Archaeological Testing of Soils Test Pits for a Pipeline for the Proposed Recharge/Wetlands Project

Summary

In its effort to provide water in the next century, the City of Tucson, in conjunction with Tucson Water, has developed several plans designed to recharge the aquifer and provide residents with quality water. As part of this effort, the City plans to develop a wetlands area and a separate recharge basin in the area south of the City's reclaimed water treatment plant. Tucson Water has hired CH2M Hill as the design consultant for this project.

On October 3, 1994, Desert Archaeology was contacted by CH2M Hill regarding planned soils testing in the area where a proposed wetlands and recharge basin would be located. The consultant needed to excavate backhoe trenches designed to expose the subsurface sediments in an effort to determine the best locations for wetlands development and recharge basins on the property. Desert Archaeology was hired to conduct archaeological testing in advance of the soils testing conducted by CH2M Hill. Those excavations were conducted between October 11 and 21, 1994. The primary objective at that time was to locate a total of 30 trenches that could be given archaeological clearance for deeper excavation by CH2M .Hill. Secondary objectives were to determine the extent to which the known surface distribution of artifacts reflected subsurface presence, and, as part of Desert Archaeology's long-term interest in the geomorphology and archaeology of the Santa Cruz floodplain, to determine what correlations could be made between archaeological discoveries elsewhere on the floodplain and those in the vicinity of the reclaimed water treatment plant. The results of those test excavations are summarized in a previous technical report submitted to the City of Tucson (Freeman 1995).

On March 21, 1995, Desert Archaeology was contacted by CH2M Hill to conduct additional testing of soils test pits in the vicinity of the Pima County Wastewater Treatment Plant, (Areas A, B, and C) and near retention basins on the west side of the Santa Cruz River (Area D). The test pits were designed to provide CH2M Hill with subsurface sedimentary information necessary to design a proposed pipeline related to the wetlands/recharge basin project. Eleven test pits and six soil borings were excavated by CH2M Hill. Since previous work in the area had indicated that the soil borings would not yield enough information to determine site significance, Desert Archaeology recommended clearance to conduct the soil borings. The soils test pits were excavated in tandem with CH2M Hill, allowing for archaeological examination of test trenches before clearing the trenches for the deeper excavation needed for soils testing.

The following report provides a summary of previous work in the area and describes the result of the most recent excavations of 11 test pits. The appendix provides a more detailed description of representative trenches. Though few archaeological materials were discovered during this testing operation, subsurface geologic and archaeological indications suggest a high potential for intact cultural remains in at least part of the project area. All sites are designated with Arizona State Museum (ASM) site numbers.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Desert Archaeology, Inc.

Prepared By(s): Center for Desert Archaeology

Submitted To(s): City of Tucson

Notes

General Note: Site areas were disturbed, so no exact date or time period could be determined.

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