D o w n t o w nUnder Ground:

Archaeological Clues to Tucson’s Past

Teacher Guide and Elementary Classroom ActivitiesKyle Lyn McKoy

Sponsored by the City of Tucson and Desert Archaeology, Inc.

The rio Nuevo Project

D o w n t o w nUnder Ground:

Archaeological Cluesto 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 McKoyProject 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, ProgramCoordinator, Partnership Schools, Arizona State Museum; Dr. WilliamDoelle, President, Desert Archaeology, Inc.; Barry Guerrero, ProfessorEmeritus, Hawaii Community College; Gwen Russell Harvey, Director ofEducation, Arizona Historical Society; Bruce Hilpert, Director of PublicPrograms, Arizona State Museum; Phyllis Lundquist, elementary schoolteacher (retired); Dr. Jonathan B. Mabry, Archaeologist, DesertArchaeology, Inc.; Marty McCune, Historic Program Administrator,Citizen and Neighborhood Services, City of Tucson; Irma J. Moreno,elementary school teacher (retired); J.Homer Thiel, HistoricalArchaeologist, Desert Archaeology, Inc.

Author: Kyle Lyn McKoy, BA Anthropology, University of Arizona, is aCuratorial Assistant in the Education Department at the ArizonaHistorical Society. She develops and teaches children and youthprograms.

© 2002 by the Arizona Historical Society. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of AmericaArizona Historical Society949 East Second StreetTucson, AZ 85719

Cover photos by David A. Harvey. Background photo: Downtown Tucson with “A” Mountain. Inset photo: Sara Plescia of Desert Archaeology, Inc.

IntroductionAn Introduction to Rio Nuevo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vHow to Use This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi12,000 Years of Tucson History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viiTurning Points in Tucson’s History: A Timeline . . . . . . . . xiii

SECTION 1 Principles of ArchaeologyTalking Trash: The Science of Archaeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Lesson Plans1. Archaeological Techniques: Documenting Evidence . . . . . 72. The Science of Archaeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153. Archaeological Techniques: Digging the Past. . . . . . . . . . 214. Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation I 255. Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation II 296. The Garbage Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

SECTION 2 Applying Archaeology to Rio Nuevo7. Archaeology and Rio Nuevo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418. An Interview With an Archaeologist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519. Fathers, Farmers, and Fighters in Tucson. . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

10. The Chinese Experience in Tucson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6511. Territorial Tucson: Water Rights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6912. Time Capsule Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Arizona State DOE Standards Addressed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Table of Contents

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Rio Nuevo Excavation AreasLocation map: 1. Tucson Presidio2. San Agustín Mission 3. Mission Gardens 4. Carrillo House5. Well with Chinese Trash6. Warner’s Mill7. Chinese gardener’s household

Rio Nuevo Experience Areas as of 20011. Convento Complex2. Mission Gardens3. Prehistoric dwellings4. Pima Village5. Carrillo House6. Cultural Center7. Warner’s Mill8. Historic Footbridge replica9. Open space, historic native vegetation

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In November, 1999, Tucson votersapproved Proposition 400 whichinstructed the City of Tucson to create anew cultural district, called the Rio NuevoDistrict, in downtown Tucson. Rio Nuevo(“new river” in Spanish) is a 62-acre areathat extends from “A” Mountain, west ofthe Santa Cruz River, and continues eastdown Broadway about six miles. The RioNuevo District will include shops, hotels,restaurants, theaters, museums, and othercultural attractions.

Although plans are not yet finalized atthis printing, the project is presentlyconceived in three “experience areas.”The historic/cultural park experience isslated for the west side of the Santa CruzRiver and Interstate 10. This park-likesetting may include the reconstructedSan Agustín Mission complex, along withinterpretation of early agricultural andHohokam canals and habitation sites. Aregional visitor’s center, and historicaland cultural museums, have beenplanned around a new plaza.

An urban/cultural experience isplanned for the east side of I-10.Organized around a central plazaconceived to be Tucson’s new “townsquare,” it may include the Sonoran Sea

Aquarium, a new science center andplanetarium, a convention hotel, parkingfacilities, and the renovated Tucson Civicand Convention Center.

Upgraded and new buildings alongCongress and Pennington streets, in theheart of the traditional downtown area,will transform the retail district into anexpanded and improved arts andentertainment experience. The renovatedhistoric Fox and Rialto theaters may serveas anchor attractions.

The goal of the Rio Nuevo project is torecapture and celebrate Tucson’s history.One way to capture historical evidence isthrough the science of archaeology. Thecity has hired Desert Archaeology, Inc., toexcavate the construction sites before theevidence is destroyed.

The excavations have uncoveredevidence of 4,000 years of humanoccupation along the banks of the SantaCruz River at the foot of “A” Mountain.American Indians, Spaniards, Mexicans,Chinese, European Americans, have allleft their marks in the earth. Once theexcavations are completed, theinformation will be used to interpretTucson’s past for visitors. The old riverwill begin a new life.

An Introduction to Rio Nuevo

vi Introduction

How To Use This ManualThis manual was created by the ArizonaHistorical Society’s Education Departmentfor Desert Archaeology, Inc., and the Cityof Tucson, to inform the public andeducate students in the classroom aboutarchaeology and Tucson history asrevealed by the excavations of the RioNuevo Project.

The first part of the manual consists ofan Introduction to the Rio Nuevo Project;12,000 Years of Tucson’s History; andTurning Points in Tucson’s History: ATimeline.

Section 1 provides basic concepts ofthe principles of archaeology. It includes aVocabulary List, Talking Trash: The Scienceof Archaeology, and six lesson plans thatbuild upon archaeological principles. Bythe end of these lessons, students will beable to define archaeology and key terms,demonstrate archaeological skills, anddescribe the work of archaeologists.

Section 2 aids students inunderstanding the history of theircommunity by applying archaeologicalconcepts to the City of Tucson’s RioNuevo Project. This section includes sixlesson plans or activities corresponding toperiods in Tucson history. The lessonsbring together archaeological principles and the Rio Nuevo Project.

The lesson plans are divided intosections: Objective, Key Words, Materials,Time, Teacher’s Corner, Lesson Setup, LessonOutline, and Pass It On! They are uniformthroughout the manual. Teachers may usethe entire manual in the establishedorder, or select individual lessons that fitinto their prepared curriculum. TheTeacher’s Corner provides backgroundinformation helpful in preparing thelesson. The Pass It On! section containsblack line masters that teachers may copyfor student handouts, or fortransparencies for classroom presentation.

The final part of the manual, StateDOE Standards and Additional Resources,features a list of field trip destinations,speakers, and other resources to helpillustrate the concepts included in thelesson plans.

Most of the activities have been fieldtested in classrooms and work with upperelementary classes. Much of it shouldwork with middle school as well. Theeducators at the Arizona Historical Societyhope this manual provides an excitingand thought stimulating resource aboutarchaeology and Tucson’s heritage.

We encourage feedback on how thisworks in your classroom.

—Kyle McKoy

GettingStarted

lessonoutline

pass it on!answer Key

teacher’scornerlesson setup

Introduction vii

Archaeologists continue to debate thetiming and the route of initial humanhabitation of the Americas. Thepossibilities include migrations by landand by sea between 30,000 and 14,000years ago. Most archaeologists, however,agree that by 14,000 years ago, humanshad arrived on the North Americancontinent. These people successfullyadapted to new and changingenvironments and spread throughoutNorth and South America.

For thousands of years, the Santa CruzRiver created a desert oasis that attractedmany people. The Rio Nuevo excavationshave uncovered different periods ofoccupation that include early farmers,Hohokam, O’odham, Spaniards,Mexicans, Chinese farmers, and Anglos.

The Prehistoric Period in the TucsonBasin began approximately 10,000 B.C.,when Paleo-Indian hunters roamed thearea hunting mammoths and other largemammals. As the climate warmed, thesebig game animals disappeared and peopleadapted to a way of life focused onhunting smaller animals and gatheringseeds, nuts, and the fruits of wild plants.Excavations in the southern part of theRio Nuevo property indicate that theearliest occupation of the area occurredabout 2,000 B.C., when hunter-gatherersbegan supplementing their diet byplanting maize. Farmers living in earlyvillages along the Santa Cruz made thefirst irrigation canals around 1,200 B.C.They grew squash, beans, maize, andpossibly cotton.

12,000 Years of Tucson History

Hohokam farmers diggingirrigation canals. Painting byCharles O. Kemper. CourtesySalt River Project Heritage.

viii Introduction

The later cultures in the prehistoricAmerican Southwest are called the Anasazi(ah nah SAH zee, also known as AncestralPuebloan), the Hohokam (HOE hoekahm), and the Mogollon (MUH gee own).These groups developed sophisticatedsocieties. They built extensive tradenetworks, lived in large villages, anddeveloped public works systems such asirrigation canals and roads.

By A.D. 600, Hohokam villagesflourished along the Santa Cruz River.Archaeologists have been unable todetermine whether the Hohokam peoplewere descendants of the earlierpopulations, or a new people who movedto the area. Centuries of plowing andother activities have destroyed much ofthese early archaeological remains.Archaeologists know from previousexcavations in the region, however, thatat the height of the Hohokam culture insouthern Arizona, agriculture was asophisticated and elaborate operation.Excavations at the Rio Nuevo sitessupport these previous discoveries, as theyhave revealed a series of Hohokam canalsthat run from north to south across theexcavated property.

Despite the apparently successfuladaptation to their desert surroundings,the Hohokam suffered a populationdecline between A.D. 1400 and 1500,which eventually led to the collapse oftheir culture. There are many theoriesabout what caused the decline. Onetheory suggests that a combination ofevents including floods that ruinedirrigation canals, warfare, and disease allcontributed to the collapse. A differenttheory claims that the Hohokamabandoned ancestral lands and simplymigrated to new areas. Another theoryargues that the Hohokam people are

ancestors of the Tohono O’odham (TOEhoe no AH ah tom) and never left thearea at all. Little is known about life alongthe Santa Cruz between the disappearanceof the Hohokam, around 1450, and thearrival of the Spaniards, around 1690.Archaeologists have become detectives asthey try to piece together the story.

The transition from the Prehistoric tothe Historic Period occurs when writtenlanguage is introduced to an area. In thecase of the American Southwest, thischange happened with Spanish contact.The Historic Period in the AmericanSouthwest began with a shipwreck in theGulf of Mexico in 1528. Alvar NuñezCabeza de Vaca survived the shipwreckand, along with three other survivors,wandered through Texas and northernNew Spain (the Spaniards’ name forMexico) before finding his way to MexicoCity. One of Cabeza de Vaca’s companionswas a black slave named Estevan deDorantes. In 1539, Estevan left MexicoCity and returned north with a Franciscanfriar named Marcos de Niza to search forthe legendary Seven Cities of Cíbola.When Zuni warriors killed Estevan, FrayMarcos returned to Mexico City. Heboasted that he had reached the SevenCities of Cíbola and spoke of the riches hehad found there. This aroused the interestof the viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza.Mendoza selected Francisco Vasquez deCoronado to lead an expedition north toclaim the riches for the Spanish Crown.The entry of Estevan and Fray Marcos intoZuni territory marks the beginning ofSpanish history in Arizona.

Scholars still argue about Coronado’sexact route, but it is almost certain thathe did not enter the Tucson Basin.Therefore, the Historic Period in theTucson Basin does not begin until the

Introduction ix

arrival of the missionary Father EusebioFrancisco Kino in 1691. The arrival ofKino also marks the beginning of theSpanish Period.

The Spanish Period began as Kino, thefirst European to visit the Santa CruzValley, found villages of O’odham Indiansat Bac and at Chuk-son, later to be calledTucson. In 1700, Kino established thefoundations for the first mission church atSan Xavier del Bac. Kino died in 1711,without ever having seen the churchcompleted.

Another mission, San Agustín delTucsón, was constructed in the 1770s atthe base of Sentinel Peak, or “A”Mountain. The San Agustín Missioncomplex eventually included a convento,or living quarters; a chapel; and a granary,although they were only used for a shortperiod. Ultimately, most of the missionwas destroyed.

Archaeologists began excavations atthe mission site in November, 2000. Theyuncovered what they believe to be therock foundation of the wall that

surrounded the mission complex. Theyalso exposed the outline of the granarybuilding. Artifacts such as cattle bones,potsherds, and arrow points, provideinformation about the diet and lifestyle ofthe mission residents.

In the early 1770s, the Spanish Crowndecided to realign the chain of presidios,or forts, to better protect the expandingfrontier against hostile Indian groups.Officials decided to relocate the Tubacpresidio to Tucson. The Spanish Crownsent Lieutenant Colonel Hugo O’Conor,an Irishman, to claim the location on theeast bank of the Santa Cruz River. Thearea had a plentiful water supply, irrigatedfields, an abundance of trees that could beused for building purposes, and a full viewof the valley for better defense. Also it waslocated near the O’odham labor force atthe San Agustín Mission. The mission andpresidio were settled across from eachother on opposite banks of the river,separated by fertile farm fields andirrigation canals.

Computer model of San Agustín Mission Complex developed by Doug Gann, Center For Desert Archaeology, featuring theConvento and chapel in the foreground and the granary behind the chapel.

x Introduction

From the beginning of the 1770s,presidio soldiers and other Spanishcolonists occupied lands that oncebelonged to the Tohono O’odham.Spanish frontier life was difficult, but theSpanish community grew and prospered.Presidio soldiers provided protection forSpanish colonists. They also guarded thepeaceful natives and Spanish settlers whofarmed the fields outside the presidiowalls.

The community around the presidiocontinued to grow as soldiers and theirfamilies moved into the fort. Anotherform of settlement sprang up outside thepresidio walls. In an effort to stop raiding,Spaniards offered Apaches food and othergoods to induce them to settle in the area.According to historical records, thesemeasures succeeded for a while. TheApaches who remained in the areabecame known as the peaceful Apaches,or Apaches de Paz. They helped fight offhostile Indians on several occasions.Archaeological investigations at Rio

Nuevo have not uncovered signs of thisApache settlement. This is an importantlesson about archaeological interpretation:do not confuse absence of evidence withevidence of absence.

The Mexican Period of Tucson’s historybegins in 1821, when the Spanishcolonists won independence from Spain.The ten year war had drained theMexican coffers, which left littlegovernment support for the inhabitants ofthe Tucson area. It was difficult to getsupplies into the isolated presidio. Soldierswere not always paid and there wereconstant conflicts with various Apachegroups.

In the midst of this turmoil, in 1829,the Mexican government expelledSpanish-born soldiers and missionariesfrom the country. Without properstaffing, the Tucson buildings began tofall into disrepair and mucharchaeological information about themission complex was lost due to erosionand vandals.

Family life in a presidio.Cal Peters. AHS #64456

Introduction xi

In the mid-1800s, Mexican residentsbecame alarmed by the arrival of anothergroup: American explorers. Fur trappers,traders, ranchers, prospectors, andfarmers all came to southern Arizonaseeking opportunity and wealth. TheUnited States, with its expansionist visionof manifest destiny, engaged in a warwith Mexico over the southwest territoryin 1846. The United States viewed thearea as a much needed travel corridor andwas looking for a railroad route toconnect the east with the west. The warended in 1848 with the Treaty ofGuadalupe Hidalgo, which transferredownership of a substantial portion ofwhat is now the American West fromMexico to the United States. Tucsonremained under the jurisdiction ofMexico. Then, in 1853, James Gadsden, arailroad promoter, concluded a deal withAntonio López de Santa Anna, presidentof Mexico, for the purchase of anadditional 29,000 square miles ofMexican land for ten million dollars. TheU.S. Congress ratified the purchase in1854, although American soldiers did notarrive in Tucson until 1856. The GadsdenPurchase ended Mexican rule in southernArizona as Tucson and its surroundingcommunities became part of the UnitedStates.

The Gadsden Purchase broughtArizona under the control of the UnitedStates, not as a state, but as a territory.Arizona’s Territorial Period spanned thetime from the Gadsden Purchase untilstatehood was finally granted in 1912.

Territorial status was a trying time forTucsonans. Politicians in Washingtonlargely ignored the Arizona Territory.Residents could not vote in presidentialelections. The legislature could only pass

laws subject to review in Washington.Most officials were appointed by peoplein Washington who had never visited theterritory, and knew little of the needs ofterritorial residents. The U.S. Congresscontrolled all finances. Lawlessness andApache wars threatened the safety of thepopulation. Tucson’s infrastructure wasalmost nonexistent as roads and publicworks were poor at best. Yet, droves ofpeople moved west in search of gold,land, adventure, and opportunity.European and Mexican immigrants;Chinese railroad workers and miners;blacks fleeing the South and theremnants of slavery; Jewish families;Mormons; single women; military men;and many others sought their futures andtheir fortunes in Arizona.

In the 1870s, the United States beganconstruction on a southern railroadconnecting the east and the west. Therailroad company hired Chineseimmigrants who worked for low wages.As the Chinese immigrant populationincreased, more Chinese businessesopened such as bakeries, laundries, andgrocery stores. The Southern PacificRailroad reached Tucson from the west in1880. Some of the Chinese railroadworkers chose not to follow the railroadwork, but remained behind to takeadvantage of a new business opportunity:growing fresh produce for the Tucsoncommunity.

By the 1880s, Chinese farmers wereregularly providing Tucson restaurantsand homes with fresh lettuce,watermelons, and strawberries. Thesecrops required much water and put theChinese in direct competition withMexican farmers. A court case eventuallysettled the issue. The Mexican farmers lost

xii Introduction

their water rights, just as the O’odhamhad lost their water rights to the Spanish,thereby ending a communal tradition thatdated back to Spanish presidio days.Profitable farming along the Santa CruzRiver ended for everyone around 1930,when the water table dropped due toextensive pumping of ground water. Manyof the Chinese farmers became grocers,opening stores around the Tucson area.

Excavation of one Rio Nuevo siteuncovered a deep well filled with objectsdiscarded by Chinese farmers between1880 and 1890. Soup spoons, soy saucejugs, rice bowls, and food remnantsindicate a strong desire by Chinesefarmers to maintain their heritage interritorial Tucson.

Politics and current events playedmajor roles in delaying the ArizonaStatehood Period. Arizona’s fight forstatehood, which began shortly afterterritorial status was granted in 1863, wasone of the longest in American history.Finally, in 1910, Congress passed theEnabling Act, which allowed Arizonans towrite a constitution that Congress wouldeither approve or disapprove. PresidentWilliam Taft signed the bill on February14, 1912, making Arizona the 48th state.

Tucson has seen many changes sincestatehood. The World War II defenseindustry and training facilities broughtjobs and thousands of people to Tucson inthe 1940s. Over the years, the temperate

climate attracted many more newcomersto Tucson as a prime destination forhealth, tourism, and retirement. Thegrowth of the University of Arizona andDavis Monthan Air Force Base alsocontributed to the population increase.

Population growth triggered a buildingboom as more housing was needed forworkers and more buildings were neededto house the new industries. In the 1940s,the Tucson Pressed Brick Factory minedclay in the mission area to satisfy theneed for raw building materials. SeveralUniversity of Arizona archaeology projectsattempted to salvage information fromthe site before the brick companydestroyed all the evidence of the past. Asthe company mined the clay and thesand, it also removed evidence of theearliest farming culture, Hohokam canals,the mission, and other historic remains.

The final insult to the missioncomplex site came in the mid 1950s,when the City of Tucson destroyed theremains of the convento and the chapelby replacing them with a landfill.

Today, Tucson is a thrivingmulticultural city, known affectionately asthe Old Pueblo. Tucson’s present is adirect reflection of its past. The City ofTucson’s Rio Nuevo Project traces thestory of 12,000 years of Tucson history. Itcaptures the unique flavor of the city byexploring the past, building on thepresent, and preserving for the future.

xiii

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 inthe Tucson Basin for the past 12,000 years. By creating the RioNuevo District, Tucson has chosen to embrace the past as part ofour shared cultural heritage.

1968 Urban Renewal began. The Pueblo Center RedevelopmentProject replaced approximately 80 acres of Tucson’s oldestsurviving neighborhood with the Convention Center, a shoppingcenter, and a four-square-block government complex.

1950 During the 1950s Tucson began using the base of “A” mountainas a landfill.

1923 Between 1896 and 1935 bricks from the Tucson Pressed BrickCompany, located at the base of “A” Mountain, were used tobuild many familiar buildings around Tucson, including SanAgustín Cathedral, the Rialto Theater, and buildings on theUniversity of Arizona campus.

A.D. 1912 Arizona Statehood. By 1912, life in Tucson changeddramatically. Over the course of a few years, the river rapidly cutdown over 10 feet as far south as the Mission of San Xavier.

A.D. 1880 The arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad allowed for rapidsettlement of the Tucson basin. “Progress” arrived quickly withthe telephone, electricity, and the central water system. In themid-1880s, the Santa Cruz River became entrenched after an ill-fated irrigation scheme failed. Irrigation canals were no longerable to draw water from the river, and many farmers were nolonger able to grow crops. Tucson now relied upon wells to drawwater from an underground aquifer.

A.D. 1862 A Brief Confederacy 1861–1862. In 1861, the citizens of Tucsonvoted to join the Confederate States of America. The occupyingUnion troops, led by Major David Fergusson, drafted the first twomaps of Tucson. One map reveals that by 1862, the TucsonPresidio 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 itssurroundings into the American territorial system. Life began tochange as Americans from the eastern United States moved toTucson. Many people opened mercantile businesses, othersdeveloped ranches and mines.

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A.D. 1821 Mexican Revolution. As Mexico gained independence fromSpain, times were difficult in Tucson. Conflicts with variousApache groups took a great toll on the village. In response to theconflicts of the mid-19th century, the Tucson Presidio wasexpanded to better protect the community.

A.D. 1800 Construction of the San Agustín Mission convento began. It wasused as an administrative building, dormitory, and school for theSan 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 itsextensive view of the valley.

A.D. 1770 Although Tucson celebrates its birthday on the day that theTucson Presidio was founded, the San Agustín Mission and theadjacent O’odham village were already in place. The mission wasfounded in the early 1770s at the foot of Sentinel Peak (“A”mountain) and would be part of the Tucson community for thenext 75 years.

A.D. 1700 Father Kino founded the Mission of San Xavier at the O’odhamvillage of Bac, on the Santa Cruz River. This first church wasnever completed. Father Espinosa built the second church in1755. In 1797, the third church, which still stands today, wascompleted.

A.D. 1691 Historic period began as Father Kino, the first European to visitthe Santa Cruz Valley, found villages of Piman-speakers at Bacand (the next year) at Chuk-son—where the San Xavier and SanAgustín missions were later established.

A.D. 1600 Apache peoples arrived in southern Arizona from the north, andbegan raiding O’odham villages.

A.D. 1400 The Hohokam culture of southern Arizona collapsed after apopulation decline related to a series of disastrous floods in thePhoenix Basin that may have destroyed most canal systems.

A.D. 1275 Population aggregated, possibly in response to warfare, into a fewlarge villages. Platform mounds were built as public ceremonialstructures within large walled compounds containing most of thehouses.

A.D. 1150 In the Tucson Basin, many Hohokam villages were abandonedand new ones established. Compounds and rectangularaboveground architecture appeared.

A.D. 1050 Ballcourts were no longer built in the Tucson Basin and mostother Hohokam areas.

A.D. 1000 Villages spread out along expanded canal systems.

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A.D. 800 The first ballcourts were built in the Tucson Basin and elsewherein the southern Southwest. Villages focused on large, centralplazas grew in population. Hohokam styles and iconographyfrom the middle Gila Valley were adopted.

A.D. 500 Styles of architecture, artifacts, and burial practices of theHohokam culture, centered in the Phoenix Basin, appeared inthe Tucson Basin. Plazas became a feature of villages.

A.D. 400 Pithouses shifted from round to rectangular, and large villagesdeveloped along the Santa Cruz River. Village locations moved toterraces above the floodplain. Canal systems were expanded.

A.D. 100 New types of architecture, pottery, and burial practices suddenlyappeared in the Tucson Basin, perhaps representing the arrival ofa new cultural group.

800 B.C. The first ceremonial buildings in the Southwest were constructedin villages along the Santa Cruz River. Earlier than in other areasof the Southwest, the bow-and-arrow began to be used insouthern Arizona alongside the older spear thrower and-dart.

1,200 B.C. Farmers living in early villages along the Santa Cruz made thefirst true irrigation canals in North America. They grew beansand possibly cotton in addition to maize, and developed tradeconnections with distant parts of the Southwest, California, andnorthern Mexico to acquire volcanic glass (obsidian) for makingdart points and seashells for making jewelry.

2,200 B.C. Maize (corn) arrived in southern Arizona from Mexico. Tosupplement wild foods, hunter-gatherers in the Tucson Basinplanted maize to grow some of their food for the first time. Theybuilt pithouses and storage pits in summer camps near theirfields along the Santa Cruz River. They made the first ceramicfigures and pottery in the Southwest.

3,000 B.C. Groups of hunter-gatherers camped on the banks of the SantaCruz River during their movements around the Tucson Basin.

3,500 B.C. The climate of the Southwest became cooler and wetter. Huntergatherers began to spread throughout the Southwest.

6,500 B.C. A long period of hotter, drier climate began. Population began todecline in the Tucson Basin and much of the Southwest.

9,000 B.C. As the climate warmed at the beginning of a new global climaticera and the large Ice Age mammals disappeared, a hunting andgathering adaptation developed. The Archaic focus was onsmaller 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 ofmammoths and other now-extinct large mammals at the end ofthe Ice Age.

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Section 1

principles ofarchaeology

Artwork by Hannah Willet, age 10.

2 Talking Trash

Cultures in the American Southwest, suchas the Anasazi, Mogollon, and Hohokam,developed complex societies, but they didnot develop a written language. Withoutwritten records to study, researchers mustrely on the study of the objects thatpeople left behind. These are the cluesthat archaeologists use to reconstructhuman behavior. Archaeologists operatein a world of other people’s discardedobjects—their trash.

What is archaeology and how doesthe science work? Archaeology is a greatopportunity to teach and practice thescientific method. Archaeology involvesposing questions, making hypotheses,researching, conducting experiments,clarifying data, organizing data, reachingconclusions, and creating final reports. Archaeology is a subdivision of thebroader subject of Anthropology, or thestudy of humans. The four areas of studywithin Anthropology are:

a. cultural the study of humansocieties often involving thecomparison of one cultural systemwith another in an attempt tounderstand human nature.

b. physical (sometimes called“biological”) the study of thehuman physical form and howforms change over time.

c. linguistic the study of humans,through the use of language, todiscover the role language plays inthe creation, transmission, andinterpretation of daily life andculture.

d. archaeology the study of humancultures using artifacts people leftbehind.

Archaeology can be divided further intoprehistoric and historical archaeology.Prehistoric archaeologists try to assemble,through the objects people have leftbehind, the story of ancient cultures thathave left no written record. With the aidof written historical records and oralhistories, historical archaeologists try toassemble the story of past culturesthrough the interpretation of the materialobjects they left behind.

A place that people inhabited or usedin some manner is called a site. When asite is discovered, archaeologists conducta survey to describe its physicalappearance and location. A testing phasemay take place to determine whether asite has deeply buried features.Archaeologists then develop a researchdesign, or plan of action, to decide howto go about excavating the site. Afterdefining questions they hope to answer,archaeologists begin the excavation bymarking the site in grids, so they canmap their finds. They select certain areasto dig. They sift dirt through screens tofind small items and save artifacts, oritems made or used by people, for furtherstudy. They also map walls, fireplaces,and other structures they find. Theartifacts are separated into like groupings,called assemblages, which are studied byfield and laboratory analysts.

Talking Trash: The Science of Archaeology and

The Rio Nuevo Project

Talking Trash 3

Archaeologists rely on experts fromother fields of study to help theminterpret what they find.Dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating, isa technique developed by an astronomerat the University of Arizona. Physicistsdeveloped radiocarbon andarchaeomagnetic dating techniques thatdate artifacts by measuring radioactivityand orientation of magnetic fields.Geologists developed the principles ofstratigraphy, or layering of sediments,that help date objects in relation to oneanother. Botanists and zoologists mayhelp analyze plant and animal remains.

Other information helps archaeologistsreconstruct past cultures. They cancompare the site with others that havealready been excavated in the region. Ifhistorical documents exist, archaeologistsconsult them. They can study groups ofliving people to search for similaritieswith past cultures. This approach is calledethnographic analogy.

The last step for archaeologists is to

publish their findings in a final report.This is essential so others can build on theresearch.

Several options are available toarchaeologists and the public once a sitehas been excavated and its informationrecorded. What is left of the site may bedestroyed to make way for a constructionproject. It can be turned into aninterpretative site for the public. Parts of asite that have not been excavated may bepreserved for future exploration. In thecase of the City of Tucson’s Rio Nuevoproject, a combination of all the optionswill probably be used.

The Rio Nuevo archaeologicalexcavations will provide a treasure chestof information and insight into Tucson’spast. As archaeologists sift through thetrash of the past, they will uncover thenecessary information to piece togetherthe story of Tucson. The Rio Nuevoproject proves that Tucson’s trash of thepast may be its treasure for the future.

4 Vocabulary

vocabulary

agriculture cultivating crops on a largescale.

Anasazi (a Navajo word for “ancientenemies”) a culture that lived on theplateaus of the four corners area(northern New Mexico, northernArizona, southern Utah, andsouthwestern Colorado) from about A.D.200–1450.

anthropology the study of humans andhuman behavior. Can be divided intofour subdivisions of study:a. cultural the study of human societies

often involving the comparison ofone cultural system with another inan attempt to understand humannature;

b. physical the study of the humanphysical form, including the study ofthose changes over time;

c. linguistic the study of humanlanguage to discover what rolelanguage plays in the creation,transmission, and interpretation ofdaily life and culture;

d. archaeology the study of humanculture using artifacts people leftbehind.

Archaic an early culture that lived in theAmericas. In the southern Arizona area,it lasted from approximately 8,000 B.C.to about A.D. 200. The Archaic cultureadapted to the changing climate byhunting small game and gatheringplants from the land.

archaeologist one who studies humancultures by analyzing material objectscultures left behind.

archaeomagnetic dating archaeologicaldating technique based on the fact thatthe exact location of magnetic north

changes over time. When clay from ahearth is heated to a high-enoughtemperature, the iron molecules realignto magnetic north. Thus, it is possibleto determine an approximate date forwhen a structure such as a clay hearthwas last heated.

artifact an object made or used byhumans.

assemblage a grouping of like artifacts, ora group of artifacts found in the samelocation.

ceramic pertaining to anything made ofclay that was fired to hardness.

coiling a weaving and pottery techniquethat involves making individual coils ofmaterial and placing them one on topof the last, constructing a finishedproduct.

context interpretation of artifactsdetermined by the relationship inwhich they were found.

convento a religious administrationbuilding and/or dormitory.

crustacean an animal that has a shell forprotection. Example: lobster, shrimp,crab, barnacle.

data interpretation to decipherinformation gathered.

dendrochronology archaeological datingtechnique developed by A.E. Douglass, aUniversity of Arizona astronomer, mostoften used to compare tree growth ringsto determine the age of wood roofbeams.

early farmers a culture that lived in theTucson basin area between 2,000 and4,000 years ago.

ethnographic analogy using similartraits of living groups of people tointerpret cultures of the past.

Vocabulary 5

event an occurrence or happening.excavate to dig up the soil in a scientific

manner.feature structure; could be either man-

made or naturally occurring.final report after an excavation takes

place, all the information is gatheredby the archaeologists and written into afinal report that is released for peerreview prior to being published.

forage to gather food from land.granary a building used to store surplus

grains.grid a checkerboard-like network of

uniform horizontal and vertical linesthat provides guidelines forarchaeological excavations.

hearth fireplace.history recorded past events.Hohokam (means “all gone” or “all used

up” in the O’odham language) theculture that occupied the desert ofsouth-central Arizona from about A.D.300–1450.

huerta a private Mexican-owned gardenin Tucson in the 1800s, 25–30 feetsquare in size.

hunter-gatherer culture people whohunt small game animals and gatherplants from the land to satisfy theirdiet.

irrigate to divert water from a river,stream, or lake to farmland usuallyusing ditches and canals.

laboratory analysis to decipherinformation in a scientific laboratoryusually involving tests.

Law of Original Horizontalitya geologic concept that states that soilsare deposited first horizontally.

Law of Superposition a geologic conceptthat states that layers of soil depositedfirst are below those deposited at a laterdate. The layers that are the oldest arebeneath those that are younger.

lithic referring to stone.maize corn.mano a hand-held rock used to grind

grains, used in conjunction with ametate.

metate a rock used as a base to holdgrains for grinding, used inconjunction with a mano.

mission a community established by andfocused on the Catholic Church. Set upby Spaniards to colonize New Spain,the mission’s purpose was to convertNorth American natives to Christianityand turn them into tax-paying Spanishcitizens.

Mogollon refers to the culture found inthe Mogollon Mountains. TheMogollon Culture existedapproximately A.D. 200–1200.

ostracod water-dwelling crustacean.paddle and anvil method a pottery

technique used by Hohokam andO’odham people. First, coils of clay arestacked on top of one another. Oncethe basic shape is decided, the potterplaces his/her hand inside the potwhile holding a smoothing rock (theanvil). The other hand gently pats thepot with a paddle to smooth out thecoils.

Paleo-Indian migratory people whocrossed exposed land in the BeringStrait from Siberia and spreadthroughout the Americas, followingherds of mammoth, bison, and otherbig game, around 12,000–8,000 B.C.

6 Vocabulary

Piman relating to a language from theUto-Aztecan family.

pithouse a house built partially belowthe surface of the earth. Generally, theabove surface part was made of sticks,desert brush, and mud. Pithousesusually had a dome shape, nowindows, 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 theSpaniards to help colonize Spanish-claimed land in North America.Presidios were part of a two-prongedapproach, in conjunction withmissions, to settle the land.

radiocarbon dating tests organicmaterials such as charcoal, bone, orwood, to determine the quantity of aradioactive form called carbon 14(usually written 14C). Living thingsingest carbon 14, which decays at asteady known rate. By determining theratio between carbon 14 and regularcarbon in the object, it is possible todiscover an age range for the object.

relative dating techniques scientificmeasures that tell the age of an artifact,site, or feature by relating the object toanother object. This technique can tellus whether an artifact is older than,younger than, or the same age asanother. It cannot provide an exactcalendar date for an artifact.

research design a plan of action thatguides an archaeological excavation.

riverine pertaining to an aquatic setting,such as a river or stream.

sample grids specific grids chosen byarchaeologists 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

humans.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 anartwork style with that of othercultures.

survey to examine a parcel of land toascertain location, condition, andextent of property. An archaeologicalsurvey examines land to identify andrecord any cultural materials present.

temper adding products, such as grass,mica, or sand to clay, to strengthen theclay for firing

zanjero an elected water judge whooversaw the fair and equitabledistribution of irrigated water.

In this lesson, students will practice data recording and observationskills. Students will learn the importance of detailed and accuratedata recording by mapping a designated area, recording andreevaluating data, and comparing final product with the originalsource.

ArchaeologicalTechniques:Documenting Evidence

7

Objectives• to introduce students to the scientific

method, archaeological procedures, andvocabulary terms

• to enable students to perform anarchaeological survey using scientificmethods

Standards AddressedGrades 4–5 1SC-E3 (PO1, PO2), 2SC-E4(PO1)Grades 6–8 1SC-E3 (PO1, PO2), 2SC-E4(PO1), 2SC-E5 (PO3)

Key Wordsarchaeologyartifactsceramicscontextdata interpretation excavatefeaturesgridlithicsresearch design sitesurvey

Materials• graph paper• pencils• rulers• classroom, playground, or gymnasium• tape, clothesline, or chalk• compass

Time1–2 class periods

Getting Started

8 Lesson 1 Archaeological Techniques: Documenting Evidence

Archaeology is the study of humanbehavior by examining the artifacts, ormaterial objects people have made orused. Among these pieces of evidence areceramics (pottery), lithics (stone tools),and features (structures). A location thatpeople used (blacksmith shop, school,animal carcass preparation area) or alocation in which they lived (pithousecommunity, presidio, boarding house) iscalled a site. Once archaeologists excavatea site and recover the artifacts, they mustpiece together the story that the objectstell, just like a detective pieces togetherthe clues at a crime scene to determinewhat happened. How do archaeologists dowhat they do? Archaeologists do their jobin stages:

a. Survey and records check

b.Testing

b. Research design

d. Excavation

e. Laboratory analysis

f. Data interpretation

g. Final report

Q. What is the first step for anarchaeologist?

A. Archaeologists are often asked toexamine an area before developmentand construction take place. The firststep is to do a records check andsurvey. Archaeologists read publicrecords to discover if the area orsurrounding areas have been examinedbefore and whether any archaeologicalsites are present. Archaeologists willthen walk across the surface of theproject in transects, or lines spaced atregular intervals. Archaeologists search

for evidence of human activity, such asbroken pottery, stone chips, brokenglass bottles, or mounds of earth. Earthmounds could indicate a buriedstructure or garbage dump.Archaeologists make detailed mapsshowing the location of everythingthey find. Photographs may also betaken to record what the site lookedlike.

Q. How are archaeological excavationsplanned?

A. Before archaeologists excavate a site,they prepare a research design. This is aplan of action that addresses the Who,What, When, Where, How, and Whyquestions. Some research designquestions might be:

1. What kinds of crops were grownhere?

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 isalready known about the site and othersites in nearby locations. It identifiesthe best excavation methods and theexperts who will analyze the artifacts.

Q. Why do archaeologists try to preservesome sites without digging them?

A. Archaeologists develop new techniquesall the time. Radiocarbon dating, forexample, first became available in theearly 1950s; techniques for “floating”the burned wood and seeds to recoverthem from soils were not widelypracticed until the 1970s. These newtechniques have provided a great deal

teacher’s corner

Lesson 1 Archaeological Techniques: Documenting Evidence 9

of fresh information and haveimproved archaeologists’ abilities tounderstand the past. Many more newtechniques may become available in thenext 50 or 100 years that will helpanswer questions that are mysteriestoday. This is one very importantreason for preserving archaeologicalsites.

Another reason for preservation isthat many archaeological sites containcemeteries, places, or artifacts that areimportant to Native Americans andother descendants of people who livedhere in the past. Although specificprocedures for carrying outexcavations—even human burials—have been developed, most groupsprefer to see these sites remainundisturbed. In these cases, humanremains and other sensitive artifacts areturned over to descendant groups forspecial treatment, which generallyincludes reburial of human remains.

Q. What happens during an archaeologicalexcavation?

A. Archaeologists use a variety of tools andmethods to remove soil. Smaller tools,such as picks, shovels, and trowels,remove dirt to locate the edges of pits,foundations, and floors. Sometimesexcavators lay out the site in largesquares, called grids. This allows foreasier and more accurate mapping. Therelationship between one artifact andanother gives archaeologists importantinformation; this is called context. Forexample, finding small pieces of stonetogether with drilling tools and finishedbeads might tell archaeologists that ajeweler lived in the house. Becauseexcavating a site is a destructive process,accurate recording of information isessential.

Q. What happens to artifacts after they areexcavated?

A. If artifacts are large and easily visible,archaeologists carefully remove themand pack them for shipment to the lab.Screening is the most efficient way torecover small items that may be hiddenin dirt clumps or piles. Excavatorsshovel dirt onto screens, which areshaken so that dirt falls through,leaving behind gravel and artifacts. Theartifacts are collected, sorted by material(pottery, stone, animal bone, shell,metal, glass, etc.), and placed in labeledbags. The artifacts are taken to thelaboratory, where most items arewashed and dried.

Q. What happens during the analysisphase?

A. Artifacts and samples are sent to expertsfor identification and interpretation.Experts look at potsherds to determinethe type and age of a pot, who made it,and how it was created. Modernmaterials, such as tin cans and nails,can provide similar information. Inorder to reconstruct past environmentsand diets, zooarchaeologists studyanimal bones and ethnobotanists studyplant parts. Once the experts havecompleted their analyses, the projectdirector collects and collates all thereports and then writes a final reportabout 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, techniquesused in excavating the site,documentation of what was found,conclusions, and suggestions for futureresearch. At the end of the project, allof the paperwork, photographs, andartifacts are sent to a museum, wherethey may be exhibited for the public orstored for future researchers. Sometimesnew technologies, or a reexamination ofthe information, yield differentconclusions.

Students will map the school playground,gymnasium, or classroom. Prior to theactivity, prepare a transparency from thehandouts in the Pass It On! Section.Prepare one transparency of the map anda separate one for the grid.

Prepare a grid area that students are tomap. Use masking tape, clothesline,sidewalk chalk, etc., to establish lines forthe grid on playground, in classroom, orin gymnasium. Grid lines should be 1' × 1'squares, or 2' × 2' squares. Number gridsquares in any manner so long as there issome order to the grid. Materials used willdepend on the type and location of thegrid.

Within each square, place objects thatstudents can draw, such as jump ropes,balls, rocks, and pencils. Try to chooseobjects that pertain to student life. Tomake it interesting, place some items sothat they overlap grid marks. Havestudents draw ONLY the portion of theitems that fall within their square.Students will record data on graph paper.Instruct students to use the graph paperto record object information according toscale. Students can work in teams orindividually.

Students need to be aware that theyare creating a primary source for futureresearchers. Recording informationproperly will insure proper context fromwhich researchers can make plausibleconclusions or inferences.

1. Ask students if they have ever found anitem while walking in the desert and

were either unsure of what it was orhow old it was. Did they ever dropsomething outside and never see itagain? What do they think happened tothat item? What would people in thefuture think they had found if theycame upon the lost item?

2. Explain to students the processes andsteps in archaeological survey. Definecontext and emphasize the importanceof taking detailed notes. Informstudents that they will be participatingin a mapping activity.

3. Using the overhead map transparency,point out different structures and areasof activity. What artifacts couldstudents expect to find in the trasharea? What about the monkey bar area?Should they expect to see playgroundstructures like picnic tables andmonkey bars?

4. Place the grid over the map and showthe students how the appearance of thearea changes if viewed only in smallersquares of the grid. If students wereonly responsible for one grid square,could they still get an idea of the entirearea? Explain how archaeologists gridan area and then choose samplesquares to determine where they willexcavate. What areas would studentschoose to excavate? What about thesquares that appear to be empty?Should archaeologists select some ofthe empty squares? (Yes, because some ofthe artifacts may not be visible on thesurface. If they do not choose some emptygrids, they may miss some artifacts belowthe surface.)

5. Hand out the graph paper andpencils, and lead the class to thepreviously established grid.

10 Lesson 1 Archaeological Techniques: Documenting Evidence

lesson setup

lesson outline

6. Divide children into groups andassign them to squares. This can beeither a group or an individualproject. As a group, use a compass todetermine the location of North.Diagram the objects with north to thetop of the page.

7. Have each group diagram the itemswithin their square according to scale.Include vegetation, rocks, cracks inthe playground, playgroundequipment, desks, changes in material(going from asphalt to gravel).Remind students that they arecreating a historical document. Futureresearchers may use their maps asprimary sources.

8. Once the students feel comfortablewith their squares, hang squares onbulletin board and arrange them inproper order to form the entiremapped area. Have studentsdetermine whether or not the squaresmatch the original area mapped.What are the differences? What arethe similarities? By looking at thesquares, can students tell which areawas mapped? Could they reconstructthe site? Would someone unfamiliarwith the area be able to locate the siteby consulting the student maps?

9. Explain how historical archaeologistsrely on primary sources to guide ordouble check their studies.Archaeologists may use maps,photographs, letters, and diaries toguide them toward areas that maythen be excavated. They may also useprimary sources to help them explainsomething they might have found.

10. Once the map is complete, the teachershould take the class back to themapped area. Ask students to imaginethat over many years four feet of soilhas been deposited at this site.Illustrate to the students how highfour feet is. What structures wouldstill be visible on the surface? (tops ofmonkey bars, swing sets or trees). Whatobjects would not be visible on thesurface? (jump ropes, seats, low lyingobjects). Would students miss somevaluable information if they onlyexcavated the areas where they couldsee things protruding above thesurface?

11. Based on the samples the class haschosen, what can they conclude aboutthe site?

Following two (2) pages are to be used asoverhead slides or copied for handouts forthe class.

Lesson 1 Archaeological Techniques: Documenting Evidence 11

pass it on!

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

12 Lesson 1 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

0

GRID

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

Lesson 1 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 13

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trash

wood chips

grass

rocks

1" = 2 feet

trash bin

N

picnic table

bushesmonkey bars

map

15

Objective• 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 RioNuevo Project

• to learn Tucson’s history through theinterpretation of stratigraphic layers

Materials• Glass bowl in which to construct the

dessert• Six layer dessert ingredients; ingredients

will varya. graham crackersb. instant chocolate puddingc. vanilla wafersd. instant vanilla puddinge. sliced bananasf. non-dairy whipped topping

Use your imagination when decidingupon ingredients. Experiment withraisins, apple slices, sliced strawberries,Jello jigglers, jelly beans, peanuts, M&Ms,peanut butter, jelly, etc. Make certainstudents’ allergies, dietary restrictions,and taste preferences are taken intoconsideration when choosingingredients for the layer dessert.

TimeApproximately one hour for overview;longer if detailed extensions areemployed.

It is sometimes difficult to visualize different layers of soil. By usinga 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 oranimals burrowing.

The Science of Archaeology

Drawing by Hannah Willet, age ten.

Getting Started

16 Lesson 2 The Science of Archaeology

One way archaeologists determine the ageof an artifact is through the use ofrelative dating techniques. Relativedating techniques provide the age of anartifact, site, or event by relating oneobject to another. There can be noabsolute calendar date assigned to theartifact by using this method. Instead,relative dating techniques tell us if oneobject is older than another, younger thananother, or appears to be the same age asanother.

Relative dating techniques are basedon the Law of Superposition and the Law of Original Horizontality. The Lawof Superposition states that soils depositedfirst lie below those deposited at a latertime, unless the soils have been disturbed.Therefore, the soil layers, or strata, on thebottom are older than those found at thetop. The Law of Original Horizontalitystates that initially, soils are depositedhorizontally. Therefore, layers of soil canbe followed to determine the originalplacement of the layers.

These geologic concepts can beextended to archaeology. Artifacts foundin lower layers of soil are said to be olderthan artifacts found in the higher layers.It may be helpful to get students to thinkof the classroom waste basket. Whenstudents throw items into the trash can,the can fills from the bottom to the top.Items at the bottom may have beendeposited in the morning. Those items atthe top may have been deposited in theafternoon. Therefore, students can deducethat the items at the bottom haveprobably been there longer, and areprobably older, than the items depositedon the top. There can be exceptions tothis general theory. For instance, animalsburrowing into the ground may upset soil

layers and mix the original order. Theprocess of one layer of soil beingdeposited on top of another is calledstratification. The study of strata is calledstratigraphy.

Prepare ingredients for layered dessertahead of time. Preparation time will varyaccording to ingredients chosen.

1. Have you ever been on a walk in thedesert and found something lying onthe ground that looked old, like aspoon, bottle, or piece of pottery? Didyou wonder who might have used it?How old is it? How was it used? It’sinteresting to try and guess how old theobject is; and who left it in that spot? Ifyou think you have found somethingreally old, don’t pick it up and take ithome, rather contact an archaeologistbecause you might have found anartifact, which is any material objectmade or used by humans.

2. Using the transparency, or copying themaster for handouts, explain howTucson’s history can be interpretedthrough six layers. You may want tofind some pictures to help illustrateeach layer to the class. A good focus foreach layer is to discuss how each groupused the river. The six layers on whichto concentrate, from youngest to oldest,are:

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

B.C.–A.D.1690)

3. “Layer Dessert” activity. Teacher createsa six-layer dessert in a glass bowl so thatstudents can view the six layers. Theteacher writes a list of all possibleingredients on overhead or on achalkboard and explains that eachingredient represents one layer ofTucson history. Identify which foodrepresents which layer and describe asyou go. For example, the first layer ofgraham cracker crumbs representsprehistoric Tucson. The dessert can beshared with students upon completion.The teacher can also share the recipewith students to try at home with theirfamilies.

4. The teacher discusses with the class thedifferent layers of Tucson history,beginning with Prehistoric Tucson.What was the climate like? (In Paleo-Indian times it was rainy, grassy, therewere many trees and no saguaros. Later theclimate began to dry out.) Who livedhere? (American Indians, including earlyfarmers, Hohokam, O’odham) How do weknow anything about the people wholived here? (Through archaeologicaldiscoveries) How did these people utilizethe Santa Cruz River? (Through farmingusing irrigation canals. Also probablybathed in, drank, and fished the river.)Once the teacher feels that the studentshave a sense of Tucson in prehistorictimes, put the first layer into the bowl.

5. Proceed to the next layer: Europeancontact. What was the climate like?

(much like today). Who lived here?(Native American groups: O’odham,Apache, earliest Spanish missionaries likeFather Kino). Why would we mark theend of the Prehistoric times with thearrival of Father Kino? (Because heintroduced the Spanish language to thearea. Prior to his arrival, the NativeAmerican groups had no written language.)How did the people use the Santa CruzRiver? (They farmed using irrigationtechniques. They also probably bathed in,drank, and fished the river).

6. Proceed to the next layer: SpanishColonial. What was the climate like?(little changed from the arrival of FatherKino). Who lived here? (O’odham,Apache, Spanish settlers, missionaries,Spanish soldiers and their families). Howdid they use the river? (farmed usingirrigation techniques, bathing).

7. Proceed to the next layer: MexicanPeriod. What marks the change betweenSpanish Colonial and Mexican period?(Local people wanted their independencefrom the Spanish Crown. After a ten-yearwar leading to independence, the areabecame Mexico.) Who lived here? (NativeAmerican groups, Mexicans) How did theyuse the river? (people continued to farmthe land using irrigation techniques,drinking, and bathing).

8. Proceed to the next layer: TerritorialTucson. What marks the change inperiods between the Mexican period andthe territorial period? (The GadsdenPurchase of 1854 transferred ownership of29,000 square miles of present-daysouthern Arizona and southern NewMexico 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: ModernTucson. What marks the change fromTerritorial Tucson to Modern Tucson?(Statehood was granted on February 14,1912.) Who lives in this area? (peoplefrom all over the world.) How doTucsonans use the river today? (Thereis no river to use today unless it rains.)

10. By now, all six layers should be visibleto the students.

11. Why would it be difficult for us tofind artifacts from people who livedin the Rio Nuevo area 2,000 or even3,000 years ago? (The people movedaround instead of staying in one area.River flooding and continued building ontop of older sites has covered evidence.Pothunters, construction companies,archaeologists, have disturbed the sitesthroughout the years, and some of the

information has been removed from thesite.) What types of artifacts might weexpect to find in the excavation of theRio Nuevo area? (House remains, glass,metal, pottery pieces, animal bones,tools) Would we be able to tell whichartifact is older than another artifact?(Possibly. We could use various datingtechniques)

12. Review the six layers of Tucson’shistory with the class, using theoverhead projector.

13. After the review allow students to takea bite out of Tucson’s history!

The following pages are to be used astransparencies or copied for handouts forthe students.

18 Lesson 2 The Science of Archaeology

Science of Archaeology worksheet, page 20.

1. relative dating techniques2. artifacts3. Law of Superposition4. excavate5. site6. stratum7. stratification8. stratigraphy9. 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 usingthe 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 followingworksheet. Use each word only once. It may be helpful to readthrough 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

another.

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. excavateb. relative agec. law of superpositiond. stratification

e. artifactf. siteg. stratigraphyh. relative dating techniques

i. stratumj. artifacts

3

3

1

2

5

8

9

4

6

7

10

21

Objectives• to enable students to assemble clues

and indicators concerning a family• to enable them to develop an

understanding of how archaeologistsdiscover the story of the past by diggingfor clues.

• to provide students with an exercise inproblem solving and deductivereasoning

Standards AddressedGrades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO1, PO2), 1SC-E1 (PO3, PO4)

Key Wordsartifactcontextexcavate

Materials• shoebox• personal items• family items• small paintbrush• spoon• sand or dirt

Time1 hour

Shoebox archaeology gives students the opportunity to see howarchaeologists find artifacts in different layers of soil and how thedifferent 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 inthe classroom or outside to minimize themess. Extensions to this lesson plan canbe added to include a mock excavation.For a fee, Old Pueblo Archaeologyprovides an educational experience for aclassroom excavation at theirheadquarters:Old Pueblo Archaeology Center1000 East Fort LowellTucson, AZ

Teachers may also want to contact a localarchaeology firm to see if it has anyexcavations in progress available for classfield trips. If no excavations are underway,teachers may want to contact PimaCommunity College West CampusArchaeology Department, 206-6022. Thecollege has a mock site established andregularly train field archaeologists.

Following is a list of archaeology firmsthat have been contacted and have agreedto try to accommodate students. There areother archaeology firms in Tucson. Acomplete list can be obtained bycontacting the State Historic PreservationOffice (602) 542-7159.

Desert Archaeology, Inc. 3975 North Tucson Blvd.Tucson, AZ 85716(520) 881-2244

Old Pueblo Archaeology CenterP.O. Box 40577Tucson, AZ 85717(520) 798-1201

Statistical Research, Inc.P.O. Box 31865Tucson, AZ 85751(520) 721-4309

SWCA343 South Scott AvenueTucson, AZ 85701(520) 325-9194

1. Copy directions in the Pass It On!Section. Instruct each student toprepare at home a shoebox forarchaeology. The teacher should goover instructions in class and sendinstructions home with each student.Shoeboxes should be layered,alternating soil or sand with personalobjects. Teachers may choose to usesand in various colors or soils withvarious textures to represent differentsoil layers. To prevent layers fromcombining beyond recognition, it maybe necessary to moisten soils or sandsprior to placing them in the box.

2. Teachers may choose to create kitscomplete with all materials andinstructions to send home with eachstudent.

3. See directions on worksheet.4. Once all shoeboxes are in the

classroom, the teacher should numberthem. Do not place names on theshoeboxes. Students should not knowwhose shoebox they have.

5. Teacher should provide some sort ofrepository for sand or soil oncestudents begin excavating. Studentswill need something in which to placethe excavated sand or soil.

1. Once all shoeboxes are in the classroomand numbered, pass boxes out, one perstudent. Make certain no student hashis/her own shoebox.

2. Pass out plastic spoons or brushes forthe excavation.

teacher’s corner lesson setup

lesson outline

Lesson 3 Archaeological Techniques: Digging the Past 23

3. Instruct students to gently remove thesoil to expose the first layer of artifacts.Make sure they know that there mayhave been shifting in the boxes, so notall layers of soil will be the same. Someof the artifacts may be fragile, so it isimportant that the students do notsimply “dig in.”

4. Once students have begun to uncoverartifacts, lead a class discussion as towhat students are finding and how theyare finding the artifacts. Samplequestions include:a. What can you tell from the artifacts?

Male/Female? Old/Young? Ethnicity?Family interests?

b. How many people do these artifactsrepresent? Can you tell what thepeople did to make a living? Werethey farmers, bankers, photo-graphers, etc? What language did thepeople speak? What otherinformation might you need tocomplete the interpretation?

5. Instruct students to remove the topartifacts and place them in one pile ontheir desks before moving to the nextlayer. The teacher may want to providepaper lunch bags to keep artifactsseparate.

6. Have students continue excavatinguntil they find the next layer ofartifacts. Repeat the questions frombefore. How do these new artifactsimpact the students’ originalinterpretations? Do the new artifactshelp interpret the preceding artifact? Dothe new artifacts add any information?Or do they confuse the interpreter?

7. Have students remove the second layerof artifacts and place them in a separatepile or bag on their desks.

8. Continue the excavation until allartifacts are removed and placed intheir separate piles.

9. Have students interpret theirassemblages for the class.

The following pages can be copied forstudents as take home directions forconstructing shoebox archaeology.

pass it on!

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

24 Lesson 3 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

Shoebox Archaeology

Directions1. Select a few personal objects that

represent three generations. An exampleof three generations is grandparents,parents, and students. Objects toconsider 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 makerepresentative objects dated from thetime periods.

2. Place a thin layer of soil (or one color ofsand) at the bottom of the shoebox. Ifsand or soil is too dry, you may need tomoisten the layers with a spray bottle toprevent shifting. Place the objects fromthe oldest generation on the first layerof soil. This will be the bottommostlayer of artifacts.

3. Place a second layer of soil deep enoughto cover the artifacts.

4. On top of the second layer, placeobjects from the middle generation.

5. Place a third layer of soil on top ofthese artifacts.

6. Place some of the youngestgeneration’s items on top of the thirdlayer 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 boxaround too much.

10. DO NOT write your name on the box.You will be excavating anotherstudent’s box.

25

Objectives• to enable students to learn the function

of the laboratory in interpretation ofartifacts excavated from archaeologicalsites

• to encourage students to understandhow different archaeologists may derivedifferent conclusions from the sameartifact

• to develop deductive reasoning skills

Standards AddressedGrades 4–5 1SC-E1 (PO4), Language ArtsStandard 3 Listening and SpeakingEssentialsGrades 6–8 1SC-E3 (PO2), 2SC-E4 (PO1)

Key Wordsanalysisartifact

Materials• Personal items children bring from

home• 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(optional)

TimeApproximately 50–60 minutes.

We all have preconceived notions and personal biases, which canlead to misinterpretation. Archaeologists have personal biases also,some of which result from their specialized training. In this lesson,students will interpret artifacts.

ArchaeologicalTechniques:Laboratory Interpretation I

Getting Started

26 Lesson 4 Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation I

Personal knowledge and biases contributeto interpretation of an artifact. Someonefamiliar with a certain subject will havedifferent interpretations from someonewho is unfamiliar with that same subject.For instance, most people are familiarwith baseball artifacts such as bases, bats,balls, and mitts. But only the most avidfans may know what the on deck circle(place where a batter next in line waits forhis turn to bat) or a donut (a weight that isslipped over the large end of the bat thathelps batters practice their swing) is.Someone who is unfamiliar with the gamemay have different interpretations thanthose who are familiar with it.

Archaeologists rely on their pasttraining and experience to determine thefunction and meaning of an artifact.Because archaeologists bring to thelaboratory different levels of knowledgeand different areas of expertise, theysometimes do not agree on theinterpretation of an artifact.

The teacher should collect items from asubject area with which the students willbe unfamiliar and place them in a paperbag. Examples include objects involved intraining a dog, objects from a historicalgame that children don’t play any more,or objects used in preparing a certain fooddish.

Request, one week or a few days aheadof time, that students bring in one itemthat reflects their personalities, orsomething that they use often. Studentsmay choose to bring in items that are familiar to other students. However,

encourage them to look for items withwhich other students may not be familiar.Teachers may also want to include itemsthat are broken and/or have missingpieces.

The teacher collects the items broughtin by the students. The teacher placesitems inside paper bags to preventstudents from seeing items ahead of time.Prepare one bag per group of students,dividing the artifacts among the bags.

1. Discuss how interpretations of artifactscan differ according to different people.Have students ever seen an object thatthey thought had one function, only todiscover that they were wrong? Havestudents ever come into contact withan object and had no idea of what itwas used for? Read excerpts from Motelof the Mysteries to illustrate thedifference between interpretation andmisinterpretation.

2. The teacher takes one item fromhis/her special collection. Lead adiscussion about the object’s function.Display all items. Have class try to putall the clues together and discover whatthe assemblage is used for. Eventually,the teacher may have to reveal theanswers. Explain to the students thatbecause you had personal knowledge ofthe subject matter, you were able tointerpret the artifacts. Because thestudents had no prior knowledge of thesubject, they had difficulty ininterpreting the artifacts.

3. Divide class into groups, separate thegroups, and spread throughout the

teacher’s corner

lesson setup

lesson outline

Lesson 4 Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation I 27

classroom. Have groups remove oneitem at a time from their group bag andanalyze the item, filling out theworksheet to document their decisions.What is it made of? Who may haveused the item? How was the item used?Does the artifact resemble anythingthey have ever seen or used before?What can you conclude from the item?Can you conclude anything inparticular about the people who mayhave used the item?

4. Have group justify and record itsinterpretation.

5. Once all groups have completed theirbag, ask that one representative from

each group go to the front of the classand report on the group’s findings. Askthe class to help interpret the items thegroup may have been unable todecipher. Does anyone have anydiffering ideas about the group’sinterpretation? Does everyone agreewith the group’s interpretation?

The following page should be copied anddistributed to the group members to helpthem record data regarding the artifacts.

pass it on!

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

28 Lesson 4 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

Archaeological TechniquesArchaeology Laboratory Activity

Remove one artifact at a time from the bag and discuss it with yourgroup. Record your observations and conclusions. Repeat the processuntil 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?

29

Objectives• Students will learn the difficult job

archaeologists have whenreconstructing damaged/partial artifactsrecovered from site excavations.

• Students will understand howpothunters damage archaeological siteswhen removing artifacts andinformation.

• Students will attain an understandingof the importance of pottery to thearchaeologist.

• Students will associate decorations andartwork on pottery to the society thatcreated them.

Standards AddressedGrades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO2), 1SS-E2 (PO1, PO4)

Key Wordsassemblageartifactpotsherdstylistic analysistemper

Materials• One terracotta flower pot large enough

to allow all students in the group to addtheir artistry to the pot. Plan on using atleast an 8-inch pot.

• 4-inch terracotta flower pots, one perstudent

• 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

pots• When Clay Sings by Byrd Baylor, Charles

Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1972, ISBN0689711069.

Note: use a glue called “Incredibly Tacky,”available at craft stores. Glue must be brushedonto each side of the potsherd that is beingreconstructed. Elmer’s glue, rubber cement,and glue sticks do not work. They don’t dryquickly enough.

Time1–2 hours depending on size of the class

Creating, breaking, and reconstructing pots is a fun way to simulatethe work archaeologists do in laboratories. An extension to thisactivity includes having students create pottery from clay instead ofpurchasing store-bought pots. Students can create their own designson the pottery or may choose to duplicate Hohokam, Anasazi, orMogollon designs.

ArchaeologicalTechniques:Laboratory Interpretation II

Getting Started

30 Lesson 5 Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation II

Archaeologists find many pieces ofpottery. Ceramic artifacts are among themost durable objects in the archaeologicalrecord. Pieces of pottery, or potsherds, cansurvive in the soil under a variety ofcircumstances. Ceramic technology isconsidered a recent innovation and isassociated with the change betweenhumans as a hunter-gatherer society and amore sedentary, agricultural lifestyle.

All sciences use classification to imposeorder on a data group. The first step inclassification is to determine assemblages,or groups of similar artifacts with likecharacteristics. The principle behind thismethod of classification is that similaritiesdo not occur randomly, but reflect theculture or society that manufactured theobject. To classify an assemblage in thepresent does not necessarily reflect theclassification the original creators mayhave used. Archaeologists have used thistype of classification to determine theassociations of sites on a timeline.Recently, however, archaeologists haveused this type of classification to studycultural aspects of a community, such astrade, population movements, and socialorganization.

Stylistic analysis studies the artisticand decorative traits within anassemblage. This analysis documents thetraditions and decorative styles of thecommunity that manufactured the items.Many archaeologists believe that thesetraits are culturally conditioned by, andreflective of, the social systems of thecommunity. People who live in the samevillage will tend to create the same type ofpottery, using the same temper (materialsadded to clay to strengthen the potteryduring firing), methods, style, anddecorations.

Traditionally, archaeologists have usedstylistic analysis to focus on decorativelayouts, motifs, and configurations. Thedesign categories are then used toreconstruct site sequences bydocumenting stylistic changes throughtime. As people change, so do their styles.

The objective of systematic analysis ofceramic artifacts is to aid inunderstanding human behavior. The goalof such analysis is to explain the roleceramics hold within a cultural system.

Divide class into teams of two or three.Each team will be responsible for paintingone large pot. Make sure the studentsknow that the large pot is for smashingand the little pot is the one they get totake home. You may find resistance to theidea that they will have to smash the pot.Emphasize that the purpose of thisactivity is to give the students an idea ofhow an archaeologist really works in aceramic analysis laboratory. Remind themthat they will still have a pot to takehome. Make sure each student teampaints the large pot first, before paintingthe smaller one. This gives the paint timeto dry prior to smashing the pots. It alsogives the students incentive not to dawdlewhile painting the larger pot.

A good introduction to the meaningand importance of pottery is the book byByrd Baylor, When Clay Sings. Afterreading the book (entirely or partially),you may want to ask the students, “Howdoes your clay sing?”

teacher’s corner

lesson setup

Lesson 5 Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation II 31

1. Archaeologists find lots of pottery atexcavation sites. Why do you supposethis is? (Fired pottery is very durable.)Does the pottery tell us anything in particular about the people whomade it?

2. Some artwork on prehistoric potterymay have been somewhat likephotographs of today. It wasn’t alwayspossible for people to take photos orvideos of things that were important tothem, or things they wanted toremember. People used art on pottery torecord their observations, thoughts, andbeliefs.

3. We can learn a lot about a people bystudying 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

pottery;What else might we be able to learn?

4. It would be helpful to showphotographs or slides of some of thepottery styles excavated from the RioNuevo archaeological sites. This willhelp illustrate the styles on pottery. Ifthis is not possible, the teacher maywant to compare and contrast the stylesof pottery among the Hohokam,Mogollon, and Anasazi.

5. When archaeologists found pottery atthe Rio Nuevo sites, were all the potsintact? (No) Were they whole or inpieces? (Most were in pieces) How did thearchaeologists figure out whatdecorations were used? (They had to putthe pots back together as best as theycould.)

6. What happens if the archaeologistdoesn’t find all the pieces? (It may notbe possible to reconstruct the object.)Where could the missing pieces havegone? (Pieces could have been moved byrodents or reused for other purposes.Pothunters may have removed the potteryor the pieces may have never beenrecovered by archaeologists.) Pothuntersare people who illegally remove itemsfrom an archaeological site. Because ofpothunters, we could be missing outon some valuable information.Archaeologists cannot make positiveconclusions if some of the informationis missing.

7. “Smash-a-pot” activity. Divide classinto teams and give each team onelarge pot to paint. Make sure thestudents know that this is the pot thatwill be smashed and reconstructed.Have them paint symbols and objectsthat are important to them. Thepurpose of the painting is to leaveclues for the group who will bereassembling their pot. The teamdoing the reassembly of the pot will“read” the painting group’s pot forclues to the painter’s identity.

8. Once student teams finish paintingthe large pot, hand out the smallerpots and let the students paint themaccording to their personal tastes. Bythe time they finish painting thesmaller pots, the larger ones shouldhave dried.

9. Set the small pots aside and place onelarge pot in each paper grocery bag.

10. The teacher should be the one tosmash the pots. Take the rubber malletand hit the bag with the pot insideonce. If the pot doesn’t break intomore than two pieces hit it again.Once all the pots are broken, handthem out to the teams, making sure noteam gets its original pot.

lesson outline

11. Pass out the glue and glue brushes foreach team. Have the team look at thepieces (the assemblage) and try to geta sense of the pottery to bereassembled. Let the teams try toreassemble the pot.

The teacher can check for understandingof the lesson by leading a groupdiscussion about the “smash-a-pot”activity. Once pots are reassembled, askthe teams to make some conclusionsabout the students who painted the pot.Does their clay sing as in the Byrd Baylorbook? What items/objects were recordedin paint? What does this tell us about thepeople who decorated the pot? Whatcolors did the painter choose? How didthey apply the paint? How doarchaeologists read pottery? How doarchaeologists reassemble pottery?

The following page may be copied forhandouts to help students gather ideas forimages 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

35

Objectives• to show students how deductive

reasoning works in studying artifacts• to illustrate that different assumptions

can change interpretations and thatremoving key pieces of evidence canchange interpretations

• to enable students to gain anunderstanding of why archaeologistsare tentative in their conclusions

• to show students that the garbage theyleave behind contains artifacts that canbe analyzed just as archaeologistsanalyze other artifacts from the past0

Standards AddressedGrades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO2), 1SC-E1 (PO3,PO4), 2SC-E4 (PO1), 2SC-E5 (PO1, PO2,PO3)Grades 6–8 1SC-E3 (PO2), 2SC-E4 (PO1),2SC-E5 (PO3)

Materials• paper grocery bags, two per household• items from the Household lists• Household lists can be copied and

handed out to the student groupsinstead of collecting the items.However, using real objects increasesthe amount of information studentswill have for analysis and increases theinterest and level of involvement of thestudents.

• paper and writing instruments forstudents to record their findings

TimeThe lesson can take as little as 50 minutesand as long as 90 minutes, depending onextensions and involvement of the group.

Archaeologists learn about the past by studying artifacts. Manytimes, the items left behind are from ancient garbage piles. By usingthe same techniques and examining modern trash, we can learnabout modern society.

The Garbage ProjectAdapted from the “Studies in Arizona History” textbook

Getting Started

36 Lesson 6 The Garbage Project

Archaeologists learn about the pastthrough the study of artifacts. Often thisinvolves sifting through ancient garbage.We can learn about modern societiesusing the same techniques. The Universityof Arizona has an ongoing program calledThe Garbage Project, directed by Dr.William Rathje, that has studied landfillsfrom different cities. In this lessonstudents will have an opportunity toanalyze fictitious, but feasible, householditems and draw conclusions about humanbehavior based upon their observations.In this exercise there are no right orwrong answers, just logical deductions.

Like detectives, archaeologists use cluesfrom artifacts to reconstruct humanbehavior. By studying garbage, we canapply the same reasoning to the study ofmodern societies.

1. Collect all items listed on theHousehold List. Substitutions can bemade. All items must be emptied andcleaned. Make sure all can rims are freeof sharp edges.

2. On the day the project will be done,distribute items into four paper grocerybags marked with “household number1–4 A.” (1A, 2A, etc.)

3. In four separate grocery bags, place theremaining two household items thatwill be introduced after each groupmakes the first conclusions. Make sureto mark the bags “household number1–4 B.” (1B, 2B, etc.)

4. Divide the class into four groups. If theclass is large, you can duplicate the

households. Instead of four groups, youwould have eight. It doesn’t matterthat the households are duplicated.Different groups will come to differentinterpretations and conclusions.

1. Ask students “How do archaeologistsknow what they know?” List theiranswers on the board for the entireclass to see. Discuss each answer as it isgiven.

2. Ask students to consider why onearchaeologist may come to a differentconclusion than another if examiningthe same artifacts.

3. Bring in one item with which thestudents are not familiar (such as agrapefruit spoon, a tool, an old TVchannel dial, etc.). The item can bebroken, old or new, or just unfamiliarto the students. Pass the item aroundthe classroom. After everyone has had achance to view and touch it, havestudents discuss the artifact. What aresome of their conclusions,assumptions, and interpretations? Howare they making their interpretations?On what evidence are they basing theirconclusions?

4. Read and/or discuss Motel of theMysteries. You can also use excerptsfrom the book to illustratemisinterpretation of evidence. If thebook is unavailable to the class, be sureto illustrate how analysts, whenassuming too much, can easilymisinterpret information that leads towrong conclusions.

teacher’s corner

lesson outline

lesson setup

Lesson 6 The Garbage Project 37

5. Instruct the students about what isgoing to happen. Each group willreceive one household bag. As a group,the students must makeinterpretations and come toconclusions about the people of thehousehold. Questions to consider are:a. What can students deduce for

absolute certainty about theirhousehold?

b. Can students tell the age, gender,and number of householdoccupants?

c. Is it possible to figure out the socialstatus (including occupation andeducation level)?

d. Are the occupants poor, middleclass, or wealthy?

e. What other information canstudents deduce from the householditems?

6. Ask students to record the reasons fortheir deductions. Are some items morehelpful in determining the answersthan others?

7. Have students break into their pre-assigned groups.

8. Each group should choose aspokesperson to report on the findingsof the group.

9. Allow groups ample time to analyzethe artifacts in their bag. The teachercan determine the proper amount oftime by circulating around theclassroom and listening to the groupdiscussions.

10. Once the interpretation phase is over,ask the spokesperson from each groupto go to the front of the class. The

spokesperson should introduce theitems from the household bag andshow the class each item. Thespokesperson should report the group’sinterpretations and conclusions. A class discussion should followregarding the group’s interpretations.Does anyone have anything to add?Does anyone question any of thegroup’s interpretations?

11. Continue until all groups havereported their findings.

12. Once spokespeople return to theirgroups, hand out the second part ofthe household bags. The tworemaining items must now be figuredinto the group’s original interpretationof the first bag of household artifacts.Repeat the reporting step, as thespokesperson reports on how/if theadditional items changed theirinterpretation and why. Have theadded items changed any of theoriginal interpretations? Make theanalogy between the missinginformation and the damagepothunters do to archaeological sites.When evidence is missing, it isimpossible to know the entire story.

Use the following page as a handout (ifnot using real objects for the activity) oruse as a list in order to locate objects foreach household.

pass it on!

Household #11. broken hearing aid or hearing aid

batteries2. diet soda can3. large enchilada sauce can4. small green chili can5. plastic tortilla bag, preferably brand

name (not hand-made)6. broken Barbie doll7. baby food jar with small screws in it8. action figure toy9. sawdust (can be placed inside a

Ziploc bag)10. computer floppy disk

Household #1 Additions1. Wall Street Journal2. empty pill bottle labeled

Nitroglycerin Tablets

Household #21. plastic name badge on pin2. pizza box3. used lipstick: the most “in” color4. hair spritz or hairspray5. macaroni and cheese box6. toy bear losing stuffing7. worn women’s tennis shoes: Size 78. SunTran bus passes/transfers9. empty vitamin bottle

10. cat litter bag

Household #2 Additions1. baby diaper2. People magazine in Spanish

Household #31. wine bottle2. steak bones3. recipes clipped from a magazine4. used deodorant container5. empty film cans6. Sports Illustrated7. used deck of cards; preferably partial

deck8. empty cigar box9. photographs of a basketball game

Household #3 Additions1. worn, run pantyhose2. African American hair braid and

extension conditioner

Household #41. brown rice box2. empty can of water chestnuts3. soy sauce bottle4. worn sandal5. plastic water bottle6. worn cloth shopping bag7. hair tie8. empty vitamin bottle9. empty package of garden seeds

Household #4 Additions1. Consumer Reports magazine2. broken high-heel shoe

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

38 Lesson 6 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

Section 2

Applying archaeologyto Rio Nuevo

Rio Nuevo Partnership schools on tour of the excavation site.

READ ABOUT

RIO NUEVO!

41

Objectives• Students will use the Arizona Daily Star

newspaper articles as primary researchtools to discover the history, scope, andfuture plans for the Rio Nuevo Project.

• Students will develop a sense ofcommunity involvement by researchingthe Rio Nuevo Project.

Standards AddressedGrades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO2), 1SS-E2 (PO1,PO3, PO5), 3SS-E2 PO1, PO4), R-E2 (PO2,PO5, PO6)Grades 6–8 R-E2 (PO1, PO2, PO6, PO7), R-P1 (PO2, PO3, PO 4)

Key WordsConventogranaryHohokampithouse

Materials• Arizona Daily Star newspaper articles:

“Unearthed History to Be Reburied,” byCarmen Duarte, January 26, 2001“Learn More About Rio NuevoDevelopment,” by Paola Banchero,January 1, 2001

Time50–60 minutes, depending on classreading level and whether or not botharticles are used.

In this lesson, students will read newspaper articles to discoverwhat archaeology is taking place during the Rio Nuevo Project.

Archaeologyand Rio Nuevo

Getting Started

42 Lesson 7 Archaeology and Rio Nuevo

Some students may have difficultyreading the newspaper articles and mayneed assistance.

The information found in thenewspaper articles is dated, but thearticles provide a good overview for theRio Nuevo Project at its inception.Teachers should direct the class toresearch newer articles and compare/contrast the information. Recentinformation can also be obtained throughthe Desert Archaeology Inc. website atwww.rio-nuevo.org

The teacher can copy the newspaperarticles and worksheets to hand out forindividual students or small groups; orcreate an overhead transparency if doingas a class exercise.

1. Hand out copies of newspaper articlesand question sheets. Students caneither work in teams, as partners, oralone.

2. Ask students to read the articles andanswer the questions in the spacesprovided on the answer sheets. Remindstudents that it is helpful to review thequestions before reading the article.This will give them an idea about whatinformation to look for during theirreading.

3. Review the topic by leading classdiscussion on the answers studentshave recorded.

The following articles and question sheetsmay be copied for classroom distribution,or made into overhead slides for a classproject.

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 Riverbelow “A” Mountain.

2. November 2000 to February 2001.3. ancestors of the Tohono

O’odham, Spanish conquistadors,Mexican farmers, Chinesebusinessmen.

4. San Agustín Mission site.5. The archaeologists found a

prehistoric village dating back2,500 years.

6. The river contained fish andturtles. Cottonwoods, mesquites,willows, and tall grasses grew inabundance; not mentioned in thearticle, but gives students achance to compare then and now.

7. corn, beans, squash, deer, rabbit,wild spinach, mesquite pods, andcactus fruit.

8. Father Kino brought writtenlanguage to the area.

9. He brought wheat, cattle, horses,and chickens. He wrote journalsdescribing what he found andmapped the area.

10. The City of Tucson operated alandfill.

“Learn More about Rio NuevoDevelopment” 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,housing.

c. east, downtown.5. San Agustín, Convento, rebuilt.6. culture, heritage.7. and 8. Students will express their

understanding of culture andheritage.

Answer Key Answer Key

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

44 Lesson 7 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

An archaeological dig that uncoveredprecious Tucson history dating back 2,500years is about to go underground oncemore.

But before it does, you can go today andtomorrow to view an area known as the“Birthplace of Tucson,” just west of theSanta Cruz River below “A” Mountain.

Since November, crews ofarchaeologists began unearthing layers ofhistory buried there.

These past worlds were occupied bypre-historic people—ancestors to theTohono O’odham-and Spanishconquistadores, Mexican farmers andChinese businessmen.

The current dig is going to be coveredup by mid-February and then decisionswill be made later on which historic findswill be re-constructed and which will beexcavated and protected.

The $360 million Rio Nuevo projectaimed at revitalizing downtown includes acultural center and re-creation of SanAgustín Mission, and the Convento wherethe priests lived. The mission was built in1771.

Pithouses, irrigation canals, and aChinese outhouse are among thediscoveries at the site.

Chinese dishes, including a rice winejar, brown stoneware, rice bowls, saucebowls and a spoon dating from1880–1900 will also be on display.

These discoveries and more, includingstones used for pounding and grinding,

and oval and square bowls made out ofstone, may be going into a culturalmuseum.

Plans are not complete, but the latestdetails by Hunter Interests of Maryland,Rio Nuevo’s master planners, show themuseums were moved from west of theriver to east of Interstate 10, south ofWest Congress Street.

Meanwhile, archaeologists Jonathan B.Mabry and J. Homer Thiel will lead crewsthat will continue to dig in the area andeast of I-10, doing fieldwork and mappingout findings in the area that will helpshape Rio Nuevo’s look.

About $2.1 million is expected to bespent on archaeology throughout the 11-year Rio Nuevo project, which includes excavations downtown, east ofInterstate 10.

So far, the findings at Tucson’sbirthplace-also known as the San AgustínMission site-make Mabry marvel.

“We found a prehistoric village datingback 2,500 years. This tells us that Tucsonis the longest, continuously occupiedsettlement in the United States,” Mabrysaid yesterday while giving a tour.

Back then, the area was lush and theSanta Cruz River carried fish and turtles.Cottonwoods, mesquites, willows and tallgrasses grew in abundance.

People living in the pithouses farmedcorn, beans and squash. Their diet alsoincluded deer, rabbit, wild spinach,mesquite pods and cactus fruit.

Unearthed History to be ReburiedArchaeologists 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 theearly farmers came from. He said theHohokam came to the area 1,500 yearsago, and possibly learned farming fromthe earlier Sonoran Desert farmers.

“People lived in this spot for so longbecause “A” Mountain is a volcanic hill.The rock barrier forced ground water upto the surface,” Mabry said.

He said everything before the comingof early missionary Eusebio FranciscoKino is considered prehistoric because itwas not written.

“Father Kino came to the Santa CruzRiver Valley in the 1690s and found aPima village. He brought wheat, cattle,horses and chickens to the area that wasknown as San Cosme,” Mabry said. Kinowrote journals describing what he foundand mapped out the area.

Mabry pointed to the volcanic rock

foundation of a wall that stood around theSan Agustín Mission site, the Conventoand two cemeteries. There also was agranary, and its foundation is visible.

Many of the prehistoric sites and themission settlement are believed to havebeen destroyed because the city of Tucsonran a landfill in the area in the 1950s and1960s, Mabry said.

However, what has been found hasgiven archaeologists a good view of thearea’s history—a good foundation to whatcan be reconstructed, Mabry said.

This is the first time the area has beendug up and the studies of prehistoricfindings done, Mabry said.

Police will patrol the area regularlywhile the excavations continue.

Updates of the findings will be postedon 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 thefollowing questions. It may help to read the questions first to give you anidea 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 brushstrokes so far, will become clearerWednesday when the public gets its firstlook at an early version of the $360million plan for revitalizing downtown.

Developed by consultant HunterInterests after a series of public meetings,the plan likely will call for a mix ofentertainment and cultural offerings, suchas parks and walkways, museums,theaters, restaurants, a convention hotel,housing and public gathering places in the62-acre Rio Nuevo district.

The district abuts “A” Mountain, runseast past Interstate 10 through Downtown,then six miles down Broadway to includethe El Con and Park Place malls.

Here are some details about the projectthat have emerged from public meetingssince October:• Plans for putting water in the usually

dry Santa Cruz River would probablylimit the flow to a small stream duringmost of the year, perhaps just a trickleduring dry seasons.

• The west side of I-10 will have morenatural open space, a cultural parkflanked by greenery, and mixed-usedevelopment that may include housing.This is where a replica of 18th-century-era Mission San Agustín, along with atwo-story convento and a granary, wouldbe rebuilt.

• The arts and entertainment district andmany of the cultural and visitors

attractions will be on the east side of thehighway, in the heart of Downtown.

The Wednesday forum begins at 6:30 p.m.at the Tucson Convention Center. A finalversion of the plan will be presented at apublic hearing before the mayor andcouncil on Feb. 27.

“As Rio Nuevo’s plans are shaping up,it’s clear we are going to be in the heart ofthe tourist part of Downtown,” said JaneMcCullom, vice president of MROManagement Inc., which manages LaPlacita Village, the Downtown retailoffice complex at Congress Street andChurch Avenue.

McCullom, a member of the Rio NuevoCitizens Advisory Committee, said theproject must be economically sound and“Tucson-centric.”

“It means Rio Nuevo has to representTucson’s culture and heritage in anauthentic way.”

Carmen Villa Prezelski, anothermember of the advisory committee and afifth-generation Southern Arizonan,crystallized that view when she urged thatthe project steer away from “Taco Bellmeets Disneyland.”

Rio Nuevo’s planners have picked upon the expression.

“We want something that pays homageto the desert architecturally, that isSonoran, not Californian mission revivalor Santa Fe-an,” Villa Prezelski said.

Read the article, “Learn more about Rio Nuevo development,” andanswer the following questions. You may want to read the questionsfirst so you know what to look for when reading the article.

Learn more about Rio Nuevo developmentBy Paola Banchero Arizona Daily Star, 01/01/01

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

48 Lesson 7 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

At neighborhood meetings, publicforums and design workshops, Tucsonanshave been asked what would makeDowntown inviting, livable andenjoyable.

It’s a process launched when voters inNovember 1999 approved the outline ofRio Nuevo plan, including fundingthrough so-called tax-increment financing.That means setting aside for Rio Nuevouse some of the tax revenue raised withinthe Rio Nuevo area—including the twomalls.

One-third of the money will come fromthis public source, with the remainingtwo-thirds from private investment.

Besides the public forums and meetingsabout Rio Nuevo, the 21-member citizensadvisory committee has been hashing outits role in the process.

The group has regularly scheduledmonthly meetings, but in recent weeks ithas met more frequently to establish whatcriteria it will use to evaluate eachproposal.

The open-ended dialogue of themeetings has heartened Tucson CityManager James Keene, who accepted thecity manager job last year in part becausehe saw Rio Nuevo as the mechanism tobring Downtown back to life.

“I’m very optimistic about the way thepublic process is unfolding,” Keene said.

Rio Nuevo’s citizen guardians areaware that attractions must connect to

each other or run the risk of failing, headded.

“If we cherry-picked projects and theywere disconnected and all over the place,they wouldn’t provide enough criticalmass to convince the private sector toinvest.”

Anna Landau, who attended a two-daydesign workshop in early November withher family, recognizes that Rio Nuevomust have a commercial component tosucceed.

“But it can’t be the reason for theproject,” Landau said.

“It can’t be a theme park,” her sisterSonya Landau added.

Cele Peterson, their grandmother, had afashion boutique Downtown for years andwas one of the last to leave the area. IfTucson’s Downtown is to thrive again, ithas to be “a place the [sic] piques yourinterest and maintains it by encouragingexchanges with other Tucsonans,” AnnaLandau said.

Their comments were echoed in thepublic gatherings, where Rio NuevoProject Director John S. Jones heardparticipants bemoan the loss of publicspaces.

“I want to embrace this plan,” Jonessaid, “and I want the people who see theplan to embrace it, to see that it issomething that has come out of them, outof this dialogue we’ve been having, thatit’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? __________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

51

Objectives• to provide students with the most up to

date information regarding prehistory ofthe Tucson Basin

• to help students hone questioning andreading comprehension skills

Standards AddressedGrades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO1, PO2), 1SS-E2(PO1, PO3, PO4, PO5), 3SS-E2 (PO4), 2SC-E2 (PO2), 2SC-E4 (PO1), 2SC-E5 (PO3),2SC-E6 (PO1, PO2), 6SC-F8 (PO1, PO2,PO3), 6SC-E4 (PO1, PO2), R-E2 (PO2,PO7), W-E1 (PO1, PO2, PO3, PO4, PO5),W-E2 (PO2), W-E5 (PO1, PO2, PO3), W-E6(PO1, PO3)

Key Wordsexcavationirrigationostracodsprehistory

Materialscopies of interview for class

Time50–60 minutes

New information gathered from the Rio Nuevo excavations ischanging our knowledge of Tucson’s history and prehistory. Thisinterview was conducted with one of the archaeologists involvedwith 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 thislesson plan. Two students may be selectedto role-play in front of the class. The classcan be split into groups, with each grouptaking on one question or acting the rolesfor each question. Teachers may want toconsider calling local archaeology firms tohave an archaeologist speak to the class.

The teacher decides whether to read theinterview as a group project or forindividual students. Copy “An Interviewwith an Archaeologist” and hand out tostudents. If the teacher has chosen todivide the class into groups, one copy pergroup is sufficient.

1. The teacher asks students to read theinterview as homework and beprepared to role play or discuss thenext class period.

2. Ask students about the prehistory ofthe Tucson basin.Questions to consider:a. Do we know what the climate was

like?b. What types of animals lived in this

area?c. What types of vegetation were there?d. Did anyone live in this area during

prehistoric times?

The following pages may be copied forindividual handout or made into atransparency for class discussion. Teacherscan assign the following activities forhomework or classroom discussion. Theteacher may want to assign each studentone activity, or break class into teams andassign each team one activity. NOTE: Letters can be written on anindividual basis, or as a class or groupproject. Should the teacher decide to haveeach student write a letter, the possibilityof receiving an answer improves if allletters are not directed to onearchaeologist. Not all archaeologists willanswer the same question in the samemanner.

teacher’s corner

lesson setup

lesson outline

pass it on!

An Interview with an ArchaeologistInterview with Dr. Jonathan B. Mabry, Friday, November 16, 2001

Senior Project Director, Desert Archaeology, Inc.

Interview by Kyle McKoyCuratorial Assistant, Arizona Historical Society

Some people have no idea what the world of archaeology is or whatarchaeologists do. Others have very specific ideas. Some people think thatarchaeologists dig up dinosaur bones. Others think that archaeologists aretreasure hunters who keep everything that they find. Thanks to someHollywood movies, many people think that archaeologists travel the world,filling their lives with adventure and excitement around every turn. To findout 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., inTucson, Arizona, and working on the excavations for the Rio Nuevo Project.He investigates the people who lived in the Tucson Basin during prehistorictimes. The information gathered from the excavations for Rio Nuevo has shednew light, not only on the history of the Tucson Basin, but also on the historyof the entire region.

Interviewer • What information about the prehistory of the Tucson Basin hasbeen gathered from the recent excavations?

Dr. Mabry In 1993, before the work began for Rio Nuevo, we began uncoveringsome large villages and learning more about an early farming culture thatlived in this area during prehistoric times, long before the Hohokamculture. We knew very little about this earlier culture before. Since then,there’s been a series of excavations of early farming villages right here inTucson. Recently, we’ve been excavating some of these villages neardowntown 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, thefarther back we’re pushing the dates of this culture. The most recentexcavations for the Rio Nuevo Project have exposed a deeply buried sitewith pithouses, storage pits, grinding tools, pottery, ceramic figurines, andcorn.We’ve been able to date many of the artifacts already. We’ve datedsome corn and found that it’s 4,000 years old! That’s almost the oldestcorn ever found in the Southwest. We also know that the pottery is theoldest pottery found in the Southwest. The pithouses we have uncoveredare the oldest pithouses that have been found in southern Arizona. We’reextending the origins of agriculture, village life, and pottery back in timemuch 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, wediscovered some earlier evidence of agriculture that pushed the datesback, and we realized that agriculture had arrived by at least 3,000 yearsago. The most recent discoveries push the arrival of agriculture back to4,000 years ago.

Interviewer • What new information have you gathered from the recentexcavations that has helped shed new light on the early farmers?

Dr. Mabry The most exciting new information comes from finding canals that werebuilt 3,000 years ago. They prove that canal irrigation goes back that farin the Sonoran Desert. Before this discovery, the oldest canals that hadbeen found in the Southwest were 2,000 years old and were built by theHohokam culture. For many decades a big question about the Hohokamhas been, “How did they learn to build these huge canal systems?” Wehad no evidence of anything that looked like an earlier stage ofdevelopment. With the discovery of canals in several locations that arebetween 2,000 and 3,000 years old, we’ve extended the history ofirrigation technology much farther back in time and now we can see theevolutionary process. The most recent excavations done for Rio Nuevo atthe base of “A” Mountain have uncovered some very large canals thatdate to about 2,500 years ago. What is interesting about them is that theyare as big as the biggest Hohokam canals in this valley. We did notpreviously think that they were making canals that large that long ago.

Interviewer • How can you tell the difference between an early farmer canal and aHohokam canal?

Dr. Mabry We only know the difference by dating them. We know that the recentlydiscovered canals were built 2,500 years ago because we radiocarbondated some charcoal that was found in them. In terms of time, theHohokam culture did not develop until about 1,500 years ago, so thesecanals are about 1,000 years older than the Hohokam culture.

Interviewer • What other information have you gathered from studying thecanals?

Dr. Mabry We can see the history of a canal by studying the sediments. Whenpeople think of a canal, they think of an empty ditch or a ditch that isfilled with water. When archaeologists find a prehistoric canal, it iscompletely full of sediments. Some of the sediments are from water thatwas running in the canal for irrigation purposes, and some are fromfloods that filled the canal very quickly. These sediments have differentappearances from different causes. We can look at the different layers ofsediment in the canal and see its history. We can also learn about the

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

54 Lesson 8 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

canal by looking at the microscopic crustacean shells of organisms calledostracods (AH strah cods) preserved in the sediments. There are manydifferent species of ostracod and each species survives under differentenvironmental conditions, depending on their tolerance for temperature,velocity, and salinity of the water in which they live. So by identifyingthe species that are represented, we can identify whether the water sourceis from a river, water table, or spring. We can tell whether the waterflowed continuously or only in brief surges. We can tell what season ofthe year the water was flowing in the canal. We can tell whether thecanal dried out for periods of time, signaling perhaps that people werehaving trouble getting water.

Interviewer • What types of artifacts are you finding from the early farmers andwhat does this tell us about their lifestyle?

Dr. Mabry We’ve been very surprised to find that they were making pottery. We didnot know that before. They were also decorating pots, not with paint, butwith engraved markings. We find their hunting weapons—dart pointswith spear throwers. During the development of their culture, theystarted using the bow and arrow. With the discovery of their smallarrowheads dating to about 2,500 years ago, we are pushing back the ageof the bow and arrow in the Southwest by a thousand years. Previously itwas believed that the bow and arrow was not used in the region untilA.D. 500.

Interviewer • The canals tell us that people were farming. What do the otherartifacts tell us about their lifestyle?

Dr. Mabry These are the first people in this part of the world to live in one place allyear round. Before that, people were hunters and gatherers who had tomove constantly to find food. We know these early farmers did not movearound because they built houses and pits for storing foods. The storagepits allowed them to store harvested foods to get them through thewintertime, which meant that they did not have to move somewhere elseto look for food. When people settle down in one place, they also havemore free time. The presence of pottery, clay figurines, and stone smokingpipes tells us that these people had time to develop new types of objectsand crafts. We have even found remains of tobacco in pipes, and this isthe oldest evidence of tobacco use in North America.

Interviewer • When did the early farmers live here?Dr. Mabry They lived here between 4,000 and 2,000 years ago.

Interviewer • How are you certain that the early farming culture was differentfrom the Hohokam culture? What are some telltale signs that thesecultures were different and separate?

Dr. Mabry First of all, the two cultures were separated by thousands of years in time.

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

Lesson 8 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 55

Secondly, there are differences in their lifestyles; in how they built theirhouses, the type of pottery they made, and how they buried their dead.Even though they both made jewelry from seashells for which theytraded, the kinds of jewelry they made are not the same. The two culturescultivated crops, prepared, and ate wild foods in different ways. There aredifferences in the styles of projectile points they used and the basketsthey wove. On almost every level we see differences between the twocultures. The only things they had in common were that they lived inpithouses, built canals, made pottery, and made jewelry out of seashells.The thing that makes us think that there may be some cultural continuitybetween the early farmers and the Hohokam culture is the irrigation canaltechnology. That knowledge was probably not lost over the generations.It is likely that the Hohokam culture did not invent this technologyindependently, but that they learned it from an earlier culture that passedalong the knowledge.

Interviewer • Why is the discovery of this early farming culture so important tothe history of the Tucson Basin area?

Dr. Mabry Before this series of discoveries, it was generally thought by archaeologiststhat the Santa Cruz River valley was an unoccupied area until theHohokam culture expanded southward from the Phoenix Basin.We alsothought that agriculture arrived in this part of the world much later intime. With these discoveries, we realized that the Santa Cruz River valley,and the other river valleys of southeastern Arizona, were the most denselyinhabited areas of the Southwest between 2,000 and 4,000 years ago.These people preferred settlement along the river valleys because it wasthe best place to do their type of agriculture. The other parts of theSouthwest did not have the same agricultural conditions as river valleys,and the earlier farmers did not know how to farm in other conditions yet.They developed those skills and techniques later. With agriculture, peoplewere able to grow enough food to allow their populations to grow. Theearly farmers were the first to do many things in the Southwest. Theylived in the first villages. They built the first canals, made the first pottery,and used the first bows and arrows. They did many things a lot earlierthan most archaeologists thought before the discoveries in the last tenyears right here in Tucson.

Interviewer • Do you have any additional comments? Dr. Mabry I want to impress on the students that right here, in their hometown,

over the last several years there have been a number of importantscientific discoveries that have changed our understanding of the past.These discoveries have not simply changed our understanding of theprehistory of Tucson, but the entire prehistory of the Southwest, and haveeven changed things we knew about prehistory in North America.

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

56 Lesson 8 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

Activities for Interview with an Archaeologist

• Imagine that you are one of the early farmers who lived in theprehistoric Tucson Basin area. Write a creative story about one dayin your life. What crops did you plant? Where did you go to getwater? How did you carry water? What animals do you see aroundyou? Were there any dangers?

• The recent archaeological excavations have produced newinformation about the past. Write an essay about how these newdiscoveries have changed our ideas of the past and project howour ideas may change with new discoveries.

• Do you have any questions about archaeology or being anarchaeologist? Write a letter to one of the archaeologists listed onthe next page and ask your question.

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

Lesson 8 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 57

Some archaeologists to write to Allen Dart Old Pueblo Archaeology CenterP.O. Box 40577 Tucson, AZ 85717-0577 adart@oldpueblo.orgArea of expertise: water control and irrigation, southwest history and prehistory

Carol Ellick Statistical Research, Inc. P.O. Box 31865 Tucson, AZ 85751Area of expertise: archaeology and public education

Doug Gann Center For Desert Archaeology 300 East University, Suite 230 Tucson, AZ 85705 Area of expertise: applying computer technology to archaeology

India Hesse SWCA, Inc.343 South Scott Avenue Tucson, AZ 85701 Area of expertise: Paleo-Indian and lithic technology

Jonathan B. Mabry Desert Archaeology, Inc. 3975 North Tucson Blvd.Tucson, AZ 85716 Area of expertise: prehistoric archaeology

J. Homer Thiel Desert Archaeology, Inc. 3975 North Tucson Blvd. Tucson, AZ 85716 Area of expertise: historical archaeology

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

58 Lesson 8 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

59

The Spanish priests, settlers, and soldiers came to the Tucson areaand played an important role in shaping the culture of the area.Information found in the reading can be compared to the up todate information found on Desert Archaeology, Inc., web page:www.rio-nuevo.org and the City of Tucson’s web page:www.ci.tucson.az.us/rionuevo

Fathers, Farmers, and Fighters in Tucson

objectives• to develop reading comprehension skills• to explore the most up-to-date

information on the Rio Nuevoexcavations

Standards AddressedGrades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO1, PO2), 1SS-E2(PO1, PO3, PO5) 1SS-E3 (PO1, PO3, PO4,PO5, PO6), 3SS-E2 (PO1, PO2, PO4), 6SC-E4 (PO1, PO2), R-E2 (PO2, PO4, PO5,PO6), W-E1 (PO1, PO2, PO3, PO4, PO5), Standard 4: Viewing and PresentingEssentials

Key Wordsconquistadormissionpresidio

Materials• One copy per student of readings in the

Pass It On! Section.• Computer access

Time60–120 minutes

Getting Started

60 Lesson 9 Fathers, Farmers, and Fighters in Tucson

The following activities should be doneafter students complete the reading.

Activities• Go to the web page (www.rio-

nuevo.org) and take the virtual tourthrough the San Agustín MissionComplex.

• Go to the web page (www.rio-nuevo.org) to discover whatarchaeologists have uncovered from theMission Complex during the Rio Nuevoexcavations.

The following pages should be copied forstudent handouts.

Cal Peters’ painting of an 18th century Spanish expedition in Tubac. Can you identify the fathers, fighters, and farmers?Courtesy of Tumacácori National Historic Park Service.

teacher’s corner pass it on!

Fathers, Farmers, and Fighters in Tucson

When the Spanish conquistadors first came to what is now Arizona,they claimed a land that had been inhabited by people for thou-sands of years. The Indians living in southern Arizona called them-selves Tohono O’odham (TOE-hoe-no AH-ah-tom) meaning, “thedesert people.” The Spaniards called them Papago, a Piman wordmeaning “bean eater,” because the pods of mesquite beans were astaple food in their diet.

The O’odham and the Spaniards had very different lifestyles. TheO’odham had adapted to living in the desert. They wore fewclothes. They lived in houses made of mud and desert brush. Theirhouses were scattered about in small villages. They moved duringthe year to be near the best places for food and water. In the winter,they moved to higher areas where there were good springs andhunting. In the summer, they went to lower elevations to farm nearthe washes where they could divert summer rainwater into theirfields. They also depended on wild plants that were available at dif-ferent times of the year. The O’odham had different religious beliefsfrom those of the Spaniards.

In contrast, the Spaniards were used to permanent towns, woreclothing that completely covered the body, and believed in theChristian religion. They saw the O’odham life as uncivilized. TheSpaniards wanted the O’odham to adopt Spanish customs, religion,and government so that they could become productive citizens ofthe Spanish Empire.

The O’odham people had several reactions to the arrival of theSpaniards. Some welcomed the arrival of the strangers. They hopedthe Spaniards would join in the fight against the Apache groupsthat frequently warred with O’odham groups. Many accepted thenew products like horses, cows, chickens, and winter wheat intro-duced by the Spaniards. On the other hand, some O’odham peopleresented the arrival of the Spaniards. They refused to cooperate andsometimes warred with the Spaniards.

The Spanish government sent priests, or missionaries, to convertthe Indians to the Catholic religion. The priests established mis-

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

Lesson 9 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 61

sions, or communities focused on the church. They encouraged,and sometimes forced, the O’odham to settle on lands around themissions. The priests taught the Indians new skills such as black-smithing, how to plant new crops, and how to raise animals theybrought from Europe. They even taught the O’odham peopleEuropean-style music, dance, and clothing. In turn, the Indians pro-vided labor to expand and operate the missions.

Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, an Italian Jesuit priest, was thefirst missionary to explore the Tucson area. He had already estab-lished a number of missions in northern Sonora. He arrived insouthern Arizona in 1687, and within a few years, established mis-sions along the Santa Cruz River. These included Tumacácori andthe foundations for San Xavier del Bac. However, Father Kino’schurch at San Xavier was never completed. The present church wascompleted many years later in 1797.

Father Kino treated the Indians with respect, and they workedwell with him. But some of the priests who came later did not getalong as well. Some of the O’odham resented the treatment theyreceived from the priests. In 1736, Spanish colonists found silvernear a place called Arizonac (located today in northern Sonora).Spanish prospectors moved into the area to mine the silver. Theyclashed with the native peoples. As a result, in 1751 some of theO’odham rose up against the Spaniards.

The Spaniards and the O’odham also had a common enemy: theApaches. Apache groups who lived nearby saw the growing herds ofcattle as a new food source. They raided for cattle, horses, and othergoods. People on both sides were sometimes killed in these raids.

To protect the missions, mines, and its northern border, theSpanish government established a line of walled forts, called presid-ios. The line stretched from what is now northern Sonora to Texas.Each presidio had a garrison of thirty to fifty soldiers. The soldierswore thigh-length, heavy leather vests that protected them fromenemy arrows. They fought on horseback with long lances. The sol-diers lived with their families inside the forts.

Spanish colonists moved near the forts to farm. They provided

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62 Lesson 9 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

the presidios with food. In turn, the soldiers protected the farmersand the missions from attack.

In the early 1770s, Father Francisco Garcés established a new mis-sion at the foot of what we now call “A” Mountain. He preferred tominister to the O’odham living in the nearby village of Chuksonrather than to the residents of Bac, and felt that they deserved theirown mission. Chukson was near a good spring and fertile fields thatthe O’odham had been farming for many years. The priest namedthe mission San Agustín. The completed mission had a church, a res-idence for the priest, a granary, and gardens surrounded by a wall.

Five years later, the Spanish government decided to realign itsstring of presidios. This meant moving the presidio from Tubac to alocation further north. They sent Lieutenant Colonel HugoO’Conor, an Irishman working for the Spanish military, to claimthe new site. Tucson was chosen because it had the Santa CruzRiver for water, trees for constructing buildings, and good farmland.Also, it was near the San Agustín Mission and the O’odham village.The O’odham could provide labor to build the presidio and to farmthe land. O’Conor called the new presidio San Agustín del Tucson.Tucson was the Spanish version of the name, Chukson. The com-munity around San Agustín del Tucson grew as the soldiers, theirfamilies, and other colonists moved there. Together, the fathers,farmers, and fighters created interdependent communities on thenorthern frontier of New Spain.

The Spanish soldiers continued fighting the Apaches, but wereunable to subdue them. Finally, they tried a new tactic. TheSpaniards offered to give the Apaches food and other supplies, ifthey remained peaceful. This worked with some Apache groups.Some even settled near the presidio. The Spaniards called themApaches de Paz, or peaceful Apaches. In 1804, they helped theSpaniards fight off other Apaches. But the peace did not last.

As time passed, people born in Mexico wanted their own govern-ment, free from Spanish rule, just as early east coast Americancolonists had decided to become independent from England. TheMexicans declared themselves free from Spain in 1811. They had to

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Lesson 9 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 63

Fathers, Farmers, and Fighters in Tucson

Questions to Consider After Reading Text

1. How did the O’odham people living in the Tucsonarea react to the arrival of the Spaniards?

2. How did the lifestyles of the Spaniards differ fromthe lifestyles of the O’odham?

3. Describe how the Spanish mission system worked.

4. Why was the presidio in Tubac relocated to Tucson?

5. What types of artifacts might an archaeologistuncover if excavating the San Agustín Mission site?

fight a ten-year war before gaining their independence. The war leftthe Mexican government with little money and unable to pay itssoldiers or to provide food for the Apaches. Without food, theApaches began raiding again. Without government support, themissions and presidios had a hard time protecting themselves.Many people left.

Then, in 1822, the Mexican government expelled all Spaniardswho remained loyal to the Spanish crown. Some of the peopleexpelled were priests and soldiers. Because of the expulsion, fewpriests and soldiers remained to care for the missions and presidios.The San Agustín Mission was abandoned and soon fell into disrepair.

The San Agustín Mission complex was mentioned in a reportwritten in 1843 by a justice of the peace. The report said that themission’s roof had caved in, the wood structures had rotted andfallen down, and the walls had split in many places. This report hasbeen very useful for the modern archaeologists attempting to recon-struct how the mission looked in the mid-1700s, when it was anactive community.

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64 Lesson 9 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

65

The Chinese immigrants that came to the American Southwest inthe 1800s adapted to their new surroundings while maintainingsome of their native culture. The in-class project has studentslooking at photographs and artifacts to see how immigrantsadapted to their new home while maintaining their traditions.

The Chinese Experience in Tucson

objectives• to look for historical clues and

information found in photographs• to make students aware of the

contributions of the Chinesecommunity to Tucson history

Standards AddressedGrades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO2), 1SS-E4 (PO2),3SS-E2 (PO1, PO4), Language ArtsStandard 4: Viewing and PresentingEssentialsGrades 6–8 Language Arts Standard 4:Viewing and Presenting Proficiency

Key Wordsdiscriminationimmigrantprospectorsegregation

MaterialsCopies of student handouts; one perstudent or student group

Time60 minutes

Getting Started

66 Lesson 10 The Chinese Experience in Tucson

Many Chinese immigrants came toArizona from California because ofprejudice and exclusionary laws thathindered their ability to earn a livingthere. Not all immigrants, however, camefrom China through California. Somecame from seaports in Mexico and thenoverland through Sonora.

Many Chinese immigrants first cameto the Arizona Territory following therush for gold. They worked as prospectors,reworking old Spanish claims. Theyoriginally encountered little trouble orresistance from the territorial residents.Their numbers were small and they weresegregated into specific areas. As theirnumbers increased, Chinese immigrantsbegan to experience discrimination. Asearly as 1878, there were territorial cityordinances forbidding the Chinese towork in the mines.

In 1880, the Southern Pacific Railroadreached Tucson, which brought evenmore Chinese immigrants. According toLawrence Michael Fong’s article,“Sojourners and Settlers: The ChineseExperience in Arizona,” which appearedin the Autumn 1980 issue of the Journal ofArizona History, the 1880 United Statescensus “lists 1630 Chinese residents, ofwhich 1153 lived in Pima County, 159 ofthem in Tucson.” The Chinese came indirect competition with Anglo andMexican labor.

Anti-Chinese sentiment rose with theincrease in numbers of Chineseimmigrants. The United Statesgovernment passed the Chinese ExclusionAct in 1882, banning further immigrationof Chinese laborers. Those Chinesealready in the country could remain, butthey faced rising hostility anddiscrimination.

Upon completion of the railroad,many Chinese chose to remain in Tucson.They established restaurants, grocerystores, and other businesses. Someremained to labor as domestic servantsand gardeners. The Chinese gardensprovided territorial Tucson residents withfresh produce, which no other farmer feltwas profitable enough to market.

Make copies of handouts in Pass It On!Section for each student. Use informationin Teacher’s Corner section for anintroduction to lesson.

1. Ask students if any of them have evermoved from one home to another. Didthey take everything with them? Whenthey arrived at their new home, didthey try new things that were commonto the new area or did they keep doingthings the way they always did before?Try to get students to see that if theymoved, they probably kept some oftheir old habits, but they probably alsoadapted to their new area.

2. The teacher leads a class discussion onChinese immigration to the Tucsonarea.

3. Pass out the handouts.4. The teacher leads a class discussion as

students answer questions that areprinted on handout.

5. Have students compare the two photos.What do they see in the photos? What

teacher’s corner

lesson setup

lesson outline

do the two photos tell them about thelife of a Chinese immigrant interritorial Tucson? (The Charley LeeGrocery snapshot store photo; advertisingin Spanish and English shows the targetmarket of Anglos and Hispanics instead ofother Chinese immigrants. Although thephoto is in black and white, we canassume that the bunting on the front ofthe store is probably red, white, and blueand shows patriotism to the new country.Products sold include produce and bakedgoods, catering to the tastes of the localmarkets. Because this is a snapshot, it is acandid photograph of territorial Tucson.We do not know who took the photo.)(The Chun Wo family formal portrait hasall the males in western wear and thefemales in eastern wear. Mrs. Wo was oneof the first Chinese women in the Tucsonarea. Although Mr. Wo was adapting to

his new country, he still went back toChina to find a wife. Mrs. Wo’s easternwear illustrates her wish to maintain heridentity with China. This is a formalportrait taken by an unknownphotographer. Formal portraits are differentfrom snapshots as they indicate theparticipant’s willingness to pose for thephoto. Because participants are willingsubjects, they have time to plan what theywill wear, how they will sit, where thephoto will be taken. All of these decisionsgive us insight to the portrait subjects.)

The following page is to be copied forstudent handouts.

Lesson 10 The Chinese Experience in Tucson 67

pass it on!

Look carefully at the photographs of Charlie Lee’s grocery store andthe Chun Wo family portrait. Then answer the following questions.

1. What clues help date these photos?2. Why do you think each photo was taken? For example: Is it a formal

portrait? A snapshot? Documentation of an event (like a newspaperphoto)? Photographer’s artistic expression?

3. What languages are on the banners on the Charlie Lee grocery store?What does this tell you about Charlie Lee’s customers?

4. Even though the photo is black and white, what colors do you thinkthe bunting (drapery) on the front of the store were? Why?

5. What cultures are represented in the dress styles worn by the ChunWo family. Who is wearing which style? What does this tell you?

6. In what ways do both pictures show that these Chinese immigrantswere adapting to an American culture?

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68 Lesson 10 Worksheet © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

Chun Wo family portraitAHS #16532

Charlie Lee grocery store.AHS #13298

69

A water rights trial that took place inTucson in 1885 highlights howimportant the Santa Cruz River was tothe residents. Students can eitherconduct a mock trial or perform a playillustrating the actual events.

Territorial Tucson: Water Rights

objectiveTo develop skills such as:

• Critical thinking• Questioning• Listening• Cooperation• Oral presentation• Reading

Standards AddressedGrades 4–5 1SS-E1 (PO1, PO2), 1SS-E4(PO2), 3SS-E2 (PO1, PO2, PO4), R-E2(PO2, PO4, PO5), R-E3 (PO2, PO3), R-P1(PO2, PO3, PO4), Language Arts Standard4: Viewing and Presenting EssentialsGrades 6-8 R-E2 (PO1, PO2, PO4, PO5,PO7), R-E3 (PO1, PO3), Language ArtsStandard 4: Viewing and PresentingProficiency

Key Words

Materials• roles for each student• copies of trial transcripts• copy of student handout in Pass It On!

Section, one per student

Time1–3 50-minute class periods, dependingon extensions and details

acequiaagricultureforagehuertairrigationlaw of prior appropriation lawsuit

maizepithouseproducesedentary storage pits truck farming zanjero

Tucson’s Chinese farmers continued selling fresh produce from theback of their wagons into the early 1900s. Note the fresh turnipthe boy is eating. AHS #25728

Getting Started

70 Lesson 11 Territorial Tucson: Water Rights

For many years, parts of the Santa CruzRiver near Tucson flowed year round. Inthe late 1880s, however, a combination ofhuman and natural events caused theriver to sink out of sight below ground.Territorial Tucson’s dramatic increase inpopulation, combined with a change infarming techniques, pumping moreground water, years of drought,overgrazing by cattle, and floods thatdestroyed some of the irrigation canals,set the stage for significant change.

1. A mock trial should involve everystudent in the class. Students should beassigned specific roles, regardless ofclass size. In addition to the characterswho are represented in the trialtranscripts, other roles include judgeand jury, clerk or bailiff, court artist,photographer (if you want to video orphotograph the trial), and witnesses.

2. Copy and distribute to all the studentsthe handout that gives the overview ofthe 1885 court case. This should be atake-home reading assignment inpreparation for class discussion. Theclass discussion should be conductedafter every student has had time tocomplete the reading assignment.

3. The teacher may choose to distributethe direct quotes from Excerpts fromTrial Transcripts, or have studentsdevelop their own arguments based onthe facts of the court case.

4. Students could be a jury and vote on adecision after mock trial is completed.After the vote, the teacher can revealJudge F. M. Gregg’s decision. Gregg

decided in favor of the defendantsbasing his decision on the law of priorappropriation. Mexican Americanfarmers did not document landownership in the American manner,and therefore, could not produce viabledocuments in the courtroom to backup their land ownership claims. As aresult of Gregg’s decision, manyMexican American farmers were unableto continue farming due to lack ofirrigation. Many lost their land toAnglos who had money to purchasethe land from the struggling farmers.

Additional sourcesDrake, Charles R. Papers 1871–1895. MS0228, Box 20, Folder 13, Arizona Historical Society Library.

Sheridan, Thomas E. Los Tucsonenses: TheMexican Community in Tucson,1854–1941. The University of ArizonaPress: Tucson. 1997.

Sonnichsen, C.L. Tucson: The Life andTimes of an American City. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman and London.1987.Students may also investigate byresearching newspapers of this time (May1885) at the local public library.

1. Pass out student handout for takehome reading assignment.

2. Lead class discussion about the reading. 3. Questions to consider for class

discussion include:a. Where were the Chinese voices

during the trial?

teacher’s corner

lesson setup

lesson outline

b. What happened to the MexicanAmerican farmers as a result of thistrial?

c. How did local newspapers cover thetrial?

d. What does the newspaper coveragesay about which side the paperssupported?

e. What happened to the riverenvironment as a result of the court’sdecision?

f. Discuss “law of prior appropriation”versus “tradition and cooperation” asthese two terms apply to this trial.

g. Do you agree/disagree with JudgeGregg’s ruling? Why or why not?How would you have ruled, andwhy?

7. Assign roles to each student.8. Conduct mock trial or play.9. Wrap up: We know the Santa Cruz

River today as a dry riverbed thatcontains water only after heavy rains.

It was not always like this. Forcenturies, people have been attracted tothis area because of the fertile fields inwhich they planted their crops. It’shard for us to imagine the Santa CruzRiver as having enough water tosustain farmland. This court caseproves that it was not too long agowhen farms flourished along the banksof the river. The water table dropped invery recent history, as a direct result ofhuman actions. Wasteful watermanagement, increased ground waterpumping, and overgrazing by cattle,combined with natural occurrences likefloods and droughts, led to thedepletion of the Santa Cruz River.

The following page(s) should be copiedfor student handouts.

Lesson 11 Territorial Tucson: Water Rights 71

Boys playing in the Santa Cruzriverbed, around 1900, withConvento Ruins in background.AHS #16532

pass it on!

Agriculture along the Santa Cruz River isa long story of cooperation. The south-to-north flow of the Santa Cruz River variedfrom season to season and from year toyear. Parts of the Santa Cruz near Tucsonflowed perennially, or year round. Aseries of irrigation ditches, calledacequias, brought water from the river tofarmland. During the winter months, therewas usually enough water for the wintercrops of wheat and barley. But during thesummer months, the Santa Cruz carriedonly enough water to grow fodder crops,or crops grown to feed animals.Generally, farmers would plant their maincrop in the fall or winter and limitsummer plantings to small gardens orfodder crops.

The seasonal patterns of the rivercaused Tucson area farmers to cooperatewith each other so that everyone wouldreceive enough water to grow their crops.All the farmers met each year to elect azanjero (sahn HED o), or water judge,who made sure that the distribution ofirrigated water was done fairly andequitably. This crop-growing pattern andwater regulation system was preservedfrom the Spanish Colonial Period.

The farming system began to collapseas the population of Tucson grew.Newcomers from other areas of thecountry and from around the world triedto maintain their former lifestyles. Thedemand for fruits and vegetables drovefarmers to abandon their traditionalfarming techniques. Vegetables and fruitsrequire more water to produce than did

the traditional winter wheat and barleycrops. Traditional farmers were pittedagainst these new entrepreneurial farmers.The fight for control of the water hadbegun.

For many generations Mexican farmershad cultivated land, or planted crops, forpersonal use. They planted their gardens,called huertas (HWARE tahs), withwinter grains, beans, chiles, onions, andmelons. Huertas dotted the banks of theSanta Cruz River and were 25 or 30 feetsquare, with some as large as one acre.

In the early 1880s, a group of Chineselaborers that had been squeezed out of therailroad and mining industries came toTucson and began truck farming. Truckfarms raise produce for market, instead offor personal consumption. The Chinesehad identified an untapped market:cultivating produce, or fruits andvegetables, for the growing Tucsonpopulation. Truck farmers sold theirproduce from the backs of wagons torestaurants and homes.

Truck farmers leased land mainly fromSam Hughes, Leopoldo Carrillo, and W.C.Davis; three prominent and politicallyactive businessmen in Tucson. Thesethree men were happy to rent farmland tothe Chinese farmers. In addition tocollecting rent for the land, they receiveda percentage of the profits that the farmersmade selling produce. Although theChinese gardens were small at first, by1884 they had encompassed 100 acresalong the Santa Cruz. By 1885, the fieldscovered 150 acres. The larger fields

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72 Lesson 11 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

Tucson Water Rights Trial

produced more crops. This meant moremoney for the farmers, which made moremoney for Hughes, Carrillo, and Davis.

Other gardens in the area also requiredirrigation. Bishop Salpointe and theSisters of Saint Joseph grew produce forthe convent and the hospital. Between theMexican huertas, the Chinese gardens,and the church gardens, the strain on thewater supply created problems andgenerated arguments among farmers inthe Tucson area.

In 1883, Solomon Warner added to thestrain on the water supply by building adam for his flourmill. The dam drasticallyreduced the flow of water to farmersdownstream. The farmers accused Warnerof illegally restricting the flow and ofwasting water because his irrigation gatesleaked. The farmers downstream talkedabout filing a lawsuit against Warner.

Other people pointed to the truckfarmers as the cause of Tucson’s waterproblem. Many farmers felt that theChinese fields had grown too large for theamount of water available. Chineseproduce needed more water than traditionalwheat and barley. The truck farmers alsowanted to irrigate their fields more oftenthan was customary, asking for water on adaily basis instead of just on weekends.Truck farmers were even accused ofstealing water when they did not receivethe amount for which they asked.

The final insult to downstream farmerscame in 1885 when Hughes, Davis, andCarrillo appointed themselves water

commissioners and gained completecontrol of water distribution. The newcommissioners erected a stone-and-brushfence at the same site where a fence hadpreviously existed. The first fence hadbeen built only to keep animals andpeople out of farmland, and had nothingto do with water control. The originalfence had been built so long ago that onlythe oldest residents of Tucson couldremember it.

Zanjero W. A. Dalton quit his job whenhe heard about the impending lawsuit.Lorenzo Rentería became the new zanjeroand, at the request of the watercommissioners, notified farmers north ofthe fence that there would be no morewater for them. As a result, downstreamfarmers filed their lawsuit to stop Warner,the Chinese farmers, Hughes, Davis, andCarrillo from using more than their shareof the water supply.

During the trial, the defendants invokedthe law of prior appropriation, whichstated that older fields should receivewater before the more recent fields. Thisrule was based on the principle of “first intime, first in right.” The plaintiffs, on theother hand, relied on the traditionalcustom of water distribution. Forgenerations, farmers had cooperated witheach other. Water was distributed fairly,with each farmer receiving the sameamount. When water was scarce, it wentto the fields that needed it most. The triallasted three days.

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Lesson 11 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 73

Suit over water rights on the Santa Cruz River.Drake, Charles R. Papers, 1871–1895, Box 20 Folder 13. MS 0228

Characters:a. Mr. Stephens: attorney representing the plaintiffs (the ones filing the lawsuit)b. Mr. Lovell: attorney representing the defendants (the ones the lawsuit was brought

against)c. W.A. Dalton: previous zanjero who had quit the job when the lawsuit was filedd. Pedro Higuerra: one of the plaintiffs, a Mexican farmere. Francisco Munguía: one of the plaintiffs, a Mexican farmer

The portion of the transcript begins with Mr. Stephens (representing the plaintiffs)questioning W.A. Dalton (the previous zanjero).

Stephens Do you know whether any fields were irrigated above Lee’s Mill?Dalton There are fields irrigated above Lee’s Mill, but not exactly from those same

waters that we use.

Stephens Where did they get the water?Dalton From the river up above.

Stephens Have those lands of yours any other source of supply of water except fromthe acequia?

Dalton No sir.

Stephens Can you raise crops on that land without irrigation?Dalton NO [sic] sir.

Stephens Were you deprived of the water from these ditches on these lands?Dalton I was told that I could not have any water unless there was a surplus; if there

was any surplus available it would be turned down to any person to make itavailable.

Stephens Who told you that?Dalton Leopoldo Carrillo.

Stephens What did Leopoldo tell you when you talked to him about the water?Dalton Some days ago Mr. E.N. Fish and myself called upon him...to see him about

this water. We had been informed by the water-overseer that there was nomore water.

Stephens Who was the water-overseer?Dalton The acting over seer was Rentería; Lorenzo Rentería.

Stephens Go on...Dalton That there was no more water for the land below. We had a meeting and

appointed a committee composed of Fish, C.S. Leon, and myself to wait onMr. Hughes and Mr. Carrillo to see if we could get the water. We waited onhim and we were told that the orders of the commissioners to the officer was“not to allow any water below the Lane unless there was a surplus, that

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74 Lesson 11 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

Excerpts From Trial Transcripts

when there was a surplus to turn the water down the ditch, and let the firstget it that could.” I told Mr. Carrillo that we were not begging for charity,that we only wanted what was our own, and if we could not get it by fairmeans, we would go to law.

Stephens Do you know the lands of Emilio Carrillo, Joaquín Ramon Telles, E.N. Fish,Lauderio Acedo, Pacheco, Cerilio S. Leon, and all the other plaintiffs asdescribed in the complaint?

Dalton I do.

Stephens Where do these lands lie?Dalton North of Sister’s Lane. [presently St. Mary’s Road]

Stephens I will ask you if any of them can be cultivated without water.Dalton No sir.

Stephens What would happen to these lands without irrigation?Dalton Complete failure.

Stephens What about priority of claim?Dalton Some few claimed the prior right, three or four; and as I see could not

determine which had the first right, I would tell the person that there was aprovision or law in regard to when there was a scarcity of water, that theoldest should have it and I demanded them to show some official documentand he who showed the oldest should be preferred.

Stephens Nobody showed you documents?Dalton Mr. Hughes showed me a document dated 1817.

Stephens Do you know, Mr. Dalton, whether prior to this year, people living north ofthe land had a right to do equally with the people living south of the Lane?

Dalton Yes sir.

Stephens My object in introducing these notes is to show that there was no differences[sic] made between the parties living in the north of the hospital road andthe people living south of it. I am offering this evidence to show that at thattime, that it was an afterthought...I shall follow that up by showing thatsince these Chinese gardens have come to the front, that recently they haveheld meetings and have not called any of the people from the north side ofthe lane.

Stephens What was the trouble about the Chinese gardens?Dalton They were getting too much water.

Stephens Where are these gardens?Dalton On the southern side of Sister’s lane [St. Mary’s Road].

Stephens How long have they been in existence?Dalton Some...two years and some only one.

Stephens What was the objection to the gardens?Dalton They consumed too much water.

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Lesson 11 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 75

Stephens How much more did they use than an acre of wheat?Dalton Over twice as much.

Stephens I am going to show that the gardens have been increased nearly every year;they are owned by these defendants, lying on the south of the road, and Iwill use that to show why the water is cut off, in my argument. I now offeran agreement signed by some of those land owners, not dated, signed byE.N. Fish, W.C. Davis, J. Telles, Cerilio Leon, Romero and various others toshow that they banded themselves together for the purpose of objecting tothe abuses of the Chinese gardens. I offer this agreement as tending to showthe action of these people on that proposition, and also on the propositionof what became of the water.

Stephens I will ask from your experience in water matters whether there is sufficientquantity of water to irrigate the entire 1439 acres, if it is managedjudiciously?

Dalton There has been within the last few months, and is now at present, sufficientwater with proper management to more than make all the crops of wheatand barley, now growing on all of these lands. Last year, during myadministration as water overseer, during the month of April, I irrigated allthose lands then growing in wheat and barley, and there was not a singlecrop lost for want of water, and besides that, I irrigated all the Chinesegardens, and chili pepper patches on Sunday: sometimes one would be left,but when the hot weather comes on, it is not sufficient, because the supplydiminishes, and the best management could not do it.

Stephens How often did the Chinese gardens require water?Dalton Every week: they are wanting it every day and continuously, but they should

have it once a week for the purpose of irrigating.

Stephens Do you know who the owners of the Chinese gardens are?Dalton Mr. Leopoldo Carrillo . . . Mr. Davis, Mr. Samuel Hughes, Mr. Solomon

Warner, and Mr. John Warner, and the Sisters of St. Joseph occupy a smallpatch, and the bishop owns a small patch occupied by a Mexican producingsome kind of vegetables.

Second day (May 9, 1885)Cross-examination by Mr. Lovell, the defendants’ attorney. Mr. Lovell questionsW.A. Dalton.

Lovell Did he [Leopoldo Carrillo] tell you that they [people north and south alongthe river] were equally entitled to it?

Dalton He made an objection to assisting all those lands equally; and I said, becauseyou are old [Carrillo’s farmlands are older] and we are young you claim theprivilege. The only privilege that I admit you have is in your geographicalposition, you get the water first, but if you say that because we are young weshould pay more, I said, as far as I am concerned, I will pay double, treble,five times as much, but let us have the water.

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76 Lesson 11 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society

Redirect by StephensStephens I want to ask you if you know, Counsel, talked to you about gardens, what is

the difference, if you know, between a Chinese garden, such as it iscultivated in this valley and a Mexican garden?

Dalton The difference is this; the Chinaman raises cabbages, garlic, and in facteverything in the vegetable line from an artichoke to the biggest cabbage,and the Chinaman makes it a matter of business and he produces all hepossibly can, and as often as he possibly can. The Mexican garden producesa few chili peppers, onions, garbanzo beans, water melons, &c. [etcetera] Thegardens are from about 25 or 30 feet square to as much as an acre. They arecalled gardens or huertas.

Stephens Does the Mexican cultivate his garden as much as the Chinaman does?Dalton No sir.

Stephens Is the Mexican garden merely an adjunct to his house or a matter of gain?Dalton It is an adjunct to his home generally.

Testimony of Pedro Higuerra [plaintiff, Mexican farmer] when questioned by Mr. Stephens on May 11, 1885.

Stephens What was the custom as to water as far as you know?Higuerra Well, the custom was to always divide the water wherever there was a

necessity of it, if the parties below needed water it was sent down, if thosefrom above needed it, it was stopped from above.

Testimony of Francisco Munguía [plaintiff, Mexican farmer] when questioned byMr. Stephens on May 11, 1885.

Stephens How long have you been farming these lands?Munguía For the last 20 years.

Stephens Have you or have you not raised crops every year on those lands downthere?

Munguía Yes sir, I have raised gathered crops every year on those lands except thisyear, I have lost 14 quintals of seed.

Stephens Why have you lost it this year?Munguía Because the gentlemen from above marked a line and cut the water off from

that line; I did not know until they had made the line.

Stephens Do you know who those gentlemen are?Munguía Leopoldo Carrillo, Samuel Hughes, Mr. Davis, and Rentería.

Stephens What has been the custom for the last 27 years to irrigating in those ditches?Munguía We have been accustomed to use it, those above as well as those below,

under the orders of a commission to be divided equally, impartially; and ifany field suffered for water whether above or below that should have thewater first.

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Lesson 11 Handout © 2002 Arizona Historical Society 77

79

Time capsules are a great way in which to bring togetherall the archaeological concepts and historicalinformation gathered from the manual.

Time Capsule Activity

objectives• concludes manual lessons• provides a wrap-up for archaeological

and historical concepts

MaterialsTurning Points in Tucson’s Historytimeline or layered dessert handout fromLesson 2.

Time60 minutes

Photograph taken by Carlton Watkins from Sentinel Peak (“A” Mountain) in 1880, shows the agriculturalfields that filled the bottomlands of the Santa Cruz River. The Convento and granary are visible near thecenter of the photo.

Getting Started

80 Lesson 12 Time Capsule Activity

Historians and archaeologists work side byside to reconstruct the story of Tucson’spast. Sometimes historical documentsprovide the clues that point archaeologistsin the right direction. Other times,archaeologists uncover informationmissing from the historical record. On theoccasions where the archaeological andthe historical records differ, it is up to thehistory detectives to search for moreevidence to discover the truth. Theoptimum situation occurs when bothrecords coincide. To make the futurehistorian’s job easier, it is up to us toaccurately document history as ithappens.

1. Divide the class into groups of three orfour students.

2. Have each group select six objects to beput into a time capsule not to beopened until the year 3000. The goal ofeach group is to explain Tucson’shistory to people in the future.Students are to agree, as a group, onwhat are the most significant aspectsfor future historians to know.

1. Begin a class discussion by reviewingthe timeline of Tucson’s history.Teachers may also opt to reproduce the“layers of Tucson history” transparencyfrom Lesson 2 to use for reviewpurposes.

2. What are the most important turningpoints in Tucson’s history, in youropinion? Why?

3. What aspects of Tucson’s historywould you include in the Rio NuevoProject?

4. Once the Rio Nuevo project iscomplete, what do you believe peoplein the future will think of it?

5. Imagine that all the historical recordsof Tucson have disappeared and thatTucson is abandoned for 1,000 years.What might people in the futurethink they have found ifarchaeologists uncover the Rio Nuevobuildings?

6. Do you think they might misinterpretsome things? What might theymisinterpret?

7. How would people reconcile havingmodern buildings of the 2000s amongmission buildings of the 1700s andpithouses of the 1300s?

8. We are going to document ourcommunity’s history to help futurehistorians and archaeologists interpretTucson history.

9. Break students into their groups.10. Explain that they must come up with

six items to include in a time capsulethat will explain Tucson history tofuture generations.

11. Once the groups have decided ontheir six items, have each group selecta spokesperson who will reveal thegroup’s choices in front of the class.They must explain their choices andwhy they made them.

12. Once time capsules are completed, theclass must decide what to do withthem. Have the class investigatepossibilities.

teacher’s corner

lesson setup

lesson outline

a. Consider burying the time capsuleson your school property withinstructions to future students onwhere they are buried and whenthey should open them.

b. What other ideas might the classhave about where to store a timecapsule?

There are no handouts for this lessonplan.

Lesson 12 Time Capsule Activity 81

A modern view of Tucson.

pass it on!

82

Social Studies: History EssentialsGrades 4–51SS-E1. Understand and apply the basictools of historical research, includingchronology and how to collect, interpret,and employ information from historicalmaterials.PO 1. Place key events on a timeline.PO 2. Identify primary and secondarysources historians use to construct anunderstanding of the past, includingarchaeological evidence.

1SS-E2. Describe the legacy and cultures ofprehistoric American Indians in Arizona,including the impact of, and adaptationsto geography, with emphasis on:PO 1. How archaeological andanthropological research gives usinformation about prehistoric people.PO 3. Development of agriculture with thedomestication of plants.PO 4. The distinctive cultures ofHohokam, including where they lived,their agriculture, housing, decorative arts,and trade networks.PO 5. How prehistoric cultures adapted to,and altered, their environment, includingirrigation canals and housing.1SS-E3. Describe Spanish and Mexicancolonization and economic, social, andpolitical interactions with the firstinhabitants of Arizona with emphasis on:PO 1. The location and culturalcharacteristics of the O’odham andApaches during the Spanish period.PO 3. The reasons for Spanish

colonization, including establishment ofmissions, presidios, and towns, and impacton native inhabitants.PO 4. The contributions of Father Kino.PO 5. The creation of unique, stronglyheld cultural identities from the Spanishand Indian heritage.PO 6. The change of governance fromSpain to Mexico.

1SS-E4. Describe the economic, social, andpolitical life in the Arizona Territory andthe legacy of various cultural groups tomodern Arizona, with emphasis on:PO 1. How Arizona became a part of theUnited States through the MexicanCession and the Gadsden Purchase.PO 2. The lives and contributions ofvarious cultural and ethnic groups,including American Indians, Hispanics,and newcomers from the United Statesand other parts of the world [includingChinese].

Social Studies: GeographyEssentialsGrades 4–53SS-E2. Describe the impact of interactionsbetween people and the naturalenvironment on the development ofplaces and regions in Arizona, includinghow people have adapted to and modifiedthe environment with emphasis on:PO 1. The reasons for migration to, andthe settlement and growth of Tucson,including mining, ranching, agriculture,and tourism.PO 2. How places are connected bymovement of people, goods, and ideas

Arizona State StandardsAddressed

Arizona Standards Addressed 83

including the connection of Mexico toArizona.PO 4. How people have depended on thephysical environment and its naturalresources to satisfy their basic needs,including the consequences of Arizona’sadaptation to, and modification of thenatural environment.

Science Standard 1: Science asInquiryEssentialsGrades 4–51SC-E1. Identify a question, formulate ahypothesis, control and manipulatevariables, devise experiments, predictoutcomes, compare and analyze results,and defend conclusions.PO1. Distinguish between a question anda hypothesisPO2. Describe the functions of variablesin an investigationPO3. Predict an outcome based onexperimental dataPO4. Draw a conclusion based on a set ofexperimental data1SC-E3. Organize and present datagathered from their own experiences,using appropriate mathematical analysesand graphical representation.PO1. Organize and present data into anappropriate formatPO2. Construct a representation of data(e.g., bar graph, line graph, frequencytable, Venn diagram)Grades 6–8PO1. Construct a representation ofdata(e.g., histogram, stem-and-leaf plot,scatter plot, circle graph, flow chart)PO2. Interpret patterns in collected data

Science Standard 2: Historyand Nature of ScienceEssentialsGrades 4–82SC-E2. Describe how science andtechnology are interrelatedgrades 4–5PO1. Describe how science has helpedtechnology change over timePO2. Describe how technology has helpedscience change over timeGrades 6–8PO1. Describe a technological discoverythat influences sciencePO2. Describe a scientific discovery thatinfluences technologyPO3. Determine scientific processesinvolved in a technological advancement

2SC-E4. Identify characteristics ofscientific ways of thinkingGrades 4–5PO1. Describe a variety of ways scientistsgenerate ideasGrades 6–8PO1. Describe the following scientificprocesses: observing, communicating,comparing, organizing, relating, inferring,and applying.

2SC-E5. Explain how scientific theory,hypothesis generation andexperimentation are interrelated.Grades 4–5PO1. Explain the role of a hypothesis inscientific inquiryPO2. Explain the role of experimentationin scientific inquiryPO3. Describe how a scientific theory canbe developed and modifiedGrades 6–8PO3. Explain how experimental resultsmay affect a hypothesis and a theory2SC-E6. Demonstrate how science is anongoing process of gathering and

84 Arizona Standards Addressed

evaluating information, assessingevidence for and against theories andhypotheses, looking for patterns, andthen devising and testing possibleexplanations.Grades 4–5PO1. Explain how a scientific theorychanged over timePO2. Explain how a hypothesis changedover time

Science Standard 6: Earth and Space ScienceFoundationsGrades 4–8

6SC-F5. Identify major features of naturalprocesses and forces that shape the earth’ssurface, including weathering andvolcanic activity.PO1. Identify natural forces (e.g., water,ice, wind) that shape the earth’s surfacePO2. Identify natural processes (e.g.,weathering, erosion, global warming) thatgradually shape the earth’s surface.

6SC-F8. Describe how fossils provideevidence about the plants and animalsthat lived long ago and the nature of theenvironment at the time.PO1. Identify how fossils provideevidence about plants that lived long agoPO2. Identify how fossils provideevidence about animals that lived longagoPO3. Explain how fossils of plants andanimals provide evidence about thenature of the environment at that timeEssentials6SC-E3. Describe the composition(including the formation of minerals,rocks, and soil) and the structure of theearth

Grades 4–5PO1. Describe the layers of the earth andtheir compositions

6SC-E4. Provide evidence of how life andenvironmental conditions have changedgrades 4–5PO1. Describe how life has changed overtime (geologic and recent)PO2. Describe how environmentalconditions have changed over time(geologic and recent)

6SC-E5. Explain how earth processes seentoday, including erosion, movement oflithospheric plates, and changes inatmospheric composition, are similar tothose that occurred in the pastgrades 4–5PO1. Identify earth processesPO2. Compare the processes which affectthe earth today with those that occurredin the past

6SC-E6. Describe the distribution andcirculation of the world’s water throughocean currents, glaciers, rivers, groundwater, and atmospheregrades 6–8PO1. Describe the role water plays withinthe operation of the earthPO2. Describe the movement of water onthe earth

Language Arts Standard 1:ReadingEssentialsGrades 4–8R-E2. Use reading strategies such asmaking inferences and predictions,summarizing, paraphrasing,differentiating fact from opinion, drawingconclusions, and determining the author’spurpose and perspective to comprehendwritten selections

Arizona Standards Addressed 85

Grades 4–5PO2. Distinguish fact from opinionPO4. Compare and contrast the text (e.g.,characters, genre, cultural differences, fact,fiction)PO5. Determine cause-and-effectrelationshipsPO6. Identify the text in chronological,sequential or logical orderPO7. Make an inference using contextualcluesgrades 6–8PO1. Identify the main ideas; critical andsupporting details; and the author’spurpose, feelings and point of view of thetextPO2. Distinguish fact from opinionPO4. Compare and contrast the text (e.g.,characters, genre, cultural differences, fact,fiction)PO5. Determine the cause-and-effectrelationshipsPO6 Summarize the text in chronological,sequential or logical orderPO7. Predict outcome of text

R-E3. Analyze selections of fiction,nonfiction and poetry by identifying theplot line (i.e., beginning, conflict, risingaction, climax, and resolution);distinguishing the main character fromminor ones; describing the relationshipsbetween and motivations of characters;and making inferences about the events,setting, style, tone, mood, and meaningof the selectiongrades 4–5PO1. Distinguish the main charactersfrom the minor charactersPO2. Summarize the plot line to includecause and effectPO3. Explain the interaction of major andminor characters in a selectiongrades 6–8PO1. Describe the setting and itsrelationship to the selection

PO2. Describe the motivation of majorand minor characters in a selectionPO3. Draw defensible conclusions, basedon stated and implied informationaccording to style, meaning, and mood.PO5. Identify the theme

Proficiencygrades 9–12R-P1. Apply reading strategies such asextracting, summarizing, clarifying, andinterpreting information; predictingevents and extending the ideas presented;relating new information to priorknowledge; supporting assertions withevidence; and making useful connectionsto other topics to comprehend works ofliterature and documentsPO2. Summarize the main pointsPO3. Make predictions based on evidencepresentedPO4. Extend ideas presented in text

Standards 2: Writing

Essentialsgrades 4–8W-E1. Use correct spelling, punctuation,capitalization, grammar and usage, alongwith varied sentence structure andparagraph organization, to completeeffectively a variety of writing tasksgrades 4–5PO1. Spell correctlyPO2. Punctuate correctly (e.g., sentenceendings, commas in a friendly letter’sgreeting and closing, commas in a series,abbreviations, quotations in dialog,apostrophe)PO3. Apply rules of capitalization (e.g.,sentence beginnings, titles, abbreviations,proper nouns)PO4. Apply standard grammar usage (e.g.,subject-verb agreement, simple andcompound sentences, appropriate verbtense, plurals)

86 Arizona Standards Addressed

PO5. Organize paragraph with a variety ofsentence structures (e.g., simple,compound)grades 6–8PO1. Spell correctlyPO2. Punctuate correctly (e.g., sentenceendings, commas in a series, commas incompound sentences, abbreviations,quotation marks, colon in a businessletter greeting, apostrophes)PO3. Apply rules of capitalization (e.g.,sentence beginnings, titles, abbreviations,proper nouns, direct quotations)PO4. Apply standards grammar and usage(e.g., subject-verb agreement; simple,compound and complex sentences;appropriate verb tense; plurals;prepositions)PO5. Organize paragraphs with a varietyof sentence structures (e.g., simple,compound, complex)

W-E2. Write a personal experiencenarrative or creative story that includes aplot and shows the reader what happensthrough well-developed characters,setting, dialog, and themes, and usesfigurative language, descriptive words andphrasesgrades 4–5PO2. Write a story• develop a story line in a sequence that is

clear• develop the characters• describe the setting• use dialog when appropriate• use descriptive words and phrasesgrades 6–8PO2. Write a story• develop a story line in sequence that is

clear• develop the characters• describe the setting• use dialog when appropriate

• use simile, metaphor or descriptivewords and phrases

W-E4. Write an expository essay thatcontains effective introductory andsummary statements and fully developsthe ideas with details, facts, examples, anddescriptionsgrades 6–8PO1. Write an expository essay thatbegins by stating the thesis (purpose) withan effective introductory statement orparagraph; provides smooth transitions;and ends with either a paragraphconcluding the development of the thesis,a summary, or a clincher statementPO2. Use own words (except for quotedmaterial) to develop ideas accurately andclearly with supporting details, facts,examples or descriptionsPO3. Use personal interpretation, analysis,evaluation or reflection to evidenceunderstanding of a subject

W-E5. Write a report that conveys a pointof view and develops a topic withappropriate facts, details, examples, anddescriptions from a variety of citedsourcesgrades 4–5PO1. Write a report in own words thatstates, develops, and provides aconcluding statement for a point of view(perspective) about a topic that is narrowenough to be adequately coveredPO2. Use logical sequence (includingtransitional words and phrases such asfirst, next, then)PO3. Provide support through facts,details, examples, or descriptions that areappropriate, directly related to the topicand from a variety of cited sourcesgrades 6–8PO1. Write a report in own words (exceptfor materials quoted) that states, develops

Arizona Standards Addressed 87

and provides a concluding statement for apoint of view (perspective) about a topicthat is narrow enough to be adequatelycoveredPO2. Organize a report with a clearbeginning, middle, and end including useof smooth transitionsPO3. Provide support through facts,details, examples, or descriptions that areappropriate, directly related to the topic,and from a variety of cited sourcesPO4. Use personal interpretation, analysis,evaluation, or reflection to evidenceunderstanding of subject

W-E6. Write formal communications,such as personal or business letters,messages, directions, and applications, inan appropriate format and for a specificaudience and purposegrades 4–5PO1. Write a formal communication in anappropriate format for a specific audienceand purposePO3. Express ideas that are clear anddirectly related to the topicgrades 6–8PO1. Write a formal communication in anappropriate format for a specific audienceand purposePO3. Express ideas that are clear anddirectly related to the topic

Standard 3: Listening and SpeakingEssentialsgrades 4–8• Prepare and deliver an oral report in a

content area and effectively convey theinformation through verbal andnonverbal communications with aspecific audience

• Interpret and respond to questions andevaluate responses both as aninterviewer and interviewee

Standard 4: Viewing and PresentingEssentialsgrades 4–8• Analyze visual media for language,

subject matter, and visual techniquesused to influence opinions, decisionmaking and cultural perceptions

Proficiencygrades 9–12• Analyze and evaluate visual media for

language, subject matter, and visualtechniques used to influence attitudes,decision making, and culturalperception

88 Bibliography

Arizona State Museum. SouthwesternMission Research Center Newsletter, Vol. 33,No. 119. “Saving Tucson’s Birthplace.”July 1999.

Banchero, Paola. Arizona Daily Star.“Unearthed History to Be Reburied.”January 26, 2001.

Baylor, Byrd. When Clay Sings. AlladinPaperbacks: New York. 1972.

Campbell, Julie. Studies In Arizona History.Arizona Historical Society: Tucson. 1998.

Center For Desert Archaeology.“Archaeology Southwest.” Vol 15, #2.Spring 2000.

Center For Desert Archaeology. Rio NuevoWebsite: www.rio-nuevo.org

City of Tucson Rio Nuevo Website:www.ci.tucson.az.us/rionuevo

Dobyns, Henry F. Spanish Colonial Tucson:A Demographic History. University ofArizona Press: Tucson. 1976.

Drake, Charles R. Papers 1871–1895.Lawsuit over water rights. MS 0228, Box20, Folder 13. Arizona Historical SocietyLibrary.

Duarte, Carmen. Arizona Daily Star. “LearnMore About Rio Nuevo Development.”January 1, 2001.

Fong, Lawrence Michael. The Journal ofArizona History. “Sojourners and Settlers:The Chinese Experience in Arizona.” Vol. 21, Number 3, Autumn 1980.

Hatch, Heather S. The Journal of ArizonaHistory. “The Chinese in the Southwest: A Photographic Record.” Vol. 21, Number 3,Autumn 1980.

Haury, Emil W. The Hohokam: DesertFarmers & Craftsmen Excavations at

Snaketown, 1964–1965. University ofArizona Press: Tucson. 1976.

Houk, Rose. Hohokam: Prehistoric Culturesof the Southwest. Southwest Parks andMonuments Association: Tucson. 1992

Mabry, Jonathan. Personal interview.Friday, November 16, 2001.

Macauley, David. Motel of the Mysteries.Houghton Mifflin: Boston. 1979.

McCarty, Kieran. Desert Documentary.Arizona Historical Society: Tucson. 1976.

National Archives and RecordsAdministration Website: www.nara.gov

Noble, David Grant. 101 Questions AboutAncient Indians of the Southwest. SouthwestParks and Monuments Association:Tucson. 1998.

Officer, James. Hispanic Arizona,1536–1856. University of Arizona Press:Tucson. 1987.

Sheridan, Thomas. Arizona: A History.University of Arizona Press: Tucson. 1995.

Sheridan, Thomas. Los Tucsonenses: TheMexican Community in Tucson, 1854–1941.University of Arizona Press: Tucson. 1997.

Sonnichsen, C.L. Tucson: The Life andTimes of an American City. University ofOklahoma Press: Norman. 1982.

Spicer, Edward H. Cycles of Conquest.University of Arizona Press: Tucson. 1962.

Thiel, J. Homer. A History of the SanAgustín Mission. Copy of unpublishedmanuscript in possession of the author.2001.

Tucson Origins Taskforce. Final Report-Tucson Origins: An Integrated Approach forInterpreting Tucson’s Past. City of Tucson:March 2000.

Bibliography

Additional Resources 89

Tucson Field Trip Destinations

Arizona Historical Society Main Museum949 East Second StreetTucson, AZ 85719(520) 628-5774Arizona history tours. Special hands-onexhibit featuring 1870s Tucson

AHS Downtown History MuseumWells Fargo Building140 North Stone(520) 770-1473History of downtown and neighborhoods

AHS Fort Lowell2900 North Craycroft(520) 885-3832Local military history

AHS Sosa-Carrillo-Fremont House151 South Granada(520) 622-0956Historic house museum

Arizona State MuseumUniversity of Arizona Campus(520) 621-9434Call late afternoon, leave messagePaths of Life exhibit features NativeAmerican groups of the Southwest.Prehistory tours also available.

Casa De CordobaTucson Museum of Art140 North Main AvenueTucson, AZ 85701(520) 624-2333Historic house museum tours

Museum of the Horse Soldier6541 East Tanque Verde Road(520) 296-4551History of Calvary

Old Pueblo Archaeology Center1000 East Fort LowellTucson, AZ 85717Classroom excavations

Tohono Chul Park7366 North Paseo Del NorteTucson, AZ (520) 575-8468Nature trails, demonstration gardens,exhibits

Tucson Botanical Gardens2150 North Alvernon WayTucson, AZ(520) 326-9255Sonoran Desert plants

Speakers

Arizona Historical Society“History to Go”949 East Second StreetTucson, AZ 85719Contact: Education Department(520) 628-5774Spanish Settlement in Arizona, Women inEarly Arizona, Territorial Children,Mountain Men, Apaches in Arizona

Daniel PrestonNative American Consultant For

Cultural Resources2380 West San Xavier RoadTucson, AZ 85745Fax: (520) 578-3402; Cell: (520) 444-3290Tohono O’odham history, archaeologicalissues from Native American perspective

Additional Resources

90 Additional Resources

Desert Archaeology, Inc.3975 North Tucson Blvd.(520) 881-2244

Old Pueblo Archaeology Center1000 East Fort Lowell(520) 798-1201

Pima Community College Archaeology Center

2202 West Anklam Rd.(520) 206-6022

Society For Historical ArchaeologyP.O. Box 30446(520) 886-8006

Statistical Research, Inc.6099 East Speedway(520)721-4309

SWCA Environmental Consultants343 South Scott Ave.(520)325-9194

Archaeology FirmsThat can provide field trips and speakers

One way to capture historical evidence is through thescience of archaeology. . . The excavations have uncovered

evidence of 4,000 years of human occupation along thebanks of the Santa Cruz River at the foot of “A” Mountain.American Indians, Spaniards, Mexicans, Chinese, EuropeanAmericans, have all left their marks in the earth. Once theexcavations are completed, the information will be used to

interpret Tucson’s past for visitors.

The old river will begin a new life.

The goal of the Rio Nuevoproject is to recapture andcelebrate Tucson’s history

Arizona Historical Society949 East Second StreetTucson, AZ 85719