Site Tours for Classrooms

School groups can schedule a tour at the archaeological sites that Old Pueblo Archaeology Center has excavated with the public in the Tucson area.

PROGRAM OUTLINE

Each tour will last 2 hours. Classes will be guided by one of Old Pueblo's archaeologists. Participants are advised to dress appropriately for desert walking (no open-toed shoes) and bring drinking water. Each tour covers a walking distance of about 1/4-mile.

The outline below will be tailored to the age of the children on the tour. Older students will hear more historical details and learn more of archaeological concepts than younger children.

Participants provide their own transportation for the tour, and are given directions to a tour meeting place from which one of Old Pueblo's archaeologists will guide them in to the ruins area.

I. Orientation talk (30-40 minutes). Handouts, real artifact displays,
    and models of ancient houses and tools are shown to children during the orientation.
  A. What do archaeologists study? Archaeologists are scientists who study past
      people by uncovering and examining artifacts, features, and their context for to
      answer research questions about the lives and the history of those people.
  B. Prehistory and history of humans in Arizona
      (Paleoindian, Archaic, Early Agricultural, & Ceramic).
  C. The periods of the Hohokam (Pioneer, Colonial, Sedentary, Classic).
  D. The life of the Hohokam, ancient desert farmers.
II. The Tour (1 hr 20 min to 1 hr 30 min)
  A. The importance of context to understanding a site.
      Why you must not disturb or remove things from sites.
  B. Archaeological sites are non-renewable cultural resources.
  C. The 2 reasons archaeologists conduct excavations:
    1. To preserve information from a site that is about to be destroyed.
    2. To pursue a research question that cannot be answered any other way.
  D. The research design for this excavation.
  E. Viewing the uncovered archaeological features.
    1. What did they look like?
    2. How many people lived in them?
    3. Were the old buildings lived in at the same time?
  F. The site grid system and how context is studied.
  G. The layers under the ground
  H. The laws that protect archaeological sites.
  I. How archaeologists date sites or artifacts.

To register, call Old Pueblo's office at (520) 798-1201.