Interstate 10 Frontage Road Project, Results of Phase 1 Data Recovery at AZ AA:12:746 (ASM), Tucson, Pima County, Arizona
Creators: name: Mabry, Jonathan B.
Publisher: name: Desert Archaeology, Inc.
Year: 1993
Subjects: subject: Tucson Basin
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/2758/tucson-basin
subject: Pima (County)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/7353/pima-county
subject: Tucson, AZ
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/76651/tucson-az
subject: Classic Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/125/classic-period
subject: Late Archaic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/32/late-archaic
subject: Sedentary Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5504/sedentary-period
subject: Rincon Phase
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5632/rincon-phase
subject: Colonial Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5377/colonial-period
subject: Historic Native American
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/30/historic-native-american
subject: Hohokam
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/21/hohokam
subject: Huhugam
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/8166/huhugam
subject: Historic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/25/historic
subject: AZ AA:12:746 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/89791/az-aa12746-asm
subject: Domestic Structures
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/256/domestic-structures
subject: Archaeological Feature
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/339/archaeological-feature
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: Pit House / Earth Lodge
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/263/pit-house-earth-lodge
subject: Fire-Cracked Rock Concentration
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/2009/fire-cracked-rock-concentration
subject: Trash Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/842/trash-pit
subject: Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/251/domestic-structure-or-architectural-complex
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: Fire Cracked Rock
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/5/fire-cracked-rock
subject: Ground Stone
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/7/ground-stone
subject: Charcoal Flecking
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/2888/charcoal-flecking
subject: Macrobotanical
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/10/macrobotanical
subject: Bone Awl
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/2650/bone-awl
subject: Archaeomagnetic Dating
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/7555/archaeomagnetic-dating
subject: Geoarchaeological Dating
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/160962/geoarchaeological-dating
subject: Radiocarbon Dating
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/135975/radiocarbon-dating
subject: Flotation Analysis
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/86773/flotation-analysis
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: Records Search / Inventory Checking
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/8/records-search-inventory-checking
subject: Site Evaluation / Testing
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/10/site-evaluation-testing

description: As part of the archaeological mitigation program of the Arizona Department of Transportation's Interstate 10 Frontage Roads Project, the well-preserved remains of an early agricultural village were found buried in the floodplain of the Santa Cruz River during preliminary archaeological investigations at site AZ AA:12:746 (ASM) in 1993. A total of 32 prehistoric cultural features were identified, including 13 pithouses, 1 possible pithouse, 10 roasting pits, 1 trash pit, and 6 concentrations of artifacts clustered within an area of about 3,000 m2, and 1 isolated trash pit. One pithouse had a fired-plaster floor, and most of the pithouses had internal storage pits. The age ranges of a projectile point type and other temporally-diagnostic artifacts recovered from primary contexts, along with 2 associated radiocarbon dates and 1 archaeomagnetic assay, indicate that the site was occupied between at least 400 and 225 B.C., during the Late Archaic period. After the site was abandoned sometime after 225 B.C., the pithouse depressions were used for trash disposal until about A.D. 1000, and then a few roasting pits and trash pits were cut into the alluvium and into some earlier features between about A.D. 1150 and 1300. Plowing and irrigation of the site during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as a mid-to late twentieth century pecan orchard, did not significantly disturb the deeply buried prehistoric features. In addition to the habitation structures and storage pits, the recovered assemblages of artifacts, animal bones, and plant remains indicate either seasonal or year-round sedentary occupation of this village by people who farmed maize and possibly other crops on the floodplain, and collected wild plant foods and river mollusks, and hunted rabbits, deer, and other game. Plants were processed for both food and fiber with grinding stones and roasting pits, and chipped stone tools and shell jewelry were probably manufactured on the site. Nonlocal varieties of raw material for stone tools and shells from both the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean indicate that the villagers participated in long-distance trade networks. The site represents a significant cultural resource that, with further data recovery, can fill in many details about early agriculture and village life in the Southwest.