Data Recovery at Site AZ AA:12:311 (ASM) and Archaeological Monitoring for the Coventry Homes Pipeline Project

Summary

From July to November, 1996, SWCA, Inc., Environmental Consultants conducted an archaeological testing, data recovery, and monitoring project along a segment of a proposed buried effluent pipeline for Del Webb’s Coventry Homes. Limited data recovery at site AZ AA:12:311 (ASM) was conducted from September 4th to September 20th, 1996. The monitoring phase of the project took place from September to November, 1996.

The principal goal of this project was to mitigate the impacts that construction of the pipeline would have to archaeological features and cultural deposits in the area. This was accomplished through a three-phase approach. First, a series of test trenches were placed along the course of the sewer line in order to examine the subsurface deposits in five known archaeological sites. Several features were found in AZ AA:12:311 (ASM), and a data recovery phase was implemented. This involved the excavation of sample units in the larger features, and partial or complete excavation of the smaller features. A total of nine features and seven subfeatures were investigated in this way. The final phase of work involved monitoring of the construction of the sewer line in order to identify and evaluate any undiscovered archaeological deposits. One additional feature was discovered during the monitoring process.

This report will review the work that has taken place, but will focus on the data recovery efforts at AZ AA:12:311 (ASM). Features investigated included four midden features, five roasting pits and fire pits, and ash dump, five mortuary features, and a possible living surface. All recovered artifacts have been subjected to professional analysis (ceramics, lithics, shell, faunal bone, human bone, and botanical), and the following chapters detail these results. Following this we present is a brief synthesis of what has been learned from this project. It should be noted that the archaeological investigations undertaken for this project only examined approximately 1 % of each site. This by no means mitigates the entirety of any of the sites, and all sites are considered eligible to the National Register of Historic Places, even though testing did not reveal subsurface deposits in some of the sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SWCA DAHA Resources   •
• Digital Archive of Huhugam Archaeology (DAHA)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

Contributor(s): Regina L. Chapin-Pyritz; Linda M. Gregonis; Richard Halloway; Heidi M. Roberts; Ronald H. Towner; Arthur W. Vokes

Field Director(s): Lee Terzis; David Tucker

Principal Investigator(s): Dr. Richard Ahlstrom

Prepared By(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

Submitted To(s): Pima County Department of Transportation; Coventry Homes, Inc.

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