National Archaeology Day in the Arizona Desert
October 26, 2011

AIA-Central Arizona members and Pueblo Grande Museum Mudslingers hard at work.

Select a thumbnail to view more in the gallery.

On National Archaeology Day the Central Arizona Society participated in a mudslinging activity at Pueblo Grande Museum in Phoenix, AZ. Mudslinging is a stabilization technique for earthen structures, and the AIA volunteers worked with the Pueblo Grande Museum Mudslingers - a volunteer organization that has worked at Pueblo Grande for eighteen years. Pueblo Grande Museum presents and conserves the Native American ruins, including an earthen platform mound, from the Hohokam culture that lived in central Arizona between 450 and 1450.

Mudslinging involves four basic steps:

1) Remove the loose/flaky earth
2) Wet the wall surface
3) Sling the freshly produced mud onto the surface
4) Smooth the new surface.

The Pueblo Grande Museum Mudslingers volunteer one Saturday morning a month (9-10 months a year), and the work that was done on Saturday will last for three to four years.