An Archaeological View of Human History at Tucson’s Birthplace
Saturday Mar 11, 2023, 11am-1pm
at Mission Garden in the Event Ramada
Suggested donation at the garden entrance
Mission Garden is delighted to present two lectures about Mission Garden, local history, and some of the ways we learn about the past.
Historical archaeologist Homer Thiel and preservation archaeologist Allen Denoyer both participated in the excavation in 2007 and 2008 at the Mission Garden and Mission San Agustin sites. Both are intimately familiar with Mission Garden and the larger archaeological site of which the garden is a part. They will both speak and take questions about the deep history of this area and what we know specifically about Mission Garden’s past.
Homer Thiel will speak first about “The Birthplace of Tucson: 4,100 Years of Human History along the Santa Cruz River.” Homer co-authored the report on the excavations at Mission Garden and the san Agustin mission site. Homer grew up on a dairy farm in Michigan, his father later managing a bison herd. He has been a historical archaeologist for local consulting firm Desert Archaeology since 1992. He has led projects at the San Agustin Mission, the Tucson Presidio, and numerous downtown Tucson blocks and has authored many papers and reports. .
Allen Denoyer will be talking about "Building a replica pithouse at Mission Garden, experimental archaeology, and what we learn from it.” Allen works for the nonprofit preservation archaeology organization Archaeology Southwest. He takes part in Mission Garden’s Archaeology Days (fourth Saturdays of each month September through April) where his “Hands-on Archaeology” workshops have been a big hit. He has also led a youth group in the building of a pithouse in the Youth Garden, based on a pithouse floor excavated at Mission Garden. Allen is a primitive technologies specialist, who works with the public to teach people ancestral technologies. Allen's skills were honed over a career as a contract archaeologist working on sites in Southern Arizona and the High Plains of Wyoming and surrounding states.
11am: Introductions by Mission Garden staff members
11:15am: The Birthplace of Tucson: 4,100 Years of Human History along the Santa Cruz River, by Homer Thiel
11:45am: Question and Answer
12:00pm: Building a replica pithouse at Mission Garden, experimental archaeology, and what we learn from it, by Allen Denoyer.
12:30pm: Question and Answer