Ancient village discovered in Tucson

Submitted by coldrum on Monday, 01 December 2008 Page Views: 1841

While digging around the Tucson, Arizona, wastewater facility they discovered an Ancient village. Archaeologists from Desert Archaeology say they shouted when they found an ancient village which they estimate is 3,500 years old.

In 2004, voters approved bonds to upgrade and expand the wastewater facility at Ina Road and Interstate 10. But before anything new can be built, the state and county require a dig for any archaeological ruins.

Fred Nials says, "On a scale of 1 to 10 this is about a 9.9."

Nials says he dreams of finds like this one. From down inside a trench, he says, "It's really neat because we can put a trowel point exactly on the surface of where people were living." Dirt levels show agricultural fields, irrigation canals and evidence of floods.

In August, scientists from Desert Archaeology started digging 54 trenches on the site where Pima County plans to add facilities. In January the archaeologists plan to start digging horizontally to reveal more detail.

Bill Doelle says, "[At] This spot we're about 3,500 years ago. There were people out here farming. Thirty to 50 people at any one time probably. They lived in what we call pit houses, small excavations down into the ground with a brush superstructure."

Jim Vint climbs into a trench and starts scraping its sides. He says, "Along here we have what is probably a burned pit house. This is the level of the floor."

Several feet away, Vint says, "We have a number of storage pits. And here in profile we have what's called a bell shaped pit."

Vint stops at a third spot in the trench and says, "This is a shallow roasting pit for cooking meat or other food."

Among the artifacts taken out of the trenches so far are stone darts that were put onto the heads of spears and a chipped rock that was used as a knife. Archaeologists also have collected pieces of shell from a 2,800 year old turtle.

Nials says, "I've looked at agricultural systems in North and South America and in the Mediterranean. And this has some of the best preserved evidence that I've ever seen."

These archaeologists say a handful of similar sites have been dug up in the Tucson area. But they believe this is the richest site of its kind found so far. And that's what makes it a 9.9 on their 10 point scale for excitement.
The site is located near this wastewater treatment plant.
For more, including a video, see KVOA, Tucson.

Note: Salvage archaeology for Arizona village.

Contributor Bio for coldrum: Based in Milkyway, contributing since 2002. Favourite site: Avebury.

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