams, making sure no
team gets its original pot.
lesson outline
11. Pass out the glue and glue brushes for
each team. Have the team look at the
pieces (the assemblage) and try to get
a sense of the pottery to be
reassembled. Let the teams try to
reassemble the pot.
The teacher can check for understanding
of the lesson by leading a group
discussion about the "smash-a-pot"
activity. Once pots are reassembled, ask
the teams to make some conclusions
about the students who painted the pot.
Does their clay sing as in the Byrd Baylor
book? What items/objects were recorded
in paint? What does this tell us about the
people who decorated the pot? What
colors did the painter choose? How did
they apply the paint? How do
archaeologists read pottery? How do
archaeologists reassemble pottery?
The following page may be copied for
handouts to help students gather ideas for
images to paint on the pots.
32 Lesson 5 Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation II
pass it on!
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
Lesson 5 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 33
• to show students how deductive
reasoning works in studying artifacts
• to illustrate that different assumptions
can change interpretations and that
removing key pieces of evidence can
change interpretations
• to enable students to gain an
understanding of why archaeologists
are tentative in their conclusions
• to show students that the garbage they
leave behind contains artifacts that can
be analyzed just as archaeologists
analyze other artifacts from the past0
Standards Addressed
Grades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO2), 1SC-E1 (PO3,
Grades 6–8 1SC-E3 (PO2), 2SC-E4 (PO1),
• paper grocery bags, two per household
• items from the Household lists
• Household lists can be copied and
handed out to the student groups
instead of collecting the items.
However, using real objects increases
the amount of information students
will have for analysis and increases the
interest and level of involvement of the
• paper and writing instruments for
students to record their findings
The lesson can take as little as 50 minutes
and as long as 90 minutes, depending on
extensions and involvement of the group.
Archaeologists learn about the past by studying artifacts. Many
times, the items left behind are from ancient garbage piles. By using
the same techniques and examining modern trash, we can learn
about modern society.
The Garbage Project
Adapted from the "Studies in Arizona History" textbook
Getting Started
36 Lesson 6 The Garbage Project
Archaeologists learn about the past
through the study of artifacts. Often this
involves sifting through ancient garbage.
We can learn about modern societies
using the same techniques. The University
of Arizona has an ongoing program called
The Garbage Project, directed by Dr.
William Rathje, that has studied landfills
from different cities. In this lesson
students will have an opportunity to
analyze fictitious, but feasible, household
items and draw conclusions about human
behavior based upon their observations.
In this exercise there are no right or
wrong answers, just logical deductions.
Like detectives, archaeologists use clues
from artifacts to reconstruct human
behavior. By studying garbage, we can
apply the same reasoning to the study of
modern societies.
1. Collect all items listed on the
Household List. Substitutions can be
made. All items must be emptied and
cleaned. Make sure all can rims are free
of sharp edges.
2. On the day the project will be done,
distribute items into four paper grocery
bags marked with "household number
1–4 A." (1A, 2A, etc.)
3. In four separate grocery bags, place the
remaining two household items that
will be introduced after each group
makes the first conclusions. Make sure
to mark the bags "household number
1–4 B." (1B, 2B, etc.)
4. Divide the class into four groups. If the
class is large, you can duplicate the
households. Instead of four groups, you
would have eight. It doesn't matter
that the households are duplicated.
Different groups will come to different
interpretations and conclusions.
1. Ask students "How do archaeologists
know what they know?" List their
answers on the board for the entire
class to see. Discuss each answer as it is
2. Ask students to consider why one
archaeologist may come to a different
conclusion than another if examining
the same artifacts.
3. Bring in one item with which the
students are not familiar (such as a
grapefruit spoon, a tool, an old TV
channel dial, etc.). The item can be
broken, old or new, or just unfamiliar
to the students. Pass the item around
the classroom. After everyone has had a
chance to view and touch it, have
students discuss the artifact. What are
some of their conclusions,
assumptions, and interpretations? How
are they making their interpretations?
On what evidence are they basing their
4. Read and/or discuss Motel of the
Mysteries. You can also use excerpts
from the book to illustrate
misinterpretation of evidence. If the
book is unavailable to the class, be sure
to illustrate how analysts, when
assuming too much, can easily
misinterpret information that leads to
wrong conclusions.
teacher's corner
lesson outline
lesson setup
Lesson 6 The Garbage Project 37
5. Instruct the students about what is
going to happen. Each group will
receive one household bag. As a group,
the students must make
interpretations and come to
conclusions about the people of the
household. Questions to consider are:
a. What can students deduce for
absolute certainty about their
b. Can students tell the age, gender,
and number of household
c. Is it possible to figure out the social
status (including occupation and
education level)?
d. Are the occupants poor, middle
class, or wealthy?
e. What other information can
students deduce from the household
6. Ask students to record the reasons for
their deductions. Are some items more
helpful in determining the answers
than others?
7. Have students break into their pre-assigned
8. Each group should choose a
spokesperson to report on the findings
of the group.
9. Allow groups ample time to analyze
the artifacts in their bag. The teacher
can determine the proper amount of
time by circulating around the
classroom and listening to the group
10. Once the interpretation phase is over,
ask the spokesperson from each group
to go to the front of the class. The
spokesperson should introduce the
items from the household bag and
show the class each item. The
spokesperson should report the group's
interpretations and conclusions.
A class discussion should follow
regarding the group's interpretations.
Does anyone have anything to add?
Does anyone question any of the
group's interpretations?
11. Continue until all groups have
reported their findings.
12. Once spokespeople return to their
groups, hand out the second part of
the household bags. The two
remaining items must now be figured
into the group's original interpretation
of the first bag of household artifacts.
Repeat the reporting step, as the
spokesperson reports on how/if the
additional items changed their
interpretation and why. Have the
added items changed any of the
original interpretations? Make the
analogy between the missing
information and the damage
pothunters do to archaeological sites.
When evidence is missing, it is
impossible to know the entire story.
Use the following page as a handout (if
not using real objects for the activity) or
use as a list in order to locate objects for
each household.
pass it on!
Household #1
1. broken hearing aid or hearing aid
2. diet soda can
3. large enchilada sauce can
4. small green chili can
5. plastic tortilla bag, preferably brand
name (not hand-made)
6. broken Barbie doll
7. baby food jar with small screws in it
8. action figure toy
9. sawdust (can be placed inside a
Ziploc bag)
10. computer floppy disk
Household #1 Additions
1. Wall Street Journal
2. empty pill bottle labeled
Nitroglycerin Tablets
Household #2
1. plastic name badge on pin
2. pizza box
3. used lipstick: the most "in" color
4. hair spritz or hairspray
5. macaroni and cheese box
6. toy bear losing stuffing
7. worn women's tennis shoes: Size 7
8. SunTran bus passes/transfers
9. empty vitamin bottle
10. cat litter bag
Household #2 Additions
1. baby diaper
2. People magazine in Spanish
Household #3
1. wine bottle
2. steak bones
3. recipes clipped from a magazine
4. used deodorant container
5. empty film cans
6. Sports Illustrated
7. used deck of cards; preferably partial
8. empty cigar box
9. photographs of a basketball game
Household #3 Additions
1. worn, run pantyhose
2. African American hair braid and
extension conditioner
Household #4
1. brown rice box
2. empty can of water chestnuts
3. soy sauce bottle
4. worn sandal
5. plastic water bottle
6. worn cloth shopping bag
7. hair tie
8. empty vitamin bottle
9. empty package of garden seeds
Household #4 Additions
1. Consumer Reports magazine
2. broken high-heel shoe
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
38 Lesson 6 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society
Section 2
Applying archaeology
to Rio Nuevo
Rio Nuevo Partnership schools on tour of the excavation site.
• Students will use the Arizona Daily Star
newspaper articles as primary research
tools to discover the history, scope, and
future plans for the Rio Nuevo Project.
• Students will develop a sense of
community involvement by researching
the Rio Nuevo Project.
Standards Addressed
Grades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO2), 1SS-E2 (PO1,
Grades 6–8 R-E2 (PO1, PO2,
Key Words
• Arizona Daily Star newspaper articles:
"Unearthed History to Be Reburied," by
Carmen Duarte, January 26, 2001
"Learn More About Rio Nuevo
Development," by Paola Banchero,
January 1, 2001
50–60 minutes, depending on class
reading level and whether or not both
articles are used.
In this lesson, students will read newspaper articles to discover
what archaeology is taking place during the Rio Nuevo Project.
and Rio Nuevo
Getting Started
42 Lesson 7 Archaeology and Rio Nuevo
Some students may have difficulty
reading the newspaper articles and may
need assistance.
The information found in the
newspaper articles is dated, but the
articles provide a good overview for the
Rio Nuevo Project at its inception.
Teachers should direct the class to
research newer articles and compare/
contrast the information. Recent
information can also be obtained through
the Desert Archaeology Inc. website at
The teacher can copy the newspaper
articles and worksheets to hand out for
individual students or small groups; or
create an overhead transparency if doing
as a class exercise.
1. Hand out copies of newspaper articles
and question sheets. Students can
either work in teams, as partners, or
2. Ask students to read the articles and
answer the questions in the spaces
provided on the answer sheets. Remind
students that it is helpful to review the
questions before reading the article.
This will give them an idea about what
information to look for during their
3. Review the topic by leading class
discussion on the answers students
have recorded.
The following articles and question sheets
may be copied for classroom distribution,
or made into overhead slides for a class
teacher's corner lesson outline
pass it on!
lesson setup
Lesson 7 Archaeology and Rio Nuevo 43
"Unearthed History to Be Reburied"
page 46.
1. West of the Santa Cruz River
below "A" Mountain.
2. November 2000 to February 2001.
3. ancestors of the Tohono
O'odham, Spanish conquistadors,
Mexican farmers, Chinese
4. San Agustín Mission site.
5. The archaeologists found a
prehistoric village dating back
2,500 years.
6. The river contained fish and
turtles. Cottonwoods, mesquites,
willows, and tall grasses grew in
abundance; not mentioned in the
article, but gives students a
chance to compare then and now.
7. corn, beans, squash, deer, rabbit,
wild spinach, mesquite pods, and
cactus fruit.
8. Father Kino brought written
language to the area.
9. He brought wheat, cattle, horses,
and chickens. He wrote journals
describing what he found and
mapped the area.
10. The City of Tucson operated a
"Learn More about Rio Nuevo
Development" page 49.
1. parks, walkways, museums, theaters,
restaurants, convention hotel,
housing and gathering places.
2. 62 acres.
3. "A", "10", "6", El Con, Park Place.
4. a. water, Santa Cruz.
b. natural open, park, greenery,
c. east, downtown.
5. San Agustín, Convento, rebuilt.
6. culture, heritage.
7. and 8. Students will express their
understanding of culture and
Answer Key Answer Key
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
44 Lesson 7 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society
An archaeological dig that uncovered
precious Tucson history dating back 2,500
years is about to go underground once
But before it does, you can go today and
tomorrow to view an area known as the
"Birthplace of Tucson," just west of the
Santa Cruz River below "A" Mountain.
Since November, crews of
archaeologists began unearthing layers of
history buried there.
These past worlds were occupied by
pre-historic people—ancestors to the
Tohono O'odham-and Spanish
conquistadores, Mexican farmers and
Chinese businessmen.
The current dig is going to be covered
up by mid-February and then decisions
will be made later on which historic finds
will be re-constructed and which will be
excavated and protected.
The $360 million Rio Nuevo project
aimed at revitalizing downtown includes a
cultural center and re-creation of San
Agustín Mission, and the Convento where
the priests lived. The mission was built in
Pithouses, irrigation canals, and a
Chinese outhouse are among the
discoveries at the site.
Chinese dishes, including a rice wine
jar, brown stoneware, rice bowls, sauce
bowls and a spoon dating from
1880–1900 will also be on display.
These discoveries and more, including
stones used for pounding and grinding,
and oval and square bowls made out of
stone, may be going into a cultural
Plans are not complete, but the latest
details by Hunter Interests of Maryland,
Rio Nuevo's master planners, show the
museums were moved from west of the
river to east of Interstate 10, south of
West Congress Street.
Meanwhile, archaeologists Jonathan B.
Mabry and J. Homer Thiel will lead crews
that will continue to dig in the area and
east of I-10, doing fieldwork and mapping
out findings in the area that will help
shape Rio Nuevo's look.
About $2.1 million is expected to be
spent on archaeology throughout the
11-year Rio Nuevo project, which
includes excavations downtown, east of
Interstate 10.
So far, the findings at Tucson's
birthplace-also known as the San Agustín
Mission site-make Mabry marvel.
"We found a prehistoric village dating
back 2,500 years. This tells us that Tucson
is the longest, continuously occupied
settlement in the United States," Mabry
said yesterday while giving a tour.
Back then, the area was lush and the
Santa Cruz River carried fish and turtles.
Cottonwoods, mesquites, willows and tall
grasses grew in abundance.
People living in the pithouses farmed
corn, beans and squash. Their diet also
included deer, rabbit, wild spinach,
mesquite pods and cactus fruit.
Unearthed History to be Reburied
Archaeologists complete excavations on Rio Nuevo site
By Carmen Duarte Arizona Daily Star, 01/26/01
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
Lesson 7 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 45
Mabry said it is not known where the
early farmers came from. He said the
Hohokam came to the area 1,500 years
ago, and possibly learned farming from
the earlier Sonoran Desert farmers.
"People lived in this spot for so long
because "A" Mountain is a volcanic hill.
The rock barrier forced ground water up
to the surface," Mabry said.
He said everything before the coming
of early missionary Eusebio Francisco
Kino is considered prehistoric because it
was not written.
"Father Kino came to the Santa Cruz
River Valley in the 1690s and found a
Pima village. He brought wheat, cattle,
horses and chickens to the area that was
known as San Cosme," Mabry said. Kino
wrote journals describing what he found
and mapped out the area.
Mabry pointed to the volcanic rock
foundation of a wall that stood around the
San Agustín Mission site, the Convento
and two cemeteries. There also was a
granary, and its foundation is visible.
Many of the prehistoric sites and the
mission settlement are believed to have
been destroyed because the city of Tucson
ran a landfill in the area in the 1950s and
1960s, Mabry said.
However, what has been found has
given archaeologists a good view of the
area's history—a good foundation to what
can be reconstructed, Mabry said.
This is the first time the area has been
dug up and the studies of prehistoric
findings done, Mabry said.
Police will patrol the area regularly
while the excavations continue.
Updates of the findings will be posted
on the Web site www.rio-nuevo.org
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
46 Lesson 7 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society
Read the article, "Unearthed History to Be Reburied", and answer the
following questions. It may help to read the questions first to give you an
idea what to look for when reading the article.
"Unearthed History to Be Reburied"
by Carmen Duarte Arizona Daily Star, 01/26/01
1. Where is the "birthplace of Tucson" located? __________________________________
2. What was the period of time the archaeologists had to work on the excavation?
3. Name the four groups of people, mentioned in the article, who occupied the area.
4. Tucson's birthplace is known as the __________________________________________
5. An archaeologist said, "Tucson is the longest continuously occupied settlement in
the U.S." What proof does he have to make this statement?______________________
6. The area around the Santa Cruz River looked much different 2,500 years ago than it
does now. Describe what it looked like at that time. ____________________________
What does the area look like now? ____________________________________________
7. What did the people who lived in pithouses eat? ______________________________
8. Father Kino came to the Santa Cruz River Valley in the 1690s. Why is everything
before the coming of Father Kino considered prehistoric? ________________________
9. What contributions did Father Kino make to the area known as San Cosme, as
mentioned in the article? ____________________________________________________
10. Many of the prehistoric sites and the mission settlement were apparently destroyed
during the 1950s and the 1960s. What happened? ______________________________
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
Lesson 7 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 47
Rio Nuevo, painted only in broad brush
strokes so far, will become clearer
Wednesday when the public gets its first
look at an early version of the $360
million plan for revitalizing downtown.
Developed by consultant Hunter
Interests after a series of public meetings,
the plan likely will call for a mix of
entertainment and cultural offerings, such
as parks and walkways, museums,
theaters, restaurants, a convention hotel,
housing and public gathering places in the
62-acre Rio Nuevo district.
The district abuts "A" Mountain, runs
east past Interstate 10 through Downtown,
then six miles down Broadway to include
the El Con and Park Place malls.
Here are some details about the project
that have emerged from public meetings
since October:
• Plans for putting water in the usually
dry Santa Cruz River would probably
limit the flow to a small stream during
most of the year, perhaps just a trickle
during dry seasons.
• The west side of I-10 will have more
natural open space, a cultural park
flanked by greenery, and mixed-use
development that may include housing.
This is where a replica of 18th-century-era
Mission San Agustín, along with a
two-story convento and a granary, would
be rebuilt.
• The arts and entertainment district and
many of the cultural and visitors
attractions will be on the east side of the
highway, in the heart of Downtown.
The Wednesday forum begins at 6:30 p.m.
at the Tucson Convention Center. A final
version of the plan will be presented at a
public hearing before the mayor and
council on Feb. 27.
"As Rio Nuevo's plans are shaping up,
it's clear we are going to be in the heart of
the tourist part of Downtown," said Jane
McCullom, vice president of MRO
Management Inc., which manages La
Placita Village, the Downtown retail
office complex at Congress Street and
Church Avenue.
McCullom, a member of the Rio Nuevo
Citizens Advisory Committee, said the
project must be economically sound and
"It means Rio Nuevo has to represent
Tucson's culture and heritage in an
authentic way."
Carmen Villa Prezelski, another
member of the advisory committee and a
fifth-generation Southern Arizonan,
crystallized that view when she urged that
the project steer away from "Taco Bell
meets Disneyland."
Rio Nuevo's planners have picked up
on the expression.
"We want something that pays homage
to the desert architecturally, that is
Sonoran, not Californian mission revival
or Santa Fe-an," Villa Prezelski said.
Read the article, "Learn more about Rio Nuevo development," and
answer the following questions. You may want to read the questions
first so you know what to look for when reading the article.
Learn more about Rio Nuevo development
By Paola Banchero Arizona Daily Star, 01/01/01
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
48 Lesson 7 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society
At neighborhood meetings, public
forums and design workshops, Tucsonans
have been asked what would make
Downtown inviting, livable and
It's a process launched when voters in
November 1999 approved the outline of
Rio Nuevo plan, including funding
through so-called tax-increment financing.
That means setting aside for Rio Nuevo
use some of the tax revenue raised within
the Rio Nuevo area—including the two
One-third of the money will come from
this public source, with the remaining
two-thirds from private investment.
Besides the public forums and meetings
about Rio Nuevo, the 21-member citizens
advisory committee has been hashing out
its role in the process.
The group has regularly scheduled
monthly meetings, but in recent weeks it
has met more frequently to establish what
criteria it will use to evaluate each
The open-ended dialogue of the
meetings has heartened Tucson City
Manager James Keene, who accepted the
city manager job last year in part because
he saw Rio Nuevo as the mechanism to
bring Downtown back to life.
"I'm very optimistic about the way the
public process is unfolding," Keene said.
Rio Nuevo's citizen guardians are
aware that attractions must connect to
each other or run the risk of failing, he
"If we cherry-picked projects and they
were disconnected and all over the place,
they wouldn't provide enough critical
mass to convince the private sector to
Anna Landau, who attended a two-day
design workshop in early November with
her family, recognizes that Rio Nuevo
must have a commercial component to
"But it can't be the reason for the
project," Landau said.
"It can't be a theme park," her sister
Sonya Landau added.
Cele Peterson, their grandmother, had a
fashion boutique Downtown for years and
was one of the last to leave the area. If
Tucson's Downtown is to thrive again, it
has to be "a place the [sic] piques your
interest and maintains it by encouraging
exchanges with other Tucsonans," Anna
Landau said.
Their comments were echoed in the
public gatherings, where Rio Nuevo
Project Director John S. Jones heard
participants bemoan the loss of public
"I want to embrace this plan," Jones
said, "and I want the people who see the
plan to embrace it, to see that it is
something that has come out of them, out
of this dialogue we've been having, that
it's their vision of the future."
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
Lesson 7 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 49
"Learn More About Rio Nuevo Development"
1. The development plans for Rio Nuevo will likely call for a mix of entertainment
and cultural offerings such as ________________________________________________
2. How many acres will there be in the Rio Nuevo District? ______________________
3. The district abuts _______ Mountain, runs past Interstate ______, through
Downtown, then _______ miles down Broadway, including the ______________
and ____________ Malls.
4. Details about the project include the following:
a. There are plans for putting __________ in the usually dry _______________ River.
b. The west side of I-10 will have more ___________________ space, a cultural
________________ flanked by _______________________ and mixed-use
development may include __________________________________________________
c. The arts and entertainment district and many of the cultural and visitors
attractions will be on the ______________ side of the highway, in the heart of
the ______________________________________________________________________
5. A replica of the 18th century mission _____________________, along with a two-story
________________________ and granary, would be ______________.
6. A member of the Rio Nuevo Citizens Advisory Committee said, "Rio Nuevo has
to represent Tucson's ___________________________ and ______________________ in
an authentic way."
7. What do you think the above statement means? ______________________________
8. What do you think would make the downtown area inviting, livable, and
enjoyable? __________________________________________________________________
• to provide students with the most up to
date information regarding prehistory of
the Tucson Basin
• to help students hone questioning and
reading comprehension skills
Standards Addressed
Grades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO1, PO2), 1SS-E2
Key Words
copies of interview for class
50–60 minutes
New information gathered from the Rio Nuevo excavations is
changing our knowledge of Tucson's history and prehistory. This
interview was conducted with one of the archaeologists involved
with the Rio Nuevo excavations.
An Interview with
an Archaeologist
Dr. Jonathan Mabry shows a cross section of an
irrigation canal. Photo courtesy of Desert Archaeology, Inc.
Getting Started
52 Lesson 8 An Interview with an Archaeologist
There are many possibilities to extend this
lesson plan. Two students may be selected
to role-play in front of the class. The class
can be split into groups, with each group
taking on one question or acting the roles
for each question. Teachers may want to
consider calling local archaeology firms to
have an archaeologist speak to the class.
The teacher decides whether to read the
interview as a group project or for
individual students. Copy "An Interview
with an Archaeologist" and hand out to
students. If the teacher has chosen to
divide the class into groups, one copy per
group is sufficient.
1. The teacher asks students to read the
interview as homework and be
prepared to role play or discuss the
next class period.
2. Ask students about the prehistory of
the Tucson basin.
Questions to consider:
a. Do we know what the climate was
b. What types of animals lived in this
c. What types of vegetation were there?
d. Did anyone live in this area during
prehistoric times?
The following pages may be copied for
individual handout or made into a
transparency for class discussion. Teachers
can assign the following activities for
homework or classroom discussion. The
teacher may want to assign each student
one activity, or break class into teams and
assign each team one activity.
NOTE: Letters can be written on an
individual basis, or as a class or group
project. Should the teacher decide to have
each student write a letter, the possibility
of receiving an answer improves if all
letters are not directed to one
archaeologist. Not all archaeologists will
answer the same question in the same
teacher's corner
lesson setup
lesson outline
pass it on!
An Interview with an Archaeologist
Interview with Dr. Jonathan B. Mabry, Friday, November 16, 2001
Senior Project Director, Desert Archaeology, Inc.
Interview by Kyle McKoy
Curatorial Assistant, Arizona Historical Society
Some people have no idea what the world of archaeology is or what
archaeologists do. Others have very specific ideas. Some people think that
archaeologists dig up dinosaur bones. Others think that archaeologists are
treasure hunters who keep everything that they find. Thanks to some
Hollywood movies, many people think that archaeologists travel the world,
filling their lives with adventure and excitement around every turn. To find
out what a real archaeologist does, I interviewed one.
Dr. Jonathan Mabry is an archaeologist who investigates the prehistoric past.
At the time of this interview, he was employed by Desert Archaeology, Inc., in
Tucson, Arizona, and working on the excavations for the Rio Nuevo Project.
He investigates the people who lived in the Tucson Basin during prehistoric
times. The information gathered from the excavations for Rio Nuevo has shed
new light, not only on the history of the Tucson Basin, but also on the history
of the entire region.
Interviewer • What information about the prehistory of the Tucson Basin has
been gathered from the recent excavations?
Dr. Mabry In 1993, before the work began for Rio Nuevo, we began uncovering
some large villages and learning more about an early farming culture that
lived in this area during prehistoric times, long before the Hohokam
culture. We knew very little about this earlier culture before. Since then,
there's been a series of excavations of early farming villages right here in
Tucson. Recently, we've been excavating some of these villages near
downtown Tucson near the Santa Cruz River at the base of "A" mountain.
The deeper we dig into the soil of the Santa Cruz River floodplain, the
farther back we're pushing the dates of this culture. The most recent
excavations for the Rio Nuevo Project have exposed a deeply buried site
with pithouses, storage pits, grinding tools, pottery, ceramic figurines, and
corn.We've been able to date many of the artifacts already. We've dated
some corn and found that it's 4,000 years old! That's almost the oldest
corn ever found in the Southwest. We also know that the pottery is the
oldest pottery found in the Southwest. The pithouses we have uncovered
are the oldest pithouses that have been found in southern Arizona. We're
extending the origins of agriculture, village life, and pottery back in time
much farther than we thought before.
Name ____________________________________________________________________________
Lesson 8 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 53
Interviewer • What did archaeologists believe before these discoveries?
Dr. Mabry Before the 1980s, we thought that agriculture (cultivation of corn, beans,
and squash) arrived from Mexico around 2,000 years ago. Since then, we
discovered some earlier evidence of agriculture that pushed the dates
back, and we realized that agriculture had arrived by at least 3,000 years
ago. The most recent discoveries push the arrival of agriculture back to
4,000 years ago.
Interviewer • What new information have you gathered from the recent
excavations that has helped shed new light on the early farmers?
Dr. Mabry The most exciting new information comes from finding canals that were
built 3,000 years ago. They prove that canal irrigation goes back that far
in the Sonoran Desert. Before this discovery, the oldest canals that had
been found in the Southwest were 2,000 years old and were built by the
Hohokam culture. For many decades a big question about the Hohokam
has been, "How did they learn to build these huge canal systems?" We
had no evidence of anything that looked like an earlier stage of
development. With the discovery of canals in several locations that are
between 2,000 and 3,000 years old, we've extended the history of
irrigation technology much farther back in time and now we can see the
evolutionary process. The most recent excavations done for Rio Nuevo at
the base of "A" Mountain have uncovered some very large canals that
date to about 2,500 years ago. What is interesting about them is that they
are as big as the biggest Hohokam canals in this valley. We did not
previously think that they were making canals that large that long ago.
Interviewer • How can you tell the difference between an early farmer canal and a
Hohokam canal?
Dr. Mabry We only know the difference by dating them. We know that the recently
discovered canals were built 2,500 years ago because we radiocarbon
dated some charcoal that was found in them. In terms of time, the
Hohokam culture did not develop until about 1,500 years ago, so these
canals are about 1,000 years older than the Hohokam culture.
Interviewer • What other information have you gathered from studying the
Dr. Mabry We can see the history of a canal by studying the sediments. When
people think of a canal, they think of an empty ditch or a ditch that is
filled with water. When archaeologists find a prehistoric canal, it is
completely ful
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