Archaeological Investigations at a Portion of the Julian Wash Site, AZ BB:13:17 (ASM), Pima County, Arizona

Archaeological work was conducted in April and May of 2004, at a portion of the Julian Wash site, AZ BB:13:17 (ASM), located in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, prior to construction of a drainage system. Previous excavations by Desert Archaeology, Inc., and Statistical Research, Inc., identified several loci of this large prehistoric Hohokam site.The new project area was between these loci in an area that once lay beneath an embankment of Interstate 19 (I-19). The removal of this embankment and plans for the drainage system led to testing the area and subsequent data recovery. The results of the work at this portion of the Julian Wash site are presented in this report. Two components were documented. The prehistoric Hohokam component consisted of a number of borrow pits, from which soil and caliche were mined, a possible pit structure, numerous small pits, and an isolated vessel. A possible prehistoric dog burial and another prehistoric feature were found in a nearby cutbank. Numerous features associated with the St. Joseph's Children's Home, which operated from 1905 to 1936, were also located. These were primarily landscaping features such as planting pits and trenches, along with a fenceline. Basic background data on the project area, including its location, description, previous archaeological research, and a history of the orphanage, are provided in this chapter. Results of the fieldwork are provided in Chapter 2, while the prehistoric ceramic assemblage recovered from the site is summarized in Chapter 3. Other artifacts found during the project are discussed in Chapter 4, and Chapter 5 outlines the ethnobotanical and faunal analyses. Chapter 6 concludes the report.