Archaeology Cafe: Saloons of Territorial Tucson
Category: Event Calendar
Date and Time
- Tuesday, Mar 2, 2027 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Location
Archaeology Southwest
281 N Stone Ave
Details
Join us in-person at the Archaeology Southwest Headquarters in downtown Tucson, or online via Zoom Webinar, on Tuesday, March 2, 2027, as J. Homer Thiel (Senior Project Director/Historical Archaeologist, Desert Archaeology) presents "Saloons of Territorial Tucson."
Western movies, TV shows, and novels depict 19th-century saloons as places of violence, gambling, and scantily clad women. How accurate are these depictions? Documentary and archaeological research in Tucson provides an answer. Thiel has identified more than 300 saloons that operated between 1860 and 1914 (Prohibition began on January 1, 1915). Artifacts recovered from the Cactus Saloon's outhouse complement interior photographs of the era, offering a surprising answer as to why saloons existed in Territorial Tucson.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; the talk begins at 6:00 p.m.
This talk is part of Archaeology Café's 2026–2027 season, Among Friends: Conversations with Archaeologists, presented by Archaeology Southwest, a nonprofit dedicated to understanding and conserving places. Archaeology Café is an informal forum bringing lifelong learners together with experts. This season celebrates the community of researchers, students, neighbors, and friends who've grown up around Archaeology Southwest over nearly 40 years, with talks held at the Tucson headquarters, select talks also traveling to the S'edav Va'aki Museum in Phoenix, and all sessions streamed live on Zoom. Can't make it live? Recordings post to the Archaeology Southwest YouTube channel a few days later.
