O’odham Travel in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands: Identifying Travel Routes on Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Transcending Boundaries and Exploring Pasts: Current Archaeological Investigations of the Arizona-Sonora Borderlands" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The land encompassing Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument has long been a travel corridor for O’odham groups journeying across the Sonoran Desert to destinations throughout the modern Mexican state of Sonora and the Sea of Cortez. The National Park Service sponsored ongoing research to identify the physical traces of O’odham travel on the Monument and describe the history and legacy of O’odham travel in this region. A team of researchers from the University of Arizona recorded numerous foot trails, wagon roads, and paved highways, comprising 11 travel routes across this remote corner of the Sonoran Desert—four of which have been recommended eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. These routes represent deep cultural traditions of the O’odham people and their long history of land use in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. The lasting memory and ongoing practices of movement across the land continues to uphold O’odham culture and influence today’s generations of O’odham people.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Transcending Boundaries and Exploring Pasts: Current Archaeological Investigations of the Arizona-Sonora Borderlands

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25577