a  rizona
OUR PURPOSE
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Five hundred years
before Columbus, the mysterious deserts of the American Southwest
were the habitat of now-vanished civilizations. This arid and
hostile landscape was once home to incredibly ingenious cultures
that thrived in a harsh environment. They not only managed the
limited water and grew the crops that sustained them, but they
also built roads and structures as high as four or five stories.
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Click images to enlarge
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Today,
all that remains as testimony to their achievements are bits of
crumbled walls, petroglyphs and the artifacts of these once-prosperous
cultures, the scattered ceramic fragments of the implements of
daily life. All are subject to the ravages of time, weather and
vandalism. We don't know what ultimately caused the decay and
collapse of these cultures: warfare, drought, or did humans mismanage
their environment? There are many theories. But to discover the
causes we must first preserve this fragile historical legacy of
Native American archaeological sites.
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WHAT WE ARE ABOUT
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Archaeological Adventures
is dedicated to this preservation by organizing expeditions to
record remote sites. Although we are a private enterprise, we
work in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in
Arizona. The BLM administers 14 million acres of public lands
in Arizona, housing hundreds of archaeological sites, but lacks
the resources to record them.
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HOW WE DO IT
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The recording process
consists of mapping, photographing and documenting the site and
its artifacts. The work is not strenuous and requires no experience:
just your time and care. The product of our work is provided to
the BLM with no use of tax dollars. |
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 We
invite you to join us in this
project. Combine some hiking in the magnificent vistas of the
desert southwest with an opportunity to learn, discover and touch
ancient cultures. Besides the inherent enjoyment of your Discovery
process, your efforts will contribute materially to the preservation
of a fragile American historical legacy. The names of participants
will be recorded in the official documentation records as members
of archaeological field projects.
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