Tucson Aqueduct

Part of: Central Arizona Project

The Tucson Aqueduct is a feature of the Central Arizona Project designed to bring Colorado River water into the interior of the state. It consists of 87 miles of mostly open, concrete-lined canal, although two major sections are piped, one major siphon, and nine pumping plants. A transmission system links most of the pumping plants (Twin Peaks, Sandario, Brawley, San Xavier, Snyder Hill, and Black Mountain) to power provided by the Navajo Generating Station, near Page, Arizona. The Tucson system is divided into two phases, Phase A and Phase B, which in turn were divided into reaches, which facilitated the organization and administration of the various construction phases of the project. Phase A contained Reaches 1, 2, and 3. Phase B contained Reaches 4, 5, and 6.

The Tucson Aqueduct project provided the unprecedented opportunity for an extended, large-scale archaeological study of the later periods of Hohokam occupation and of the little known Archaic occupation of central Arizona. The project was organized around a series of tasks and problem oriented analyses that were guided by a consistent, explicit research orientation.

Archaeological investigations of the Tucson Aqueduct began in 1969, the year after construction of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) was authorized by the Colorado River Basin Act (P.L. 90-537). A feasibility alignment survey (Kayser and Fiero 1969) provided data for the general programmatic environmental statements on the Central Arizona Project (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation 1972). These data were supplemented by additional research, survey, and evaluative testing projects (Czaplicki 1984; Downum et al. 1986; McCarthy 1982; Westfall 1979) completed by the Arizona State Museum (ASM). Ultimately the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) undertook a massive data recovery project at sites located along Phase A of the Tucson Aqueduct, the results of which were published in a six volume series (MNA Research Paper 35) that was completed in 1988. The ASM undertook an equally large data recovery project at sites located along Phase B of the Tucson Aqueduct, the results of which were published in a five volume series.

Following construction of the Tucson Aqueduct, Reclamation established a database of archaeological resources within the CAP right-of-way based on the original Class III survey data. An unknown number of these sites were either destroyed by construction or excavation, while others are no longer located within the CAP right-of-way. In 2010, Reclamation began hiring cultural resource management firms to revisit and reevaluate archaeological resources located within its right-of-way and obtain up to date data on site eligibility and condition.


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Archaeological Survey for the Tucson Aqueduct System Reliability Investigations (TASRI) Reservoir, Pima County, Arizona Cultural Resources Assessment of 117 Archaeological Sites for the Fannin-McFarland and Tucson Aqueducts, Central Arizona Project Canal, Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima Counties, Arizona Cultural Resources Assessment of 59 Archaeological Sites Located Along Reaches 1 and 2 of the Tucson Aqueduct (Phase A) Individual Resources Relocation, Reassessment, and Remapping of 74 Archaeological Sites Located Along Reaches 3, 4, and 5 of the Tucson Aqueduct (Phase B) Tucson Aqueduct Project Phase A
  • An Archaeological Sample Survey of the Middle Santa Cruz River Basin, Picacho Reservoir to Tucson, Arizona: A Class II Survey of the Proposed Tucson Aqueduct Phase A, Central Arizona Project (1982)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Carol Heathington McCarthy.

    This report presents the results of the Class II (sample) survey of the Tucson Division of the Central Arizona Project. The survey was designed to test the predictive model developed as a part of the Class I (overview) survey of the project area (Westfall 1979). Statistical tests using the survey data show that the model was not particularly successful in predicting the location of cultural resources within the survey area and that it definitely underestimated the archaeological sensitivity of...

  • A Class III Survey of the Tucson Aqueduct Phase A Corridor, Central Arizona Project: An Intensive Archaeological Survey in the Lower Santa Cruz River Basin, Picacho Reservoir to Rillito, Arizona (1984)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Lauren Jelinek

    The Bureau of Reclamation's mandate to protect cultural resources affected by construction of the Tucson Aqueduct is defined in 43 CFR Part 422.3a and consists of a three part research approach. The first two parts-a Class I overview and a Class IIsample survey-were completed for Phase A of the Tucson Aqueduct by the Arizona State Museum in 1979 (Westfall 1979) and 1980 (McCarthy 1982), respectively. The final part, a Class III intensive survey of the Phase A aqueduct ...

  • Hohokam Settlement Along the Slopes of the Picacho Mountains, Volume 2, Part 1: The Brady Wash Sites (1988)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Lauren Jelinek

    This volume documents the excavation and testing by the Museum of Northern Arizona of 92 structures, a platform mound, and numerous other features at 15 loci of the Brady Wash site and six small sites in Reach 1 of the Tucson Aqueduct Project, Phase A. These sites are a major segment of the Brady Wash Complex, a Hohokam community that inhabited the floodplain below the northwest slopes of the Picacho Mountains.These investigations provide detailed insight into long-term Hohokam adaptation to a...

  • Hohokam Settlement Along the Slopes of the Picacho Mountains, Volume 2, Part 2: The Brady Wash Sites (1988)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Lauren Jelinek

    This second part of the second volume in the Tucson Aqueduct Phase A, Hohokam Archaeological Sites, Data Recovery Project series, presents the basic descriptive data for archaeological investigations of prehistoric sites in the Brady Wash area in Reach 1 of the Tucson Aqueduct. A series of archaeological excavations and supplemental surveys were carried out between December 1983 and January 1985 under the direction of staff personnel from the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) under Contract...

  • Hohokam Settlement Along the Slopes of the Picacho Mountains, Volume 4: Material Culture (1988)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Lauren Jelinek

    This is the fourth volume in the Tucson Aqueduct Project, Phase A series reporting on archaeological investigations at over 50 primarily Hohokam sites in south-central Arizona. Each chapter in this volume incorporates the research focus, methodology and results of the analysis of one of the artifactual or material sets resulting from these investigations. The general ceramic analysis, conducted on over 159,000 sherds, provided the basic descriptive and comparative data and allowed us to...

  • Hohokam Settlement Along the Slopes of the Picacho Mountains, Volume 5: Environment and Subsistence (1988)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Lauren Jelinek

    This is the fifth volume in a six volume series presenting the results of archaeological studies at Hohokam sites along the Tucson Aqueduct.The volume focuses on pollen, flotation and faunal studies in an effort to understand the paleonenvironment of the study area during the periods the sites were occupied and the subsistence strategies of the sites' occupants. Primary site-specific emphasis is on determining feature functions as they relate to biological results. The studies presented document...

  • Hohokam Settlement Along the Slopes of the Picacho Mountains, Volume 6: Synthesis and Conclusions (1988)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Lauren Jelinek

    This is the sixth and final volume in the series presenting the results of archaeological investigations of Hohokam sites along Reaches 1 and 2 of the Tucson Aqueduct, Phase A, Project. The project involved the investigation of two prehistoric platform mound communities in the Picacho Mountains area, which prior to these investigations were virtually unknown. The project focused on the Brady Wash community with lesser efforts in the Picacho community. The research efforts represented by the...

  • Hohokam Settlement Along the Slopes of the Picacho Mountains: Research Design (1986)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Donald Weaver. Richard Ciolek-Torello. J. Simon Bruder.

    This research design focuses upon proposed archaeological studies at 34 Hohokam sites potentially subject to impact, both direct and indirect, as a consequence of the construction of Tucson Aqueduct, Reaches 1 and 2, extending from just east of Picacho Reservoir to the vicinity of Red Rock, Arizona. The sites involved include small sherd and lithic scatters, possible field houses, villages, possible canals, field areas, trash mounds a reservoir, compounds, and platform mounds. The survey data...

  • Hohokam Settlement Along the Slopes of the Picacho Mountains: The Picacho Area Sites (1987)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Lauren Jelinek

    The third volume in the Tucson Aqueduct, Hohokam Studies Project presents the results of field investigations of sites in Reach 2 of the Tucson Aqueduct, Phase A project area. These investigations were directed towards both intensive and low level testing of a wide variety of sites in the area south of the Picacho Mountains and north of Red Rock, Arizona. Also reported are the results of on-call surveys of several areas outside of the aqueduct right-of-way. Investigations focused on portions of...

  • Petroglyphs of the Picacho Mountains, South Central Arizona (1986)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Henry D. Wallace. James P. Holmlund.

    This report presents the results of an intensive archaeological study of the petroglyph sites in the Picacho Mountains of south-central Arizona. Twelve sites with a total of 4,152 recorded designs are considered. A sample survey of the foothills of the Picacho Mountains and previous research performed by the authors at 31 additional petroglyph sites in the Tucson Basin and Samaniego Hills provide contextual information and a substantial comparative data base. The study was conducted by the...

Tucson Aqueduct Project Phase B