2016 Dart Lecture

Date: January 29, 2016
Contact: Dave Carney, [phone]

Casa Grande Ruins Lecture Series held Weekly at Monument

COOLIDGE, AZ–On Wednesday February 10^th, at noon, Allen Dart, will present a lecture on "Arts and Culture of Ancient Southern Arizona Hohokam Indians". The talk is based on the Hohokam Native American culture that flourished in southern Arizona from the sixth through fifteenth centuries. Hohokam artifacts, architecture, and other material culture provide archaeologists with clues for identifying where the Hohokam lived, interpreting how they adapted to the Sonoran Desert for centuries, and explaining why their culture mysteriously disappeared. In this presentation Dart illustrates the material culture of the Hohokam and presents possible interpretations about their relationships to the natural world, time reckoning, religious practices, beliefs, and deities, and possible reasons for the eventual demise of their way of life.This program was made possible by the Arizona Humanities organization.

Mr. Allen Dart, RPA, has worked and volunteered as a professional archaeologist in New Mexico and Arizona since 1975 for state and federal governments, private companies, and nonprofit organizations. He is employed full-time as State Cultural Resources Specialist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Arizona, and is the volunteer Executive Director of Tucson's nonprofit Old Pueblo Archaeology Center. He served as President of the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society (AAHS) in 1991-1993, and founded Old Pueblo in 1994 to provide educational and scientific programs in archaeology and culture, and to create programs involving public outreach and participation in archaeology. He is a Registered Professional Archaeologist, and a member of several archaeology advocacy organizations. Allen Dart has received the Arizona Governor's Archaeology Advisory Commission Award in Public Archaeology, the Arizona Archaeological Society's Professional Archaeologist of the Year Award, and other honors for his efforts to bring archaeology and history to the public.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument protects the multi-story Great House and the remnants of other ancient structures built by the people of the Sonoran Desert over 800 years ago.Established as the nation's first archeological reserve in 1892, the Ruins sparked the beginning of the archeological preservation movement in America.The Monument is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. except for Thanksgiving and Christmas.Directions and additional information are available on the Monument's website. You may call [phone], or follow us on Facebook by searching for Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.

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