Southwestern Rock Calendars and Ancient Time Pieces

Summer solstice sunset viewed through a west-wall opening in the “Great House” at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument – Photo by Allen Dart

This is a free presentation by archaeologist Allen Dart for Pima County Public Library at Salazar-Ajo Branch, 15 W. Plaza St. #179, Ajo, Arizona at 1:30-2:30 PM; cosponsored by Arizona Humanities.* Native Americans in the Southwest developed sophisticated skills in astronomy and predicting the seasons, centuries before Old World peoples first entered the region. In this presentation archaeologist Allen Dart discusses the petroglyphs at Picture Rocks, the architecture of the “Great House” at Arizona’s Casa Grande Ruins, and other archaeological evidence of ancient southwestern astronomy and calendrical reckoning; and interprets how these discoveries may have related to ancient Native American rituals. The program is made possible by Arizona Humanities.

* This is not an Old Pueblo Archaeology Center event. For more information contact Lee Irwin at 520-387-6075 or Lee.Irwin@pima.gov; for information about the activity subject matter contact Allen Dart at Tucson telephone 520-798-1201 or adart@oldpueblo.org.