Sep 14Homer Thiel discusses what we learned about the Chinese men who came to Tucson while working on the railroad in the late 1800s and stayed here to make lives for themselves. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a housing development was constructed along the road leading to the summit…
Aug 19Homer Thiel discusses ancient and historical cultural resources encountered on the grounds of the Historic Pima County Courthouse in Tucson during renovations and the construction of the January 8 Memorial. Pima County has recently completed the renovation of the 1929 Pima County Courthouse, now the home of the Southern Arizona…
Aug 9Homer Thiel talks about the Hardy Site and what the structures and artifacts recorded there teach us about Hohokam lifeways in the eastern Tucson Basin. The word Hohokam refers to the archaeological culture that existed in the Sonoran Desert from about AD 500 to 1450. The Hohokam are well known…
Jun 3Desert Archaeology crew chief Caleb E. Ferbrache explains how electrons trapped in rock can be used to date archaeological deposits--and why, unlike the more familiar carbon dating, OSL allows dating in the absence of preserved organic material. Most people know that archaeologists regularly use carbon-14 (also called radiocarbon) to date…
Oct 24Historical archaeologist Homer Thiel presents the history of the four courthouses that have served Pima County. On October 27th, 2018, he will be giving a talk titled “The Five Legal Executions in Pima County” as part of the Presidio San Agustín del Tucson’s Salon & Saloon Lecture Series. During his…
Aug 24The C. O. Brown House in downtown Tucson is now dwarfed by the new concrete-and-steel buildings that have sprung up on either side of it in recent years. But how long, exactly, has this tenacious adobe house been hanging on to the middle of its block on Broadway? Homer Thiel…
Nov 23Historical archaeologist Homer Thiel starts off the fall/winter feasting season with a look at the foods prepared by residents of Tucson during the Presidio era. It's that time of year when residents of Tucson sit down for big meals at various holidays. We go to our local supermarkets or farmers…
Oct 31Homer Thiel presents the story of two forgotten burials from the abandoned Court Street Cemetery north of downtown Tucson. In 2012, Desert Archaeology was contracted by the City of Tucson to examine a parcel of land located at the southwest corner of N. Stone Avenue and W. Speedway Boulevard. At…
Aug 11Desert Archaeology’s historical archaeologist, Homer Thiel, is back this week with a look at adult beverages in the Old Pueblo's past. Wandering through downtown Tucson, you may come across the Independent Distillery at 30 S. Arizona Avenue, located in a historic building across the alley from the under-construction AC Marriot…
Jul 10Today marks historical archaeologist Homer Thiel's 25th anniversary at Desert Archaeology. In a special blog entry, he thinks back to two key finds that encapsulate his career. The phone in my Tempe apartment rang on July 10th, 1992. "Hello, this is Bill Doelle of Desert Archaeology in Tucson..." Bill was…