The Upper San Pedro Area

[From Mexico to the Tombstone Gaging Station near Fairbank]

[Disclaimer: this page is merely a fragment. We have hoped to build it further at this time, but time is a harsh taskmistress and that has not proved possible. Other hands are needed in any case -- many people know the area far better than we, and should participate in any further construction that we hope will later occur. Still, the scant information below may be of value to some readers, so we do not exclude it from the essay.]

While the entire stretch of the river contains numerous historical and archaeological sites, this southern portion is internationally known for its Paleoindian sites dating to the end of the Pleistocene Epoch. See Clovis and Murray Springs for some further details. The plants and animals living here during late Pleistocene times were very different from today, as evidenced by this image:

(Image adapted from Steadman, DW and Martin, PS, "Extinction of Birds in the Late Pleistocene of North America" In Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution, Martin PS and Klein RG. editors, Univ of Arizona press, Tucson, 1984.]

For a general outline of the archaeological history of the river, see Archaeology of the San Pedro Valley.

This upper (southern) part of the river was designated The San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area in 1988. The SPRNCA straddles the northern end of the Sierra Vista Subarea and the southern end of the Benson Subarea.