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Marana Will Feature Archaeological and Historical Education
The Town of Marana has teamed with Tucson’s nonprofit Old Pueblo Archaeology Center to develop a cultural heritage exhibit and multi-year education program in the proposed district park just west of the Santa Cruz River, along Silverbell Road between Ina and Cortaro roads. The Heritage Program will focus on the prehistoric Yuma Wash Hohokam archaeological site and the historical Bojórquez-Aguirre Ranch site.
About the Sites
The Yuma Wash site was a large settlement of the Hohokam Indians established some time after A.D. 750 and inhabited to the end of the Hohokam period, perhaps as late as 1450. Old Pueblo’s excavations have uncovered thousands of prehistoric artifacts, and over 100 prehistoric house ruins including pit houses (so called because they are built in shallow pits), and aboveground, pueblo-like structures with adobe walls. Scattered between the houses are outdoor ramadas, cooking and storage pits, and places where the residents disposed of their trash.
Old Pueblo first conducted excavations at a portion of the Yuma Wash site located across Silverbell Road from the proposed park. The original developer of that parcel, Doug Kennedy of DCK Investments, donated some of the land containing part of the two archaeological sites to the Town of Marana for incorporation into the park.
The Bojórquez-Aguirre Ranch was founded in 1878 by Juan and María Bojórquez, who also operated a grocery store in Tucson. Feliberto Aguirre acquired title to the property in 1900 after filing a homestead petition in 1896. Remnants of both families’ buildings and other materials are still present within the park.
About the Park
The plans for developing the park call for a strong public interpretation and heritage education component. Marana’s heritage program has featured excavations at the Yuma Wash site in which the public participated under the supervision of Old Pueblo’s professional archaeologists. Learning programs for school classrooms and other groups are available, and guided tours of the excavations will be available in the future. Tours have been halted temporarily for safety reasons because of construction. The Aguirre family’s stonemasonry water tank and one of the remaining buildings will be stabilized for a permanent history display with interpretive signage.
The Santa Cruz River Walk that will be developed within the park will also be part of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail. The new community center will showcase exhibits of Marana’s history, including Old Pueblo’s prehistoric and historical discoveries. The Bojórquez-Aguirre Ranch and Yuma Wash site discoveries will be permanently interpreted with standing structures, replicas of underground features, and trail-side signs.
Conservation and Education Program
The plan also calls for the preservation of approximately 90 percent of the Yuma Wash site, and for the development of educational programs based on both sites that will highlight, teach, and illuminate Marana’s heritage for all ages. A public excavation program, now complete, created numerous opportunities for teachers, students, and interested members of the public to work with professional archaeologists at the site.
Research at the site focuses on answering questions about the age and structure of the site; on the artifacts, plants, and animal bones that indicate how the inhabitants lived; and on how this site relates to others in the Tucson and Phoenix Basins. Specialists are studying the collections as part of ongoing research, and report their findings regularly. Old Pueblo expects to publish the results of the entire project within 2 years after the program’s conclusion.
Please contact Old Pueblo Archaeology Center for further information.
Note: Excavation areas can only be visited under the supervision of Old Pueblo’s staff. Any excavation in or collecting artifacts from archaeological sites on Town of Marana property by anyone other than those authorized and permitted to do so, is prohibited by law, as specified in the Arizona Antiquities Act (A.R.S. 15-1631 and 41-841, et seq.) |