Environmental History of an Early Agricultural Period Irrigation Canals Network at Las Capas (Site AZ AA:12:753 [ASM]), Tucson, Arizona

Summary

The Santa Cruz Drainage Basin contains a rich record of prehistoric irrigation for at least 3200 years. Archaeologists and paleoecologists have identified the evolution of this agricultural technology from opportunistic to systematic canal operation. The present study documents the first detailed analysis of a networked canal system during the Early Agricultural Period (1200 BC – AD 50) using ostracodes, micro-mollusks, calcareous algae and the geochemical signatures of ostracode (Ilyocypris bradyi) valves that allowed us to generate an aridity index. The index resulted from the combined data of stable isotopes (18O and 13C), and trace elements (Mg/Ca, and Sr/Ca). The aridity index suggests the irrigation waters salinization trends at the time of canal operation.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Multidisciplinary Studies of Anthropogenic Change, Subsistence, Social Organization, Regional Interaction, and Technology at the Las Capas Site, BC 1200-400, Southern Arizona

Keywords

Spatial Coverage