Nov 6Jim Vint recently completed a survey on historic ranchland north of Arivaca, Arizona. His background research led first to Ventura Robledo, and then to discrepancies between newspaper stories and a coroner's inquest. Either way, Robledo met a tragic end. Miguel Moreno has a Ranch House out buildings & corrals in…
Jun 14What started out as a reexamination of schist temper led Desert Archaeology ceramicist James M. Heidke to review evidence regarding the time of year precontact pottery may have been made. Fontana and others found that mid-20th century Tohono O’odham potters only made vessels during the hot summer months, both for…
Jan 8Residents of the Tucson Presidio farmed, raised livestock, and occasionally hunted. Food was plentiful in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but cookstoves were not. Historical archaeologist Homer Thiel explores the other ways people found for applying fire to food in order to transform raw ingredients into meals. The…
May 26Water is the the desert's most precious resource. As modern communities in the West grapple with dwindling supplies, Homer Thiel explores how people living near Tucson in the mid-19th century acquired water for their homes and gardens. People need water for drinking, cooking, washing, and watering plants, among other uses.…
Apr 27Homer Thiel takes us on a road trip to Fairbank, Arizona, a ghost town just west of Tombstone, to explore not just the historic records of the town but the Hohokam settlement established in the same place a thousand years earlier. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, the Center…
Mar 20Archaeological work on the west side of the Santa Cruz River, to the north and south of West Congress Street, resulted in the documentation of the long history of water management in this area. What has been found? Homer Thiel provides answers. Pre-Contact ditches and canals The oldest irrigation ditch…
Feb 24Homer Thiel discusses the history of maize cultivation in the Tucson Basin. Desert Archaeology's work has been instrumental in documenting some of the earliest agriculture in what is now the United States, as well as tracing the ways different peoples have grown and used the grain through time here. In…
Jan 30Homer Thiel winds the history machine back a few decades from the previous posts to look at life in Tucson during the time of transition from Mexican to US governance. Mexico achieved independence from Spain in 1821. In the years afterward, many changes occurred in the small fortress community of…
Jan 2Homer Thiel digs into the archives to tell the story of downtown Tucson's Block 83. The block is currently occupied by the MLK Apartments and the Ronstadt Transit Center, but over 100 years ago it was the site of single-family homes and saloons, hotels, restaurants, and other businesses. Desert Archaeology…
Sep 20For the last ten years, visitors to the Mission Garden, located at the base of Sentinel Peak ("A" Mountain) have watched as fruit trees grow from saplings into tall trees, seen an acequia (canal) built and stocked with an endangered species, viewed crops being harvested and food preparation methods demonstrated.…