The Heritage Garden, located at Steam Pump Ranch, grows heirloom seeds that might otherwise be lost or cross pollinated (destroying their generational purity). Joyce Rychener and her volunteer team are hard at work planting for the 2025 season!
Looking to purchase desert seeds? Learn more about Native Seeds/SEARCH who conserves and shares the seeds of the people of the desert Southwest and Mexico.
Come to the Heritage Garden at Steam Pump Ranch to see a replica of a Hohokam-style pit house based on one discovered in Honey Bee Village that was probably twice the size of our model!
In this video, Allen Denoyer, a Preservation Archaeologist with Archaeology Southwest, explains how these houses were made by the Hohokam, ancestors of Tohono O’odham in Southern Arizona.
Experience experimental Archaeology and Hands-On Archaeology of Hohokam Pithouses presented by Archaeology Southwest and its advisory team on Second Saturdays at Steam Pump Ranch!
Honey Bee Village is one of the largest Hohokam villages in the northern Tucson Basin. Lying near the base of Pusch Ridge in the Rancho Vistoso development, it was occupied from about A.D. 750 to A.D. 1300. This prehistoric village covers about 75 acres. The core area, consisting of approximately 12 acres, contains a ball court for social gatherings, a large walled compound, and a series of trash mounds containing artifacts that represent nearly 500 years of occupation.
An estimated 150 – 200 pit house structures may exist at the village. The nearby Sleeping Snake Village, obliterated through modern development also contained a ball court and a large number of pit dwellings.
Archaeological excavations were conducted at the site in 1988 and additional excavations are planned prior to further development of the area.
Preservation of the core area of one of these Hohokam villages is essential to gaining a better understanding of the thousands of years of history in Oro Valley.
In this video, Henry Wallace, Senior Research Archaeologist with Desert Archaeology, Inc., provides information about the Hohokam people and their life at Honey Bee Canyon, and the excavation of their village.
