by Patricia Oshier Franks

Created on: October 05, 2009   Last Updated: October 06, 2009

Ancient Peoples in Tucson, Arizona

Rich in history, Tucson, Arizona is perhaps one of the oldest continually inhabited areas in the country. Archaeological evidence suggests human habitation 12,000 years ago. Adobe huts, pit houses, pottery shards, and irrigation systems of the Hohokam tribe date back nearly 2000 years, circa 700 AD. It is thought they inhabited the area as early as 300 BC, abandoning their villages in the 15th century for unknown reasons. Indeed, the history of the Tucson Basin area stretches back to prehistoric times.

During the Ice Age, people migrated from Siberia across the Bering Strait, then a land bridge, following herds of big game into North America. Around 9500 BC, bands of hunters wandered into southern Arizona, which had much more water until the climate shift ended the Ice Age.

Paleo-Indian Clovis hunters stalked mammoths, horses, camels, and bison amid lurking predators such as dire wolves, saber toothed tigers, and a type of ground sloth that grew to twelve feet tall. These large animals were often trapped by Clovis hunters along streams and lakes, and then killed with spears. These Paleo-Indians also collected and ate plant foods, thus classifying them as hunter/gatherers.

At the end of the Ice Age, as the climate warmed, mammoths and other large animals began to disappear from North America. The change was gradual for the Indians. With fewer mammoths each year, they supplemented their diet with various plant foods and smaller animals. They discovered the nutritive value of weed and grass seeds ground into flour on flat rocks and make into gruel and breads. Thus, the Clovis culture gave way to sparse populations of Archaic hunter/gatherer peoples.

People of the Cochise Culture, Archaic peoples of southern and central Arizona, hunted smaller animals and gathered wild plants. Circa AD 200, maybe as early as AD 1, people began manufacturing pottery containers. From area to area, even group to group, major differences in architecture, lifestyles, and ceramics appeared. The use of grinding slabs mark the Desert Archaic Tradition, which lasted from 7000 BC to about AD 300 in the Tucson area. Living primarily in the open, small groups moved around the Basin gathering plants and more than likely built temporary shelters.

During summers in the foothills, they collected foods such as cactus fruits and mesquite beans. In the higher mountains, they found acorns, pine nuts, and other foods. They hunted year round as meat was critical in

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