Archaeology Southwest - Exploring and protecting the places of our past

In January 2012, the Center for Desert Archaeology formally changes its name to Archaeology Southwest. The name change is part of a comprehensive initiative that strongly communicates the organization’s critical role in protecting endangered archaeological sites and its respected position as a research institution committed to public outreach. Read more about this exciting development here.

A grant from SHPO supports the 10-square-mile Southern Tucson Basin Survey, which records 107 archaeological sites. Volunteers contribute thousands of hours to complete the effort.

Archaeology in Tucson volunteers survey more than 2 1/2 square miles in Catalina State Park, north of Tucson. Twenty-nine new sites are recorded, and additional information is collected from thirteen previously known sites. In the mid-1800s, Francisco Romero built stone-walled ranch buildings atop an ancient Hohokam village. Now known as Romero Ruin, this prehistoric site [...]

The Institute investigates the Valencia Site, a large Hohokam ballcourt village along the Santa Cruz River in the southern Tucson Basin. This important site reveals evidence of more than 10,000 years of Tucson’s prehistory, including a Clovis point, several Archaic/Early Agricultural period pithouses, and an extensive Hohokam occupation.

William H. Doelle establishes the Arizona Division of the Institute for American Research, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Santa Barbara, California. The Arizona Division studies Tucson Basin prehistory through contract archaeology, research grants, and private donations.