![]() We also contracted an experienced museum preparator, Michael Lee, to make silicone molds and plaster casts of individual prints and several trackways, so that they could be preserved for anticipated future exhibits.Īlthough SWCA’s official fieldwork concluded on December 31, 2015, the County decided to make use of the intervening 2.5 months before construction to expand the excavation of the footprints as part of a public outreach effort. SWCA hired a FCC-licensed drone operator to aerially document the area along the river as well as the features within the exposed field. We proposed a tripartite approach to document, preserve, and provide public interpretation of the find, given its significance not only to the archaeological record, but to the history of the Tucson Basin. When members of the Tohono O’odham Nation visited the exposed trackways, several commented that this was the missing proof of all that they had been told – that their people have lived and farmed this basin for thousands of years. ![]() “It provided a unique opportunity for public values to transcend scientific values, and 2,500-3,000-year-old human footprints were just the ticket.”įor native tribes in the area, the footprints were a missing piece to a puzzle that had been handed down by elders for generations. As a public archaeologist, however, he knew that it was also an opportunity to engage the local community. The scientist in Milliken found the discovery exceptional, he said, because it had the potential to answer a multitude of questions about the history of this area. ![]() “In the American Southwest, it is rare that a site investigation yields more than an artifact assemblage that the public can recognize – something that looks familiar, something that speaks to them,” says Ian Milliken, Pima County Cultural Resources Project Manager. They also saw an opportunity to invite the public to see why archaeological investigations are an important part of any development that includes subsurface disturbance. The County quickly understood the significance of the discovery. Upon discovery of the first footprint, myself as the project’s Principal Investigator and Jerome Hesse, the project director, contacted Pima County. And, based on geomorphological studies conducted during the testing phase, we estimated that the footprints dated ca. The nature of the sands deposited in the footprints indicated that the sand was deposited by the Rillito Creek. Ultimately, more than 100 footprints of 7 to 9 individuals-including a toddler, a juvenile, and a dog- were uncovered in 11 garden plots with more than 200 planting pits, alongside three lateral canals leading west into the Santa Cruz River. He understood right away that this footprint wasn’t recent.Īs he used a leaf blower to uncover the surrounding deposits, additional footprints were revealed, extending in trackways across irrigated fields. In this case, on December 9, backhoe operator Dan Arnit, an experienced archaeological excavator, uncovered what appeared to be a human footprint preserved in mud more than one meter below the modern ground surface. As any archaeologist will testify, unanticipated things tend to appear at the end of a project. The timeline was critical – construction was slated to begin in March 2016, which meant that all archaeological data recovery had to be complete by December 31, 2015. SWCA’s task was to conduct archaeological testing to determine whether archaeological deposits were located below the proposed roadway, and, if so, to conduct data recovery excavations and document a sample of the resources before construction began. Illustration courtesy of Robert Ciaccio, Desert Archaeology, Inc. We learned that nothing about this investigation would be routine. SWCA was hired to conduct routine archaeological investigations. And in 2015, in anticipation of the closing of another bridge downstream, Pima County decided to replace the Sunset Road bridge and realign the road across a known prehistoric archaeological site. But in 1983, a similar flood removed a bridge over the Santa Cruz River at Sunset Road. We might never have known about this family or the flood. As the water receded, a layer of sand was deposited, burying the footprints left by nine adults, two children, and a dog. One summer, nearly 3,000 years ago, monsoon rains caused Rillito Creek in Tucson, Ariz., to overflow its banks and swamp a family’s fields at the confluence of the creek and the Santa Cruz River. Publications, White Papers & Presentations / ApFollowing Their Footsteps: Routine Archaeological Investigations Reveal Glimpses of Ancient Lifeways
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