Gibbon's Ranch: Excavation of Site AZ BB:9:275 (ASM), Pima County, Arizona

Summary

Archaeological data recovery at the Gibbon's Ranch site (AZ BB:9:275 [ASM]) was the final phase of studies conducted by SWCA for Canoa Homes and Sunchase Holdings. The work was required to fulfill stipulations of Section 404 permitting (under the Clean Waters Act) and for a Pima County grading permit. Richard Perry of the Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District, managed the 404 permit application and Linda Mayro, Pima County Archaeologist, oversaw archaeological documentation for the Pima County grading permit.

The Gibbon's Ranch site lies at the northern edge of the Gibbon Springs site (AZ BB:9:50 [ASM]), a Classic period Hohokam village that was excavated by SWCA in 1994. Construction of the historical ranch buildings probably removed much of the prehistoric materials in this area. Based on the presence of O'odham pottery sherds, the Gibbon's Ranch site was identified as a locus used by Tohono O'odham (Papago), but during the testing phase SWCA archaeologists found that the locus was actually the remnant of a large adobe building. The building, historical artifacts, and other buildings found nearby proved to be the remains of a ranch operated by Euroamericans prior to A .D . 1900.

Susan B. Bierer directed fieldwork at the historic site. Mark C. Slaughter was the project manager and principal investigator. The SWCA field crew consisted of Bill Grimm, Betsy Noll, and Lee Terzis. In addition, several archaeologists volunteered their time and expertise to the excavation and interpretation of the site. Steve Stacey generously lent two days to the excavation of Features 3 ,5 , and 6. Steve also came out an extra day to help map the site. J.R. "Buff" Billings, of Professional Archaeological Services and Technologies (PAST), gave of his time and offered helpful comments on feature function. Two Pima Community College students, Austin Lenhart and Darla Pettit, helped us excavate Feature 6. James E. Ayres also visited the site and offered interpretations on feature form and function. Dan Arnit of Innovative Excavating expertly maneuvered his backhoe through the remains.

Laural Myers supervised all lab work and analyzed the few prehistoric flaked stone items that were found. James E. Ayres conducted the analysis of historic artifacts. Jennifer Strand analyzed the faunal remains. Morgan Reider proffered many helpful comments during the writing of the historic architecture and site function sections of the report. Linda Gregonis analyzed the ceramics from the site and copy edited this report.

A special word of thanks is due to Alice Holmes. Her discovery of Gibbon's Ranch photos in the (then uncatalogued) Clara Fish Roberts album collection at the Arizona Historical Society provided important clues that helped us understand how the ranch buildings were constructed.

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): James E. Ayres; Susan B. Bierer; Linda M. Gregonis; Mark Slaughter; Jennifer G. Strand

Principal Investigator(s): Mark Slaughter

Prepared By(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

Submitted To(s): Sunchase Holdings

Record Identifiers

Clean Waters Act(s): Section 404

File Information