A
Vision for Cultural Resources
Pima County is rich in history, culture, regional
character, and diversity, all of which contribute greatly to
our collective heritage and community identity. Cultural and
historical resources are those places that are created by and
reflect upon the people who have lived for thousands of years
in what is today Pima County. The citizens of Pima County have
long recognized the value of preserving their cultural resources.
Cultural Resources
Pima County is committed to cultural
resource conservation so future generations may know the wonders
of their past.
Through the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan process, Pima
County, Arizona has gained a comprehensive understanding of
its cultural resources.
Continuous Occupation
Pima County has been continuously occupied for approximately
12,000 years from the end of the last Ice Age to the present
day.
Archaeological Sites
There are 3,984 archaeological sites known in Pima County,
yet only 12 percent of the land base has been formally investigated.
Most common are sites dating to the period from A.D. 750–1450
during which the Hohokam people occupied central and southern
Arizona.
Historic Buildings
More than 4,000 historic buildings have been recorded, most
of which are within the Tucson city limits. In general, these
represent settlement during the 19th and early 20th centuries
when Tucson emerged from a fortified village to a major metropolitan
center.
National Register
There are 121 places listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, the nation’s honor role of historically important
properties. Twenty-six of these are districts that contain
multiple buildings or archaeological sites. The City of Tucson
has 16 such districts alone, five of which are also city designated
districts.
Historic Communities
Ten historic communities are 50 years old or older: Silverbell,
Marana, Rillito, Catalina, Redington, Vail, Continental, Sahuarita,
Arivaca, Sasabe, and Tucson itself.
Cultural Locations
Five traditional cultural places have been identified, four
of which are important to the Tohono O’odham Nation and
one that is important to the Mexican American community in
Tucson.
Ghost Towns
Thirteen communities have been abandoned and are now ghost
towns such as Greaterville and Total Wreck in the Cienega Valley,
Twin Buttes and Helvetia in the Upper Santa Cruz Valley, Cerro
Colorado in the Altar Valley, the Silverbell mining camp in
the Avra Valley, and Clarkstown on the west side of the Tohono
O’odham Indian Nation. These reflect the importance of
silver, gold, lead, and copper mining in Pima County’s
history.
Historic Trails
There are three historically significant trails. The Anza Trail
of 1775-1776 was used by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza in his
excursions to the Pacific Coast. The Camino del Diablo linked
Sonora with southern California during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Thirdly, is the Butterfield Trail, an overland mail route between
St. Louis and San Francisco, that was used between 1858 and
1861.Priority Cultural ResourcesThe Technical Advisory Team
for the Cultural Resources Element of the Sonoran Desert Conservation
Plan reviewed nearly 4,000 archaeological sites and over 4,000
historic buildings and structures. This group selected 70 individual
archaeological sites, 29 clusters or “complexes” of
archaeological sites representing repeated use of the landscape
over thousands of years, and 138 historic resources all built
over the past two centuries. In total, 237 places have been
identified as Priority Cultural Resources. These are high value
cultural resources that because of their importance to the
history and culture of the citizens of Pima County deserve
conservation in the public interest.
Priority Resources
The selected Priority Cultural Resources include:
• Ancient Native American villages, including some of the oldest
sites with evidence of irrigation agriculture in North America.
• The magnificent Mission church, San Xavier del Bac, known the
world over as one of the finest examples of Spanish Colonial
ecclesiastical architecture.
• Mexican and U.S. Territorial era ranches, such as the Canoa
Ranch in Green Valley.
•
The 19th century ruins of Fort Lowell, a frontier military
base that played an instrumental role in the “Indian
Wars” of the mid- to late 19th century before Arizona
statehood.
• Old mines, such as Kentucky Camp in the Cienega Valley.
• Residences of both the local Sonoran style of architecture
and the imported Victorian styles that followed the coming
of the railroad to Tucson in 1880.
• Churches, school houses, commercial establishments, bridges,
and other transportation related features that followed statehood
in 1912.
• Several parks, including Tucson Mountain Park, created in 1929
and developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Together these priority cultural resources represent 10,000
years of settlement in what is today Pima County, representing
a physical legacy of the struggle for survival for hundreds
of generations of people who have made Southern Arizona their
home.
Evaluation Process
The challenge we face is to develop strategies that effectively
protect cultural resources for future generations. An important
part of this involves comparing the location of high value
cultural resources with data on high value natural resources.
Data layers mapping core biological, habitat, and riparian
areas were compared with the location of priority cultural
resources to determine where they overlap and where they
are distributed separately.
The analysis indicates that priority cultural resources overlap
with important riparian areas both within and outside the
urban core. However, more of the priority archaeological
sites are
located within the urban core where natural resource values
are low. For the archaeological site complexes, the reverse
is true. Most historic resources are located within the Tucson
Metropolitan area, although a small number are distributed
in areas with high natural resource values in the rural countryside.
High value cultural resources overlap with high value natural
resources in some places but not in others. Some are on private
land and some are on lands that are publicly owned. A majority
exist in the urban core under the jurisdiction of local governments.
Some resources, including many of the archaeological complexes,
cover thousands of acres, whereas others, particularly the
historic resources, are located on less than one acre.The
challenge we face is to develop strategies that effectively
protect cultural
resources for future generations. An important part of this
involves comparing the location of high value cultural resources
with data on high value natural resources. Data layers mapping
core biological, habitat, and riparian areas were compared
with the location of priority cultural resources to determine
where they overlap and where they are distributed separately.
The analysis indicates that priority cultural resources overlap
with important riparian areas both within and outside the
urban core. However, more of the priority archaeological
sites are
located within the urban core where natural resource values
are low. For the archaeological site complexes, the reverse
is true. Most historic resources are located within the Tucson
Metropolitan area, although a small number are distributed
in areas with high natural resource values in the rural countryside.
High value cultural resources overlap with high value natural
resources in some places but not in others. Some are on private
land and some are on lands that are publicly owned. A majority
exist in the urban core under the jurisdiction of local governments.
Some resources, including many of the archaeological complexes,
cover thousands of acres, whereas others, particularly the
historic resources, are located on less than one acre.The
challenge we face is to develop strategies that effectively
protect cultural
resources for future generations. An important part of this
involves comparing the location of high value cultural resources
with data on high value natural resources. Data layers mapping
core biological, habitat, and riparian areas were compared
with the location of priority cultural resources to determine
where they overlap and where they are distributed separately.
The analysis indicates that priority cultural resources overlap
with important riparian areas both within and outside the
urban core. However, more of the priority archaeological
sites are
located within the urban core where natural resource values
are low. For the archaeological site complexes, the reverse
is true. Most historic resources are located within the Tucson
Metropolitan area, although a small number are distributed
in areas with high natural resource values in the rural countryside.
High value cultural resources overlap with high value natural
resources in some places but not in others. Some are on private
land and some are on lands that are publicly owned. A majority
exist in the urban core under the jurisdiction of local governments.
Some resources, including many of the archaeological complexes,
cover thousands of acres, whereas others, particularly the
historic resources, are located on less than one acre. 
Conservation
Stategies
The citizens of Pima County are blessed with an abundance of
cultural resources, some of which are extraordinary in nature.
Cultural resources in Pima County have been and continue to
be threatened, most immediately in areas that are just developing
now or will be in the near future. Protecting these resources
will require long term, region-wide planning and cooperation
on the part of public entities and private citizens.
A variety of conservation strategies employed on different
scales and time frames will be needed to address the realities
of cultural resource conservation.
• Work cooperatively with federal, state, and local governmental
entities to achieve shared conservation goals.
• Develop a regional management strategy that is centered on
adaptive management concepts.
• Purchase land containing high value cultural resources when
and if public monies become available.
• Create an incentive program to encourage private land owners
to voluntarily protect cultural resources that are on their
land or that compensate them for giving up development rights
to lands containing cultural resources.
• Implement land use regulations to ensure that when private
land is developed cultural resources are considered as a part
of the development review approval.
• Inform and educate the public about the past and engage them
in saving our collective heritage for the future.
Cultural
Resources Map (PDF)
Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan
Pima County Administrator’s Office
130 West Congress, 10th Floor
Tucson, AZ 85701
520-724-6460
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