Paleo-Indians Summary

Prologue:
The earliest arrivals in the area surrounding Tucson Arizona is said to have been prehistoric “Paleo-Indians.” They arrived in southern Arizona approximately twelve thousand years ago. It is likely that the migration of these people from Asia was due to their following megafauna, or large animals such as giant beaver, musk ox, mastodons, Wooly mammoths, and ancient deer, along ice-free corridors. “Paleo-Indians moved as nomadic bands, following the seasons, carrying their belongings, and finding shelter where they could. Traveling in bands of perhaps two dozen family members, evidence has shown they often slept in the open, and clothed themselves with animal skins or plant fibers. For thousands of years they survived by foraging

The Mission became a gathering point for the area’s Indians who some contend, are decedents of the Hohokam tribe. However, anthropologists maintain that this culture seems more likely to be linked to Paleo-Indians.
Were there surviving Paleo Indians? Evidence points to the conclusion, yes. As late as the seventeen hundreds a small group inhabited a village along the Santa Cruz River.
In the early1700’s, Spanish soldiers founded the walled fortress of Presidio San Augustin del Tucson. After several battles and victories over the Apache Indians, the area became the Village of Tucson. Meaning “base of the black hill,” a reference to Sentinel Peak or “A” Mountain.
Bordering Tucson to the North are the Santa Catalina Mountains, The pine-covered summit receives twenty to twenty five inches of annual rainfall in contrast to seven inches in the valley. Reports of the Tucson Basin between A.D. 1700 and 1870 tell us rivers in the area flowed year-round. Along those banks, cottonwood and mesquite trees grew in abundance, and often beavers built their dams in the slow moving waters. It was along a valley river that according to anthropologists remnants of the Santa Cruz river tribe still