Two Archaeological Wonders You Can (and Should) Visit

Wednesday, 28 September 2011 05:41

Los Morteros is an ancient Hohokam village site, once occupied by the Hohokam people from about 850 A.D. to 1300 A.D.

Our guide, archaeologist Allen Dart, gave us a little background about the Hohokam people and their possible relations to the Tohono O'odham people. Watch below:

One of the tour stops was at a bedrock outcrop, filled with well-worn holes. These were the bedrock mortars that the site is named for, los morteros meaning "the mortars" in Spanish, Dart said. Used by the Tohono O'odham to pound and grind mesquite bean pods to use in the preparation of different foods, this behavior indicates that the Hohokam people did similar things prehistorically, he said.

But Dart also mentioned smaller holes in the rock, called cupules, which may have been used for other purposes here:

Along the way, we found that if you looked closely enough, you could find various artifacts scattered along the ground. The areas around the site where they were particularly plentiful were amongst the middens, low-mounded areas that were designated for piling up trash, Dart said.

Unfortunately the middens have suffered from pot-hunting, as evidenced by uneven spots on the mounds, but there were still plenty of pottery shards there to examine.

Dart described the typical "red on brown, red on buff pottery," essentially red paint on a brown or buff-colored background. The pottery fires brown because it is fired in the open air, where iron molecules in the dark red paint oxidize and turn to a rust color.

"That's a big difference from what you see up in the northern Arizona and the northern part of the Southwest," Dart said. "Most of the pottery up there fires to a gray or white color and that's indicative of being fired in a closed environment where the air can't get to it."

He discusses this further and changes in pottery design below:

Other artifacts found were flake stone, which were used to make tools, and shell pieces, which were often used to make jewelry:

Finally, while the Los Morteros Convservation Area is open to the public, it is still important to tread carefully and treat the site with utmost respect.

While you can feel free to examine the artifacts you find at the site, you must take care not to damage them. Always return any pieces to the spot where you found them, because collection is illegal on public lands as Dart discusses here:

Since that Friday, Sept. 23, was the autumnal equinox (otherwise known as the first day of fall in the Northern hemisphere), Dart took us to the Picture Rocks petroglyphs site for a special viewing.

A hill on the site offers a plentiful number of petroglyphs made by the Hohokam people around 500 A.D.

While all of them were fascinating, this spiral had a particular significance.

Dart explained that this petroglyph was also a calendar marker, as denoted by the light phenomenon that occurred on the summer solstice as well as both the spring and autumnal equinoxes.

From around 11 a.m. on, we were able to see a dagger of light make its way into the center of the spiral. This occurred because of the way the angular way the rocks above the spiral were chiseled, Dart said.

A familiar event takes place during the vernal (spring) exquinox and the summer solstice. Although during the summer solstice, the light dagger occurs due to the placement of the spiral being directly underneath a crack between two rocks, Dart said.

I encourage you to visit the Picture Rocks site, but since it is located on the property of the Redemptorist Renewal Center, they ask that you observe them peacefully and check-in at their front desk before you go out to view the rocks. Touching the petroglyphs and climbing up the hill is not allowed because of possible damage to the petroglyphs.

Dart also advises that you visit in the early morning or on a cloudy day, since it can be difficult to see the petroglyphs in the bright, direct sunlight.

Read the first part of this story here.

Written by Katrina Arrington You are reading Two Archaeological Wonders You Can (and Should) Visit articles