Watering the Desert: Late Archaic Farming at the Costello-King Site: Data Recovery at AZ AA:12:503 (ASM) in the Northern Tucson Basin

Summary

In August 1995, Statistical Research, Inc., performed data recovery on an area approximately 3,200 m2 at AZ AA: 12:503 (ASM), a Late Archaic period site in the northern Tucson Basin. The site is located on a parcel of land owned by Waste Management of Southern Arizona, and the project was undertaken in response to the plans of Waste Management to construct a new southern Arizona headquarters.

Three of the four stratigraphic units defined at the site yielded cultural features. One hundred ninety-five cultural features were defined: 2 in Unit I, 167 in 
Unit II, and 26 in Unit III. Feature types include 1 pit structure (Unit 11),99 hearths or cooking pits (1 in 
Unit I, 82 in Unit II, 16 in Unit III), 84 pits (1 in Unit I, 81 in Unit 11, 2 in Unit III), 7 activity areas (all in
 Unit II), and 2 prototypic irrigation ditches with branches (Unit III). Fifty-six features were excavated or sampled, including 37 hearths (22 in Unit II, 15 in
 Unit III), 13 pits (11 in Unit II, 2 in Unit III), the pit structure, 3 activity areas, and the 2 ditches. The totality of material culture recovered from the site, which includes lithics, macrobotanical samples, pollen samples, and a few small fragments of burnt animal bone, derives from the excavation of these features.

The site likely functioned as an intermittently used agricultural camp, with early evidence for maize cultivation and the development of ak chin (floodwater) farming. The dating of the site indicates that it was utilized between about 2500 and 3000 B.P.; Unit III dates range from approximately 2800 to 3000 B.P.; as such, the two canals are the oldest yet dated in the American Southwest, and are as old as the canals at Santa Clara Coatitlan, Mexico, the oldest known canals in North America. The canals are oriented such that they would have been used to collect and control runoff from the hills to the north and east of the side, rather than diverting water from either the Santa Cruz River or the Canada del Oro Wash.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SRI Press

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Radiocarbon Date: 635 to 560 (Maize cob)

Radiocarbon Date: 930 to 790 (Maize cupules)

Radiocarbon Date: 855 to 760 (Maize cob)

Radiocarbon Date: 1030 to 810 (Maize cob)

Radiocarbon Date: 1045 to 815 (Maize cupules)

Radiocarbon Date: 1030 to 810 (Maize cupules)

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): SRI Press

Contributor(s): Keith Knoblock; Owen K. Davis; Richard G. Holloway; Jeffrey Altschul

Landowner(s): Waste Management of Southern Arizona, Inc.

Prepared By(s): Statistical Research, Inc.

Submitted To(s): Waste Management of Southern Arizona, Inc.

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