Paseo de las Iglesias Data Recovery

Prehistoric and historic land use along the Santa Cruz River in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona

Before implementing the Ajo Way to Silverlake stretch of the Paseo de las Iglesias project along the Santa Cruz River, Pima County selected Desert Archaeology to study the project area’s cultural resources. Archaeology, geomorphology, archival research, and oral history combined in the interpretation of the role of the riverine landscape in the lives of local inhabitants - from Early Agricultural period farmers to late Historic era farmers and entrepreneurs. Sites on both sides of the current entrenched channel were explored, including the floodplain component of the Hohokam village site of Julian Wash. The most substantial data recovery effort was concentrated at the Paseo site, where the largest currently recorded Agua Caliente phase (A.D. 50-500) settlement in the Tucson Basin was uncovered. Twenty-six pithouses and related features were excavated there.