Autumnal Equinox Tour of Los Morteros and Picture Rocks Petroglyphs Archaeological Sites

Photo by Tom Herrick of equinox “sun dagger” on spiral petroglyph at Picture Rocks site, Pima County, Arizona.

Old Pueblo Archaeology Center’s executive director, archaeologist Allen Dart, will lead this tour to two of the Tucson area’s premier archaeological sites – Los Morteros and Picture Rocks site, on Thursday, September 22, 2016, 8 am to noon. Los Morteros, an ancient village site of the Hohokam
Indians from about A.D. 850 to 1300, has been studied by archaeologists and historians for more than a century. During its heyday it was the center of an extended community of related Hohokam sites along the Santa Cruz River. The core of Los Morteros, which is now preserved in a Pima County natural and cultural resources park, encompasses a large public architectural feature interpreted as a ballcourt used for ritual and other purposes, plus many refuse mounds, room blocks, hundreds of pithouses, and thousands of artifacts. Bedrock mortars that inspired the site’s name (Los Morteros is Spanish for “the mortars”) and petroglyphs also are present. The Picture Rocks site, located in the Tucson Mountains foothills, contains hundreds of ancient rock symbols created mostly by the Hohokam, although some of the rock designs may date before A.D. 500. The symbols at Picture Rocks include dancing human-like figures and whimsical animals as well as abstract designs. At least some of the petroglyphs evidently were ritually important, as evidenced by the observation that at least one of them is a marker for both the equinoxes and the summer solstice. $20 per person ($16 for Old Pueblo Archaeology Center and Pueblo Grande Museum Auxiliary members) Cancellations made 30 days or more before departure will not be charged. Cancellations 8 to 30 days before departure will be refundable at 50% of the fee paid unless the cancelled space can be filled. Cancellations 0 to 7 days prior to departure date are not refundable. Contact Old Pueblo Archaeology Center at 520-798-1201 or info@oldpueblo.org to register and obtain meeting place directions. Link for flyer:  20160922LosMorteros&PictureRocksFallEquinoxTour(1)