Archaeology’s Deep Time Perspective on Environment and Social Sustainability with Allen Dart

Springerville Heritage Center 418 E. Main Stret, Springerville, AZ, United States

The deep time perspective that archaeology, geology, and related disciplines provide about natural hazards, environmental change, and societal development is often ignored when societies today make decisions affecting social sustainability and human safety. Studies of ancient peoples and natural events can help modern society deal with problems of environmental and social change, overpopulation, and sustainability. […]

Hiking into the Past: The Sierra Ancha Cliff Dwellings with John Mack

Springerville Heritage Center 418 E. Main Stret, Springerville, AZ, United States

This presentation examines the remarkable living structures built by the people who first lived in the canyons of the Sierra Ancha wilderness during the early Middle Ages. The architectural dwellings reflect the culture and history of these people and help us understand their contributions to life in the Arizona desert. The presentation includes numerous photos […]

The Antiquity of Irrigation in the Southwest

Springerville Heritage Center 418 E. Main Stret, Springerville, AZ, United States

Before AD 1500, Native American cultures took advantage of southern Arizona’s long growing season and tackled its challenge of limited precipitation by developing the earliest and most extensive irrigation works in all of North America. Agriculture was introduced to Arizona more than 4,000 years before present, and irrigation systems were developed in our state at […]

Apaches and their Horses

Springerville Heritage Center 418 E. Main Stret, Springerville, AZ, United States

It has been thought that the Apache do not become Apache until the adoption of the horse, which triggered the raiding adaptation. While horses played a central role in the Apachean world, the horse divide is not as pronounced as thought. Horses changed the ancestral Apache lifeway and horses survived and thrived without European horse […]

Free

Four Corners: The Southwest’s Cultural Crossroad

Springerville Heritage Center 418 E. Main Stret, Springerville, AZ, United States

The Four Corners is a common name for the region within 150 miles of the marker where Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, Arizona meet. The Four Corners reflects a wide array of customs of both ancient and contemporary cultures, spiritual beliefs, and histories. This presentation describes the landscape’s extensive geological and cultural transformation contributed by […]

Free

In the Footsteps of Martha Summerhayes (Springerville)

Springerville Heritage Center 418 E. Main Stret, Springerville, AZ, United States

Martha Summerhayes was a refined New England woman who entered the Arizona Territory in 1874 as the young bride of an Army Lieutenant. Traveling in horrific conditions and dreadful heat, she soon despised the wild and untamed land. She gave birth to the first anglo child born at Fort Apache where the native women took […]

Free

Apaches and their Horses (Springerville)

Springerville Heritage Center 418 E. Main Stret, Springerville, AZ, United States

It has been thought that the Apache do not become Apache until the adoption of the horse, which triggered the raiding adaptation. While horses played a central role in the Apachean world, the horse divide is not as pronounced as thought. Horses changed the ancestral Apache lifeway and horses survived and thrived without European horse […]

Free

Working in the Salt Mine: Ancient and Historic Mining of Salt in Arizona – Springerville

Springerville Heritage Center 418 E. Main Stret, Springerville, AZ, United States

Salt has been a valuable trade item throughout human history. Native American salt procurement in the Southwest involved dangerous journeys across sacred landscapes associated with a deity called Salt Woman. This presentation describes the history of a famous salt mine in Camp Verde, Arizona, where prehistoric Sinagua tools used for mining salt were discovered in […]

Free

Sheep Ranchers and Herders of Arizona – Springerville

Springerville Heritage Center 418 E. Main Stret, Springerville, AZ, United States

Sheep Ranchers and Herders of Arizona An early viable economic activity of the 1800s in Arizona has been mostly forgotten. Basque, Canadians, Danes among others arrived in the mid to late 1800s to graze sheep on thousands of acres practicing transhumance. Many of these men worked for other established ranchers until ultimately they gained a […]

Free

Riding with the Duke: John Wayne in Arizona

Springerville Heritage Center 418 E. Main Stret, Springerville, AZ, United States

John Wayne was born in Iowa and lived for most of his adult life in California. Yet, he spent many years exploring, living, and investing in Arizona, where he produced his own films, raised cattle, operated a game ranch, and was seemingly everywhere at once. Wayne remains an iconic presence in American popular culture. In […]

Free

Fill out the info below to sign up for our E-Newsletter.