Work began on the Terrenate Presidio in 2008. Charles Di Peso had excavated a portion of this site, thinking it was the Sobaipuri site of Quiburi before it was used as the presidio of Santa Cruz de Terrenate. Later analysis has suggested that this interpretation is incorrrect, and that this site is not a Sobaipuri site. Rather it was a prehistoric site (Archaic and ceramic period) before the presidio was established. Work at Terrenate is focusing on evaluating this current perspective, dating the deposits, and comparing the original presidio plan to Di Peso's plan and also to what is being found on-the-ground during current work and work conducted last season.

FORT BOWIE, LOOKING NORTH EAST TOWARD DEFENSIVE APACHE HABITATION SITE

WALL IN DI PESO'S "FORT" AT SANTA CRUZ DEL PITAITUTGAM

FORTS AND PRESIDIOS

SANTA CRUZ DE TERRENATE PRESIDIO

Di Peso's "fort" at Santa Cruz del Pitaitutgam has been reexposed to examine construction techniques. Chronometric dates from this site and this feature indicate a pre-Kino construction and abandonment, suggesting that this structure and others like it along this river were built before the missionary period (1690S) and therefore were not built specifically for the visiting missionaries, as Kino and Manje thought. Could they be ceremonial "rain houses" as described ethnographically? Several others have been documented along the San Pedro. One excavated at Guevavi clearly dates to the Kino period and is likely the "neat little house and church" mentioned by Kino in his diary--see Seymour 2009, Father Kino’s 'Neat Little House and Church' at Guevavi. Journal of the Southwest. 51.

Fort Bowie was established during the Apache Wars in Apache Pass in the Chiricahua Mountans to serve as a base against Apaches that were led by such famous figures as Cochise AND Geronimo.

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THE MATERIAL ON THIS PAGE IS COPYRIGHTED AND SHOULD BE APPROPRIATELY CITED (C) 2007, Deni Seymour

THE ROYAL FORT OF ST. IGNATIUS OF TUBAC PRESIDIO, 1752-1776

Royal Fort of St Ignatius de Tubac presidio was established in 1752 and persisted until the garrision was moved to Tucson in 1776. It was reoccupied numerous times. Many misconceptions surround this presidio and recent work there is beginning to uncover some of the facts. Like many other presidios established in the pre-1772 period this one did not have a large outer defensive wall. Instead the captain's quarters and command center was defensively built with a high wall and tower, while the settlers and solders occupied individual buildings spread out across larger landforms.