Old Pueblo Archaeology Center offers guided tours to real archaeological sites for classrooms and other organized children’s groups. Heritage sites that can be visited in this program include a choice of the Picture Rocks petroglyphs site, Los Morteros Hohokam Village, or Vista del Rio Hohokam Village.
Picture Rocks Petroglyphs Site. Situated in the Tucson Mountains foothills along the northwestern edge of Tucson, this site contains hundreds of ancient rock symbols created by the Hohokam Indians including dancing human-like figures, whimsical animals, abstract depictions, and at least one design that was used as a calendar to mark the changes of the seasons.
Los Morteros Hohokam Village. Hohokam Indians lived and farmed at this ancient village site in the northwestern Tucson metropolitan area between AD 850 and 1300. The core of the site that is now preserved in a Pima County conservation park encompasses thousands of artifacts, a large Hohokam ballcourt, pithouses, refuse mounds, petroglyphs, and the bedrock mortars that inspired the site’s name, “Los Morteros” (Spanish for “the mortars”).
Vista del Rio Hohokam Village. A portion of this Indian village site, which originally covered nearly a quarter of a square mile, is now partly preserved in a city park in eastern Tucson. Archaeological excavations discovered Hohokam pithouses, fire hearths, outdoor pits, arranged-rock features, and artifacts dating between AD 1100 and 1150. The park includes interpretive signs about the Hohokam occupation, and there are artifacts and traces of the archaeological features still visible on the surface.
The youth tour is a guided visit only. It does not include archaeological excavation, and participants are not allowed to collect artifacts. Each tour takes about one hour, not including travel time to and from the archaeological site. Tours are subject to availability of a qualified tour leader and of the owner’s permission to visit the property on the requested tour date.
For a foldable brochure that provides details about the Tours for Youth program please [click here].
To schedule a site tour, call Old Pueblo’s office at 520-798-1201.