Paseo de las Iglesias Data Recovery

Purpose

Prior to Pima County’s Paseo de las Iglesias project along the Santa Cruz River, Desert Archaeology conducted excavations and combined archaeology, geomorphology, archival research, and oral history to explore 3,000 years of people interacting with a riverine environment.

Actions

• Historical research to resolve the ownership of a flour mill site

• Phase 1 data recovery at nine archaeological sites, followed by phase 2 data recovery at eight of them

• All ancestral remains repatriated

Results

• The largest currently recorded Agua Caliente phase settlement in the Tucson Basin was excavated at AZ BB:13:111(ASM), with 26 pithouses and 27 related features that were radiocarbon dated to AD 435-540.

• Excavations of field houses in a portion of AZ BB:13:17(ASM) shed light on Hohokam use of the floodplain.

• Historical research revealed the stories of Tucson’s first grist mill, a resort and hotel built near falls in the Santa Cruz River, and a brewery.

• Clarifying the ownership of the historic mill allowed public outreach materials and public signage to be corrected.

• Pima County agreed to implement a series of avoidance measures designed to protect archaeologically sensitive areas. Guidelines for future maintenance activities in preserved site areas will be detailed in the new river park operations manual, and monitored by the Pima County Cultural Resources and Historic Preservation Division.