There are many ways of looking at the past, and views of the past may differ from culture to culture. Hopefully the past we choose to celebrate in the Rio Nuevo District will honor this diversity of views.

The options on the left reflect the way archaeologists view the physical evidence of human life in the Tucson Basin. Choose a date or time period and explore a bit of Tucson's past.

By A.D. 1450 everything changed in the Tucson Basin, as well as in most of the Southwest.

Surprisingly, this is a period of time for which archaeologists and historians know very little.

We do know that what we call the Hohokam culture ends by AD 1450. After this date the distinctive pottery and architecture of the Hohokam are no longer produced. The next set of archaeological remains are called "Sobaipuri" which represents the O'odham Culture, who still live here today.

What happened to the Hohokam? This question remains unanswered.

A Sobaipuri period house foundation.

Like the Hohokam before them, the O'odham still depended upon the Santa Cruz River, growing maize, beans, cotton and squash in small villages along the Santa Cruz. The O'odham village at the base of Sentinel Peak ("A" Mountain) gave Tucson its name.