Exciting finds discovered by the team excavating the site of the new Sunset Road bridge: the oldest human footprints in the Southwest! You can read more in this article. Lucky for us, a flood covered the sets of footprints with mud preserving them. Preliminary dating suggests the adult, child, and dog were walking in their agricultural fields 2,500 to 3,000 years ago.

The archaeological survey also unearthed a more recent Hohokam settlement in the vicinity. Pima County is offering free tours of the site for the next few weeks.

If you’re interested in taking the tour, you better hurry since bridge construction commences this spring. Don’t fret about the loss of artifacts or the footprints, they will be preserved and further researched to glean more clues about these ancient Santa Cruz River Valley inhabitants.