Desert Laboratory

On the hill the O'odham call Cemamagĭ Doʼag, for the horned lizard it resembles, the Carnegie Institution built the first desert research laboratory in the world in 1903. Its scientists came to answer a basic question, how life survives heat and drought, and in answering it they helped turn ecology into a rigorous science; some of their study plots are the oldest on Earth. The hill was a scientific frontier and an ancient one at once: an Indigenous village crowned Tumamoc more than two thousand years ago.

What the plaque says

Has been designated a National Historic Landmark. This site possesses national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America. 1975, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tucson — 1.7 mi
  The Old Pueblo — four thousand years of farming under the sky islands
• Mission San Xavier del Bac — 7.8 mi
  The White Dove of the Desert — the finest Spanish Baroque church in the country
• Saguaro National Park — 23 mi
  The giant cactus, and the O'odham who count it as kin

More markers nearby

• Si We:begi Ha Ñeid — 1.2 mi
• El Paso & Southwestern Depot and Park — 1.5 mi
• Arizona's First Public School — 1.7 mi
• Edward Nye Fish House — 1.7 mi