Excavations in the Southern Avra Valley: Results of the SAVSARP Project
Creators: name: Fernandez, Rachel
Publisher: name: Desert Archaeology, Inc.
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Arizona (State / Territory)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/335/arizona-state-territory
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: Avra Valley
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/76825/avra-valley
subject: Classic Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/125/classic-period
subject: Early Agricultural period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/158/early-agricultural-period
subject: Archaic Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5726/archaic-period
subject: Late Archaic Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/7330/late-archaic-period
subject: Late Pre-Classic Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/7714/late-pre-classic-period
subject: Middle Archaic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/3094/middle-archaic
subject: Spanish
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/31/spanish
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: Euroamerican
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/28/euroamerican
subject: AZ AA:16:312(ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/104894/az-aa16312asm
subject: AZ AA:16:469(ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/104893/az-aa16469asm
subject: AZ AA:16:468(ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/104895/az-aa16468asm
subject: Cache Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/509/cache-pit
subject: Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/355/pit
subject: Artifact Scatter
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/340/artifact-scatter
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: Covered Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/3606/covered-pit
subject: Post Hole / Post Mold
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/359/post-hole-post-mold
subject: Pollen
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/13/pollen
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: 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: 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: 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: The Southern Avra Valley Storage and Recovery Project (SAVSARP) project examined three sites, AZ AA:16:312 (ASM), AZ AA:16:468 (ASM), and AZ AA:16:469 (ASM), and a non-site artifact concentration, Locality A, on the floor of the Avra Valley. The surface manifestations of the sites mirrored those of other sites in the valley bottom, low-density artifact scatters covering broad expanses. Locales of higher artifact density were defined as archaeological sites, but surface artifacts continued outside of site boundaries, albeit at even lower densities than within the sites. The surface manifestation can be attributed in part to plowing and other land form modifications; however, the results of this project and others in adjacent areas suggest that such artifact distributions may also be the product of long-term, low-intensity landscape use. Subsurface features were only identified at AA:16:468, and this site was the focus of Phase 2 data recovery. Sixty extramural pits were excavated at AA:16:468. Four types of pit were identified during excavation: covered pits (n = 5), cache pits (n = 6), roasting pits (n = 5), and undifferentiated pits (n = 44). Based on the diagnostic artifacts and absolute dates, low-intensity resource procurement continued at the SAVSARP sites from the Middle Archaic period through the Protohistoric period. Although our ability to assign specific excavated features to specific temporal intervals is limited, use of the landscape appears to have varied little through time. Visits to the project area appear to have been short and focused, regardless of when they occurred. Though the introduction of agriculture may have fostered some horticulture in the area, agriculture never seems to have been the main reason people visited East Brawley Wash. Rather, natural plant resources appear to have been the primary motivation and these resources, predictable and plentiful, drew people for millennia.