Hohokam Archaeology Along Phase B of the Tucson Aqueduct Central Arizona Project, Volume 3: Excavations at Water World (AZ AA:16:94) A Rillito Phase Ballcourt Village in the Avra Valley

Part of the Tucson Aqueduct Project Phase B project

Editor(s): Jon Czaplicki; John C. Ravesloot

Year: 1989

Summary

During 1986 and 1987 archaeologists from the Cultural Resource Management Division, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, excavated a Rillito phase Hohokam settlement that lay in the right-of-way for the Tucson Aqueduct Phase B, Central Arizona Project. Known as Water World (AZ AA:l6:94 ASM), the site is located at the southern end of the Avra Valley on the distal end of a lower bajada of the Tucson Mountains. One hundred and forty-seven features were identified by backhoe trenching and surface stripping, including 45 structures. Fifty-nine features were investigated: 21 structures, a ballcourt, 14 pits or hearths, 21 cremations, a midden deposit, and potbreak. The features were divided into seven house groups, a ballcourt area, and a possible central plaza. The artifactual, nonartifactual, and site structure data suggest that Water World was a formalized ballcourt village that was probably occupied permanently for a relatively short period of time during the Rillito phase (A.D. 700 to 900) of the Colonial period. It is also possible that the site's population increased during the winter months, when residents subsisted on stored food supplies. Water World is located in a nonriverine environment where floodwater farming potential should have been very good. There are, however, tentative hints that agriculture may not have been as intensively practiced as expected. Furthermore, the apparent paucity of the ritual and ceremonial objects that were also expected at a ballcourt site brings into question how the site may have functioned in local Hohokam economic organization.

Cite this Record

Hohokam Archaeology Along Phase B of the Tucson Aqueduct Central Arizona Project, Volume 3: Excavations at Water World (AZ AA:16:94) A Rillito Phase Ballcourt Village in the Avra Valley, 3. Jon Czaplicki, John C. Ravesloot. Archaeological Series ,178. Tucson, Arizona: Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona. 1989 ( tDAR id: 378253) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8QC04C0

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

Culture
Historic • Hohokam

Material
Building Materials • Ceramic • Chipped Stone • Dating Sample • Fauna • Ground Stone • Human Remains • Macrobotanical • Pollen • Shell

Site Name
AZ AA:16:94 • Water World

Site Type
Agricultural or Herding • Archaeological Feature • Artifact Scatter • Ball Court • Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Domestic Structures • Funerary and Burial Structures or Features • Hamlet / Village • Hearth • Midden • Non-Domestic Structures • Pit • Pit House / Earth Lodge • Plaza • Resource Extraction / Production / Transportation Structure or Features • Roasting Pit / Oven / Horno • Settlements • Storage Pit • Trash Midden

Investigation Types
Archaeological Overview • Data Recovery / Excavation • Site Evaluation / Testing

General
Avra Valley • Field Houses • Quarry Activity

Geographic Keywords
04999 (Fips Code) • Arizona (State / Territory) • Avra Valley • Brawley Wash • Rillito Creek • Santa Cruz River • Tucson Mountains

Temporal Keywords
Early Colonial Period • Hohokam pre-Classic period • Late Pioneer Period • Rillito Phase

Spatial Coverage

min long: -111.242; min lat: 32.091 ; max long: -110.989; max lat: 32.399 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office

Principal Investigator(s): Jon Czaplicki; John C. Ravesloot

Sponsor(s): USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office

Permitting Agency(s): USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office

Repository(s): Huhugam Heritage Center

Prepared By(s): Cultural Resource Management Division, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona

Submitted To(s): USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office

Record Identifiers

Bureau of Reclamation Contract No.(s): 6-CS-30-03500

NADB document id number(s): 2202622

NADB citation id number(s): 000000166726

File Information

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