THE HISTORICAL AND ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES OF THE SANTA

Estrategias relativas al Patrimonio Cultural Mundial. La Salvaguarda en un Mundo Globalizado: Principios, Prácticas y PerspectivasStrategies for the World’s Cultural Heritage. Preservation in a globalised world: principles, practices and perspectivesStratégies pour le Patrimoine culturel du monde. La conservation, dans un monde globalisé: principes, pratiques, perspectivesTHE HISTORICAL AND ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES OF THE SANTACRUZ RIVER VALLEY, ARIZONAMichael F. Weber *In southern Arizona and northern Sonora there is a harshdesert region connected by river valleys and ancient cultures.In the midst of this harsh desert, these river systems fed bysprings and summer rains create oasis areas for richagriculture and provided routes to travel north and southfrom deeper in Mexico. Contact between peoples in theregions is thousands of years old. In the Tucson area someof the oldest corn agriculture is to be found north of centralMexico going back 3,000 years. Major irrigation canals largeenough to divert the entire course of the Santa Cruz Riverwere constructed over 1,000 years ago. What is true ofTucson is also true of many sites along the Santa Cruz Riverdomesticated animals such as horses, cattle and sheep. Thisadded considerably to the indigenous diet and created yearround agriculture. As missionaries moved north so did otherHispanics, soldiers, miners, ranchers and merchants. By the1750’s a company garrison of troops was establishedatTubac and in 1775 the Tubac presidio was moved to Tucson.In the mid 1600’s Apache Indians moved in from the northeastand conflicts between these raiding peoples and theO’odham, Opata, other native peoples and Hispanics definedmuch of the history of the Spanish and Mexican periods.The establishment of Spanish missions and government alsocreated the opportunity and reason for native tribes in thearea to travel throughout Sonorain search of work. By themiddle ofthe 19th century the region was amixture of several varieties ofHispanic (Catalan, Basque,Castilian, etc.) others from Europe,many native people and after 1853people from the United States withroots in northern Europe. Themodern Southwest of United Statesand Northern Mexico was born.Where water was dependable agricultural settlementswere dense. The river was not always dependable andsome of its flow was at times subsurface. In the Tucsonarea this meant additional dependence on springs oneither side of the river.In the 1680’s Jesuit missionaries led by Eusebio FranciscoKino moved north into the land of the northern Pimas orO’odham. Missions and visitas of missions were establishedbeginning in 1687 at Misión Dolores in Sonora south of thecurrent border followed by San Ignacio 1687, Guevavi early1690’s, and San Xavier near Tucson in 1700. The missionariesbrought new plants, especially wheat and fruit trees andThe ancient trade routes that broughtnative people north from centralMexico were basically the sameroutes used by Spanish explorers andmissionaries. These routes becamethe Camino Reales or royal roads.Even today modern highways areclose to the original routes.The term Los Caminos Reales refers to a relatively welltraveled route guarded by presidial troups. They were notexactly the same in all times of colonial history but generallyfollowed similar routes. A Royal Road came north from thestate of Sinaloa through the towns of Alamos and San Miguelde Horcacitas where it split, one route going northwest tothe Santa Ana area and then along the Magdalena river toAltar and north from Altar, eventually reaching Tucson.Another route went north along the San Miguel river toMisión Dolores then north through the town Santa Cruz alittle further north it split, one route crossing the mountainsand going to the Santa Cruz valley and north to Tucson the355

Sección 6: Conciencia socialSection 6: Public awarenessother route went east to join up with the camino real thatstretched from Santa Fe, New Mexico south through Chihuahuaand on to Mexico City. See circa 1780 map Arizpe to Chihuahua.From Tucson the route went north and then went to theCalifornia coast. There it continued north to San FranciscoLos Caminos Reales de ArizonaA series of sites are currently being developed to preserveand interpret the history and ecology along the north/southCamino Real in Arizona from Tucson to just north of theborder with MexicoTucsonDowntown Tucson is undergoing a major revitalization effortunder the name of Rio Nuevo. This effort includes thedevelopment of an historic park comprised of the MisiónSan Agustín on the west side of the Santa Cruzriver and the Presidio de Tucson in what is nowthe center of downtown Tucson. Neither of thesesites have standing structures and both sites areundergoingextensivearcheologicalinvestigation. Both sites also contain significantpre-Hispanic indigenous houses, storage pits andirrigation canals. The Misión San Agustín sitehas irrigation canals and habitations going back3,000 years which includes evidence of someof the earliest agriculture in the southwesternUnited States. The project is in the historicalresearch phase with a major study being done toboth review356Section 6: Sensibilitation du public18th and 19th century documents and books looking forinformation about everyday life and create a visual archiveof 18th and 19th century paintings, drawings and artifacts.The goal of which is to provide an interpretive base for whatis to be known as the Tucson Origins Historic park. Thearchaeological excavations and historic research will befinished in December. A computer model based on historicphotos and paintings of the Mission site and otherarchaeological and historic evidence is being created to givethe mission a three dimensional visualization. Beginning inthe fall of 2002 an interpretive plan will be created with thehope of opening the historic site in five years. This site isdirectly on the Camino Real. There is strong political pressureto reconstruct the chapel and convento site. This probablywill happen.

Estrategias relativas al Patrimonio Cultural Mundial. La Salvaguarda en un Mundo Globalizado: Principios, Prácticas y PerspectivasStrategies for the World’s Cultural Heritage. Preservation in a globalised world: principles, practices and perspectivesStratégies pour le Patrimoine culturel du monde. La conservation, dans un monde globalisé: principes, pratiques, perspectivesMission San Agustín circa 1855San Xavier del BacThis mission was established in the last part of the 17thcentury by Jesuit Father Eusebio Francisco Kino and thecurrent church was constructed at the end of the 18th century.It was built in the Mexican baroque style and is the bestpreserved church in northern Mexico and the southwest partof the United States. It still is an active church for the peoplewho built it, the Tohono O’odham. It was rapidly deterioratingwhen a major conservation project was begun about 10 yearsago. The conservation process is nearing completion. Animportant feature of the process was that the four membersof the Tohono O’odham nation were trained as conservatorsto enable continued maintenance of the mission after theconclusion of the project.SanXavierdel BacMain Altar, San Xavier del BacCanoa RanchThe county of Pima owns a large part of this ranch whichwas an active ranch from the Spanish colonial era until the1960’s. A number of structures have survived from the 19thand 20th centuries. The ranch borders the Santa Cruz riverand like Rio Nuevo in Tucson contains many archaeologicalsites going back thousands of years. The county ispreserving the surviving structures and beginning to developan interpretive plan for its use. The county has just createdan oversight committee for the site to begin developinginterpretation and management plans. An historic adaptiveuse plan is just going to bid. It is an important site that hasnot been developed. It has great potential to interpretranching, water use and environmental studies in a largelyundamaged landscape.Canoa Ranch357

Sección 6: Conciencia socialSection 6: Public awarenessTubacTumacacori National Historic ParkTubac is the location of one of the presidios established inthe mid eighteenth century to protect Spanish and Indiansettlements from raids by the Apache as well as to quell anypossible native uprising. Like the Tucson presidio, it is anarchaeological site. Part of the site has been interpreted aspart of an Arizona state park. The rest of the site whichcontains the majority of presidio period housing has beenacquired by a non profit group and will be interpreted to thepublic. An interesting aspect of the site is that archaeologicalexcavations have revealed that there is an exact correlationbetween the foundations of structures found and a mideighteenth century manuscript map of the presidio. Thesetting of the site is also good. No modern structures areclose to the site and it is possible to experience the landmuch as it was in the eighteenth century. Work is beginningto interpret the presidio. “Tubac map and site plan”Tumacacori has as its purpose the interpretation of thenorthern missions of Mexico. This mission was establishedat the beginning of the 18th century by the Jesuit priestEusebio Francisco Kino. The present church was built inthe early 1800’s by O’odham and Yaquis labor. The missionwas abandoned in 1848 and the remaining O’odham familieswent to San Xavier del Bac. Later the area became used forranching and in 1904 became a national monument. The parkhas received funding to make a new interpretation of themission and has been expanded to include two more missionstructures. One, Calabasas, was a visita (branch mission) ofTumacacori and the second is Guavavi, at times a visita ofTumacacori and other times a mission in its own right.Excavation at TubacTubac, 1768358Section 6: Sensibilitation du publicThe addition of these two sites expands the Historical Parkto within a few miles of the border with Mexico and completesan almost continuous line of historic and archaeological sitesextending from Tucson to the frontier with Mexico, a distanceof 55 miles. Tumacacori is also in the processof adding several hundred acres of land tobuffer the park from encroachment and toreclaim land previously used by the missionfor fields and orchards. This will greatlyenhance the ability of Tumacacori tointerpret the mission in the context of itsenvironment.