Hohokam Archaeology Along Phase B of the Tucson Aqueduct Central Arizona Project, Volume 3: Excavations at Water World (AZ AA:16:94) A Rillito Phase Ballcourt Village in the Avra Valley
Creators: name: Jelinek, Lauren
Publisher: name: Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona
Year: 1989
Subjects: subject: Arizona (State / Territory)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/335/arizona-state-territory
subject: Tucson Mountains
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/114/tucson-mountains
subject: Santa Cruz River
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/76790/santa-cruz-river
subject: Rillito Creek
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/76824/rillito-creek
subject: Brawley Wash
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/76826/brawley-wash
subject: Avra Valley
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/76825/avra-valley
subject: 04999 (Fips Code)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/3947/04999-fips-code
subject: Hohokam pre-Classic period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/141/hohokam-pre-classic-period
subject: Rillito Phase
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5630/rillito-phase
subject: Late Pioneer Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5631/late-pioneer-period
subject: Early Colonial Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/19/early-colonial-period
subject: Hohokam
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/21/hohokam
subject: Historic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/25/historic
subject: AZ AA:16:94
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/3881/az-aa1694
subject: Water World
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/556/water-world
subject: Funerary and Burial Structures or Features
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/301/funerary-and-burial-structures-or-features
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: 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: Non-Domestic Structures
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/309/non-domestic-structures
subject: Ball Court
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/310/ball-court
subject: Hearth
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/343/hearth
subject: Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/251/domestic-structure-or-architectural-complex
subject: Midden
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/347/midden
subject: Settlements
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/252/settlements
subject: Hamlet / Village
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/254/hamlet-village
subject: Trash Midden
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/351/trash-midden
subject: Domestic Structures
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/256/domestic-structures
subject: Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/355/pit
subject: Roasting Pit / Oven / Horno
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/357/roasting-pit-oven-horno
subject: Storage Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/358/storage-pit
subject: Pit House / Earth Lodge
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/263/pit-house-earth-lodge
subject: Plaza
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/331/plaza
subject: Pollen
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/13/pollen
subject: Shell
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/14/shell
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: Fauna
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/4/fauna
subject: Ground Stone
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/7/ground-stone
subject: Building Materials
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/8/building-materials
subject: Human Remains
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/9/human-remains
subject: Macrobotanical
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/10/macrobotanical
subject: Quarry Activity
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/3699/quarry-activity
subject: Field Houses
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/3412/field-houses
subject: Avra Valley
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/134843/avra-valley
subject: Archaeological Overview
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/1/archaeological-overview
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: During 1986 and 1987 archaeologists from the Cultural Resource Management Division, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, excavated a Rillito phase Hohokam settlement that lay in the right-of-way for the Tucson Aqueduct Phase B, Central Arizona Project. Known as Water World (AZ AA:l6:94 ASM), the site is located at the southern end of the Avra Valley on the distal end of a lower bajada of the Tucson Mountains. One hundred and forty-seven features were identified by backhoe trenching and surface stripping, including 45 structures. Fifty-nine features were investigated: 21 structures, a ballcourt, 14 pits or hearths, 21 cremations, a midden deposit, and potbreak. The features were divided into seven house groups, a ballcourt area, and a possible central plaza. The artifactual, nonartifactual, and site structure data suggest that Water World was a formalized ballcourt village that was probably occupied permanently for a relatively short period of time during the Rillito phase (A.D. 700 to 900) of the Colonial period. It is also possible that the site's population increased during the winter months, when residents subsisted on stored food supplies. Water World is located in a nonriverine environment where floodwater farming potential should have been very good. There are, however, tentative hints that agriculture may not have been as intensively practiced as expected. Furthermore, the apparent paucity of the ritual and ceremonial objects that were also expected at a ballcourt site brings into question how the site may have functioned in local Hohokam economic organization.