A TIME CAPSULE 

In 2001, Desert Archaeology conducted exploratory archaeological work in a parking lot at the southwest corner of W. Washington Street and N. Church Avenue. The parking lot had been in use since 1955. Prior to that time it was the location of the Dodge Boarding House, operated by Herbert and Julia Dodge. The boarding house was constructed in 1898 and was torn down in early December 1954. Today you can see some of its stone foundations outside of the Presidio Museum on its east side.

Local businessman and history enthusiast George Chambers had photographed the Dodge Boarding House prior to its demolition. He knew that the area was probably the corner of the old Spanish Presidio, so he set about organizing an archaeological excavation, enlisting students from the Anthropology Department of the University of Arizona and raising money to pay them.

The archaeologists quickly found thick adobe walls. Their attentions were soon diverted when they found a prehistoric pit structure, which they proceeded to excavate.


Archaeologists excavating the prehistoric pit structure, the thick adobe wall is behind them (photo courtesy Arizona State Museum).

 Hundreds of people came to view the excavations. George Chambers hoped the City of Tucson would preserve the site, but local politicians were not interested. The excavation was back-filled on December 28, 1954.

The completed excavation, with the adobe wall on the right with the pit structure in the center (photo courtesy Arizona State Museum).

Fast forward to December 2002. On the first day of the Desert Archaeology dig we decided to re-excavate the pit structure explored in 1954. One of the archaeologists asked we were going to find a time capsule. I laughed, "No one finds time capsules." An hour later a large pickle jar was found in a pit inside the pit structure. Visible through the glass was an envelope with the letterhead, "Tucson Newspapers Company." This was the business headed by George Chambers.

Re-excavated Presidio wall and pit structure. The time capsule is in the pit on the right (photo courtesy Desert Archaeology).

On December 5th an opening ceremony was held. After I removed the lid, Mayor Robert Walkup reached in and gently pulled out the letter. It was opened up and the letter carefully unfolded. 

Councilman Fred Ronstadt trying to remove a newspaper from inside the pickle jar. Mayor Robert Walkup stands behind him (in black suit jacket). Presidio Trust member Irma Moreno watches from the far right side (photograph by Robert Ciaccio, Desert Archaeology).

The letter read: "TO WHOMEVER MAY BE AS MUCH CONCERNED AS I: AND MORE SUCCESSFUL IN AROUSING PUBLIC INTEREST IN THE IMPORTANCE OF PRESERVING THIS HISTORIC SITE."


George Chambers's letter (photo courtesy Desert Archaeology).

Also in the jar was a newspaper from December 26, 1954, as well as a penny, nickel, and dime from 1954.

George Chambers had passed away in 1978, so never knew that his hopes that the site would be preserved would take place. After finding the well preserved adobe walls of the corner tower and east exterior wall, the decision was made to recreate the corner, carefully offsetting the new walls so that the original walls could be preserved in place.

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The Early Agricultural Period extends from 2100 BC to AD 50. The period is divided into three phases. The Silverbell Interval runs from 2100 BC to 1200 BC. During this time span maize (corn) made its way north to the Tucson Basin, where it was planted in fields by people living along the Santa Cruz River. These people relied primarily on gathered plants and animals they hunted along the river and nearby mountains. Maize supplemented their diet, but they moved about the landscape, seeking out food resources, likely on an annual schedule. We don't know a lot about this time span because the sites are deeply buried in the flood plain, in some cases more than 10 feet down. Few archaeological projects are conducted at that depth.

Excavations south of W. Congress Street at the Clearwater Site. The white circles are Silverbell Interval pit structures.

The San Pedro phase goes from 1200 BC to 800 BC. During this time irrigation agriculture was extensively employed, with ditches taking water from the Santa Cruz River and from other smaller streams, the Rillito, Pantano, and Canada del Oro, that may have had water only during the monsoon season. The small ditches carried water to areas where numerous small fields were dug out, the dirt piled around the edges in berms. Water was run into the fields, filling them, and then the berms were closed and the next plot watered. The Las Capas site had very large field systems that were explored prior to the construction of large tanks at the sewage facility at Ina Road.

Many storage pits were found at the site. Bell-shaped pits have a narrow opening at the top, with the pit widening out below. The narrow opening limited the amount of water, insects, and rodents that could get inside the pit, preserving whatever was stored inside from damage. Most likely the pits were used for short-term storage of maize and other perishable items.


A bell-shaped storage pit at the Las Capas site.  


This fired-clay pipe was found in the pit, the oldest example known from the Tucson Basin.

The Cienega phase runs from 800 BC to AD 50. This period saw the creation of larger villages, perhaps occupied year round. We find many small, round houses, some used as dwellings and others for storage. Each community usually has one larger house that was probably used for ceremonies or gatherings where community concerns were discussed. The pit structure in the Presidio Museum dates to this time period. Abalone shell jewelry, probably manufactured in what is now modern-day California, and obsidian sourced from distant places in Arizona, New Mexico, and Sonora, show that people were trading between far-away places. A few small pots have been found, revealing the first experimentation with ceramics.


The pit structure in the Presidio Museum, as excavated.

Artist Robert Ciaccio, of Desert Archaeology, Inc., has created visualizations of what a Cienega phase village at the Clearwater Site would have looked like, using archaeological and ethnological evidence. These depictions help modern people better understand what life was like in long-ago Tucson.

Visualization by Robert Ciaccio, courtesy Desert Archaeology, Inc.

For more information about the Early Agricultural Period, the Tucson Underground issue of Archaeology Southwest Magazine is available in the Presidio Museum gift shop for $10.

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