By 9,200 B.C. the megafauna such as the mammoth were extinct. Humans adapted to new environmental conditions with new tools and new strategies for survival. Hunting smaller game animals and harvesting wild plants became a new way of life.

The Archaic period represents an eight thousand year period of hunting and gathering across the Southwest.

In Tucson, Archaic projectile points indicate that Archaic people lived along the Santa Cruz River by 3,000 B.C.