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A prominent Tucson landmark, Tumamoc Hill is one of the most extensive, massive, and complex hillside settlements or cerros de trincheras in southern Arizona.
Prehispanic constructions are concentrated at the summit of the hill and include massive encircling walls and terraces, an elaborate trail system, smaller terraces, more than 125 stone house outlines, and an extensive array of petroglyphs.
Rising 700 feet above the floodplain, Tumamoc Hill is a flat-topped peak of the volcanic Tucson Mountains on the western edge of the Santa Cruz River in central Tucson. It supports a rich variety of Sonoran Desert upland vegetation including saguaros and leguminous trees.
Massive stone terraces and walls about the top of the hill were constructed prior to 100 B.C. These represent the earliest known "public" constructions in Arizona, in that they are of a scale requiring communal labor for building. An unknown number of houses were occupied during this time.
Several centuries later during the Tortolita phase, the Tumamoc Hill summit was the location of a large village with more than 100 pit houses of early farmers who had recently begun to make and use pottery on a regular basis. With stone foundations of dry laid masonry, domed pithouse superstructures were constructed of desert willow poles, woven brush, and mud.
 Early descriptions of the site suggest that these houses surrounded a large central plaza with adjacent large ceremonial or community structure, but a sequence of construction activity including forest fire observation towers, University observatories, and a variety of communication facilities has removed any traces of these features.
Since Spanish colonial times, trincheras sites such as Tumamoc Hill have spurred much public and scholarly interest. Many researchers have favored a defensive motivation for the massive terrace and wall constructions, while others have posited agricultural, ceremonial, and signaling functions for these settlements. Proponents on all sides of the trincheras debates have used Tumamoc Hill data in their arguments.
Applicants wishing to explore more deeply the controversy surrounding trincheras sites in the context of spectacular aerial photography may consult the Arizona State Museum-Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia online exhibit, "In Flight: Adriel Heisey's Images of Trincheras Archaeology," at
http://www.statemuseum.Arizona.edu/exhibits/heisey
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