Archaeological Investigations at the City of Tucson Reclaimed Water Treatment Plant

Summary

As part of a long-term commitment to replenish the aquifer which has served as the sole source of water for the Tucson urban area, the City of Tucson has embarked on a project to utilize treated wastewater for ground water recharge. One area which shows promise as a recharge site is in the vicinity of the city and county wastewater treatment plants. In order to determine whether this locality would actually be suitable for the purposes of recharge, CH2M Hill was contracted with by the city to construct three separate trial infiltration pits in an area of abandoned agricultural fields located to the north of the City of Tucson Reclaimed Water Treatment Plant. Because this area was known to contain prehistoric and historic cultural resources, Desert Archaeology was retained by CH2M Hill to provide the necessary archaeological consulting services. Desert Archaeology’s tasks were to: 1) help identify specific sites within the project area where the infiltration pits could be placed with little or no damage to cultural resources; 2) conduct archaeological testing in the three areas identified by CH2M Hill as locations where they would like to place the infiltration pits; and 3) assess the archaeological potential of the entire parcel of land to provide some idea of what might need to be done if this area is chosen for future large-scale development of recharge ponds.

In addition, an employee of the City of Tucson Reclaimed Water Treatment Plant, Thomas Bevers, had located an area of scattered human bones representing a possible human burial. These human remains were positioned along a dirt roadway at the western edge of the abandoned agricultural fields, and were in danger of being destroyed by construction-related use of the road. In order to comply with state laws regarding the treatment of human remains, the City of Tucson contracted with Desert Archaeology to excavate and remove the remains. Although technically a separate project, this work was accomplished in the same time frame and was in the same area as the testing related to the infiltration pits. Therefore, the results of both projects are combined in this report.

The remainder of this report presents a description of the project area and the previous archaeological work accomplished there. Following this the methods used in the testing of the infiltration pits are described, and general descriptions of the alluvial stratigraphy and archaeology encountered in each of the three infiltration pit areas are provided. Detailed descriptions of the stratigraphic units will be found in an appendix at the end of the report. The first portion of the report concludes with a general assessment of and set of recommendations for the treatment of the archaeological resources present in the city-owned property where future development of recharge ponds may occur. The second part of the report presents the results of the investigation of the possible burial. The methods of study are briefly outlined, and a description of the results of the investigation follows. An appendix presents the results of an analysis of the skeletal remains by Arizona State Museum physical anthropologists.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Contact(s): Desert Archaeology, Inc.

Prepared By(s): Center for Desert Archaeology

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