Watering the Desert: Late Archaic Farming at the Costello-King Site: Data Recovery at AZ AA:12:503 (ASM) in the Northern Tucson Basin
Creators: name: Ezzo, Joseph A.
name: Deaver, William L.
Publisher: name: SRI Press
Year: 1998
Subjects: subject: Ina Road
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/83230/ina-road
subject: Santa Cruz River
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/76790/santa-cruz-river
subject: Interstate 10
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/80615/interstate-10
subject: Tucson Basin, Arizona
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/77003/tucson-basin-arizona
subject: Late Archaic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/32/late-archaic
subject: Archaic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/8/archaic
subject: AZ AA:12:503 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/88989/az-aa12503-asm
subject: Encampment
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/253/encampment
subject: Water-Related
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/365/water-related
subject: Resource Extraction / Production / Transportation Structure or Features
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/272/resource-extraction-production-transportation-structure-or-features
subject: Agricultural or Herding
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/273/agricultural-or-herding
subject: Agricultural Field or Field Feature
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/274/agricultural-field-or-field-feature
subject: Canal or Canal Feature
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/275/canal-or-canal-feature
subject: Archaeological Feature
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/339/archaeological-feature
subject: Artifact Scatter
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/340/artifact-scatter
subject: Water Control Feature
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/279/water-control-feature
subject: Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/251/domestic-structure-or-architectural-complex
subject: Settlements
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/252/settlements
subject: Pollen
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/13/pollen
subject: Wood
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/15/wood
subject: Ceramic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/1/ceramic
subject: Chipped Stone
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/2/chipped-stone
subject: Dating Sample
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/3/dating-sample
subject: Ground Stone
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/7/ground-stone
subject: Macrobotanical
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/10/macrobotanical
subject: Data Recovery / Excavation
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/5/data-recovery-excavation
subject: Site Evaluation / Testing
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/10/site-evaluation-testing

description: In August 1995, Statistical Research, Inc., performed data recovery on an area approximately 3,200 m2 at AZ AA: 12:503 (ASM), a Late Archaic period site in the northern Tucson Basin. The site is located on a parcel of land owned by Waste Management of Southern Arizona, and the project was undertaken in response to the plans of Waste Management to construct a new southern Arizona headquarters. Three of the four stratigraphic units defined at the site yielded cultural features. One hundred ninety-five cultural features were defined: 2 in Unit I, 167 in Unit II, and 26 in Unit III. Feature types include 1 pit structure (Unit 11),99 hearths or cooking pits (1 in Unit I, 82 in Unit II, 16 in Unit III), 84 pits (1 in Unit I, 81 in Unit 11, 2 in Unit III), 7 activity areas (all in Unit II), and 2 prototypic irrigation ditches with branches (Unit III). Fifty-six features were excavated or sampled, including 37 hearths (22 in Unit II, 15 in Unit III), 13 pits (11 in Unit II, 2 in Unit III), the pit structure, 3 activity areas, and the 2 ditches. The totality of material culture recovered from the site, which includes lithics, macrobotanical samples, pollen samples, and a few small fragments of burnt animal bone, derives from the excavation of these features. The site likely functioned as an intermittently used agricultural camp, with early evidence for maize cultivation and the development of ak chin (floodwater) farming. The dating of the site indicates that it was utilized between about 2500 and 3000 B.P.; Unit III dates range from approximately 2800 to 3000 B.P.; as such, the two canals are the oldest yet dated in the American Southwest, and are as old as the canals at Santa Clara Coatitlan, Mexico, the oldest known canals in North America. The canals are oriented such that they would have been used to collect and control runoff from the hills to the north and east of the side, rather than diverting water from either the Santa Cruz River or the Canada del Oro Wash.