An Archaeological Overview of the Middle and Lower Santa Cruz Basin: A Class I Cultural Resource Survey for the Central Arizona Project - Tucson Division

The Arizona Projects Office, Bureau of Reclamation has begun planning for the Central Arizona Project (CAP), Tucson Division, which is designed to bring CAP water to Tucson. This report summarizes and evaluates previous archaeological research and the known cultural resource base within a 4,015 sq km (1,550 sq mi) area in southeastern Pinal and northeastern Pima counties that might be affected by construction of proposed alternatives. A detailed consideration of the archaeological record shows that a wide variety of sites exists in the project area that vary considerably in composition and distribution. At this preliminary stage of study, specific site types are correlated with specific environmental zones to provide a predictive model of cultural resource sensitivity. This predictive model, while suitable for preliminary planning purposes, is in need of testing by archaeological survey to confirm predictions of site distribution.
It is suggested that for Reach 1, alternatives confined to Zone 4 (creosotebush-bursage) are less liable to contain significant cultural resources than those traversing Zones 2 and 3 (mixed palo verde- cacti and desert riparian, respectively) in which significant numbers of important sites are likely to exist. For Reach 2, every alternative within the Tucson Basin is likely to impinge upon significant resources in all environmental zones and in certain topographic areas. The alternative expected to have the least impact is one that encircles the western bajadas of the Tucson Mountains, west of the Tucson Basin.

An addendum to this report is available at: https://core.tdar.org/document/406231/an-archaeological-overview-of-the-middle-santa-cruz-basin-a-supplemental-class-i-cultural-resource-survey-for-reach-3-of-the-central-arizona-project-tucson-division