Tumamoc Hill ( ood, Cemamagĭ Doʼag) is a
butte
__NOTOC__
In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word mea ...
located immediately west of
"A" Mountain and downtown
Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
,
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
. It is home to many
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
,
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
, and public safety
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...
s. The 860-acre ecological reserve and
U.S. National Historic Landmark was established by the
Carnegie Institution
The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. T ...
in 1903. The
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
(UA) owns a preserve and leases another as a research and education facility. The
Steward Observatory
Steward Observatory is the research arm of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona (UArizona). Its offices are located on the UArizona campus in Tucson, Arizona (US). Established in 1916, the first telescope and building were f ...
maintains a small astronomical observatory with a telescope on the hill. Besides being a prominent landmark, Tumamoc Hill has a long and varied history, and is currently an important site for ecological and anthropological research as well as a refuge and a recreational option for the people of Tucson. The Desert Laboratory located on Tumamoc welcomed a new director, Ben Wilder, as of 2018.
Official Designations and Management
* National Environmental Study Site
* Arizona State Scientific and Natural Educational Area
*
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
*
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
Human history
Tumamoc, which is an O'odham word for "regal
horned lizard
Horned lizards (''Phrynosoma''), also known as horny toads or horntoads, are a genus of North American lizards and the type genus of the family Phrynosomatidae. The common names refer directly to their horns or to their flattened, rounded bodies, ...
",
was a home to the ancient
Hohokam
Hohokam () was a culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. It existed between 300 and 1500 AD, with cultural precursors possibly as early as 300 BC. Archaeologists disagree about ...
people. It is the site of the earliest known trincheras village, consisting of 160 foundations of round stone structures, as well as large stone perimeter walls.
[, University of Arizona Cultural Resources Policy and Management Plan, September 2008.] Over 460
petroglyphs
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
and a prehistoric garden beside the hill provide further evidence of Tumamoc’s importance to these people.
For long after that time, 1,300 years ago, the site continued to provide resources to the
Tohono O'odham,
Akimel O'odham
The Pima (or Akimel O'odham, also spelled Akimel Oʼotham, "River People," formerly known as ''Pima'') are a group of Native Americans living in an area consisting of what is now central and southern Arizona, as well as northwestern Mexico in ...
, and the
Hopi. It has also been reported to be a burial site for the
Apache
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
and the O'odham.
Captain Juan Mateo Manje, a
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
military commander, wrote the following about Tumamoc Hill after seeing it on one of his expeditions with
Father Kino
Eusebio Francisco Kino ( it, Eusebio Francesco Chini, es, Eusebio Francisco Kino; 10 August 1645 – 15 March 1711), often referred to as Father Kino, was a Tyrolean Jesuit, missionary, geographer, explorer, cartographer and astronomer born i ...
between 1693 and 1701:
Note that Manje refers to "former" wars, indicating that the fighting took place in prehistoric times (before the arrival of Europeans). Being that the O'odham are probably descendants of the Hohokam, it does not seem unreasonable to conclude that the Hohokam, who lived only a few centuries before Manje's expedition, did as their later relatives apparently did and used their trincheras to fall upon their enemies and kill them.
European settlers prized the rock and clay found on the hill for building in the late 19th century, and early ecologists just after the turn of the 20th century selected it for the site of the Carnegie Institute's
Desert Laboratory.
United States Geological Survey and University of Arizona Desert Laboratory. “Ongoing research on Tumamoc Hill". The hill continues to be a landmark and a sanctuary for the people of Tucson today. The road up Tumamoc Hill is a popular destination for walking and running. The entrance to the road up the hill is located across from St. Mary's Hospital on the south side of Anklam Road. It is open to pedestrians in the early mornings and evenings. The steep hill provides a strenuous workout, as well as citywide vistas. Lectures on the unique history and ecology are presented for the public at the site.
History of ecological research
![Desert Botanical Laboratory](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Desert_Botanical_Laboratory.jpg)
Frederick V. Colville, chief botanist of the Department of Agriculture, in 1903 convinced the Carnegie Institute of Washington to fund the creation of a Desert Laboratory near the small mining and ranching town of Tucson.
The goal was to study desert adaptations of plants in hopes of increasing agricultural output of the desert. Among the pioneering researchers, who helped to shape the then-developing field of ecology in the United States, were William Cannon,
Volney M. Spalding, Daniel T. MacDougal,
Burton Livingston, Godfrey Sykes, and
Forrest Shreve.
Wall, Nancy. 1994. “From the hill of the horned toad.” Tucson Guide Quarterly: Fall, pp. 88–93. This research continued until the 1940s, during which time the scientists there were instrumental in the development of the field of
ecology
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
in the United States. They began publishing a journal, Plant World, which later became the major journal
''Ecology''.
Due to financial difficulties from the Great Depression, as well as a disconnect between the Carnegie Institute’s mission of making use of the desert and the researchers’ admiration of it, the Carnegie Institute turned the Desert Laboratory over to the Forest Service in 1940.
They initially offered it to the University of Arizona for $1, but were turned down.
Twenty years later, on July 20, 1960, after several easements and loss of research and records, the University purchased the reserve for considerably more.
The long term observations and experiments on Tumamoc Hill’s vegetation have provided insights on saguaro boom and bust population dynamics, blue palo verde’s dependence on riparian areas, disease and other threats to desert tortoises, and the interactions of a community of small winter annuals and the insects and rodents that prey on their seeds.
See also
*
Black Mountain (Pima County, Arizona)
Black Mountain is a lava capped mesa in Pima County, Arizona, that rises 1,000 feet above its base to an altitude of . It is a northeast trending ridge, 5,600 feet in length, located along Mission Road nine miles southwest of Tucson. It is on th ...
*
References
External links
Tumamoc– public events and information
{{Protected Areas of Arizona
Ancient Puebloan archaeological sites in Arizona
Buttes of Arizona
Geography of Tucson, Arizona
Protected areas of Pima County, Arizona
Protected areas of the Sonoran Desert
Nature reserves in Arizona
Hohokam trincheras sites
Hohokam rock art sites
Tohono O'odham
Petroglyphs in Arizona
Landforms of Pima County, Arizona