Archaeological Testing on the Rio Nuevo South Property, Tucson, Arizona

Author(s): J. Homer Thiel

Year: 1995

Summary

The City of Tucson is considering plans to develop the Rio Nuevo South property, which is located along the west bank of the Santa Cruz River near the downtown area. Currently the lot is vacant. However, this area has seen intensive usage during the Early Agricultural (ca. 1500 B.C. to A.D. 50), Hohokam (A.D. 750 to 1450), Protohistoric (A.D. 1450 to 1694), and Historic periods (A.D. 1694 to 1945). To date, the Early Ceramic period (A.D. 50 to 750) is not known from this area. As part of the planning process, Desert Archaeology, Inc., performed an archaeological survey and archival study of the parcel of land of the Rio Nuevo South parcel (Thiel 1994). On the basis of this preliminary work, Desert Archaeology recommended that an archaeological testing program be initiated to determine if significant cultural resources are present beneath the surface of the project area.

Subsequently, SWCA, Inc. drilled a series of auger holes to determine the extent and depth of disturbed areas. While documenting that certain areas of the property had in fact been disturbed by historic and modern clay mining and landfill activities, other areas appear to have intact sediments, some of which had the potential for containing archaeological resources. SWCA recommended that further archaeological testing take place (Ahlstrom et al. 1994).

The City of Tucson contracted with Desert Archaeology to conduct archaeological testing of the property. Testing began on 3 April 1995 and was concluded on 27 April 1995. A total of 75 person days was spent in exploring the property. The results of testing indicate that undisturbed portions of the property contain evidence of human activity during much of the last 2,500 years.

This testing report provides the project area location and description, a discussion of historical use of the project area, a summary of archaeological work conducted on or in the vicinity of the drainage system, research questions that guided testing, the results of testing, and makes recommendations about future work on the property.

Cite this Record

Archaeological Testing on the Rio Nuevo South Property, Tucson, Arizona, 11. J. Homer Thiel. 1995 ( tDAR id: 448759) ; doi:10.48512/XCV8448759

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Keywords

Culture
Historic • Hohokam • Huhugam

Material
Building Materials • Ceramic • Chipped Stone • Fauna • Fire Cracked Rock • Glass • Ground Stone • Human Remains • Metal • red-on-brown Sherds

Site Name
AZ BB:13:6 (ASM)

Site Type
Agricultural or Herding • Archaeological Feature • Burial Mound • Canal or Canal Feature • Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Domestic Structures • Funerary and Burial Structures or Features • Pit • Pit House / Earth Lodge • Post Hole / Post Mold • Refuse Pit • Resource Extraction / Production / Transportation Structure or Features • Roasting Pit / Oven / Horno

Investigation Types
Data Recovery / Excavation • Historic Background Research • Reconnaissance / Survey • Records Search / Inventory Checking • Research Design / Data Recovery Plan

Geographic Keywords
Arizona (State / Territory) • Pima (County) • Santa Cruz River • Tucson, AZ • Tucson Basin

Temporal Keywords
Early Agricultural period • Early Ceramic period • Early Rillito Phase • Early Rincon Phase • Late Rincon Phase • Middle Rillito Phase • Middle Rincon Phase • Tanque Verde Phase

Spatial Coverage

min long: -111.041; min lat: 32.185 ; max long: -110.943; max lat: 32.246 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Desert Archaeology, Inc.

Prepared By(s): Desert Archaeology, Inc.

Submitted To(s): The City of Tucson Arizona

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
_tr95-11_final_OCR_PDFA_Redacted.pdf 4.02mb Oct 22, 2020 3:56:37 PM Public
This file is the redacted version of the resource.
_tr95-11_final_OCR_PDFA.pdf 3.91mb Jun 1, 1995 May 10, 2019 12:21:56 PM Confidential
This file is the unredacted version of the resource

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Contact(s): Desert Archaeology, Inc.

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