Papa and I drove to Los Morteros this morning for a 2.5 mile hike. Los Morteros is the site of a Native American village inhabited between about 850 and 1300 CE. The site is on the Santa Cruz River. Archaeologists named the site “Los Morteros” for the many bedrock mortars found within the site. Residents used them to grind and mill seeds, corn, and other plants.
The Los Morteros location was the scene of other important events in the history of southern Arizona. The 1775-76 expedition of Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza made an encampment in the area that is documented. In the 1800’s, a Butterfield Stage Station was established on the site.
It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed the hike with historic markers, and we climbed up a nearby hill to a cave.
