Valencia Site: A Hohokam Ballcourt Village

1982-1985

The City of Tucson was well underway with construction of a new road on Tucson's south side when protests came in from members of the Tohono O'odham Nation that archaeological remains were being destroyed. Road work was halted and a competitive bid was issued for an archaeological contractor. We assisted the City through the compliance process, after which the road was completed.

Despite being involved after the road was bladed, portions of some 45 Hohokam pithouses were documented, and 20 of those were excavated.

Excavations yielded points from three disparate time periods: A large, creamed-colored Clovis point from the Paleoindian period, an Early Agricultural Period Cienega point (red point at left), and multiple Hohokam points and drills. The Clovis point was used to hunt now-extinct game such as mammoths over 10,000 years ago and was found on the highly disturbed surface of the road.

Research focused on the roles of households in a Tucson Basin ballcourt community. Major contributions to a refined ceramic chronology were made. This was our first use of petrography to determine where ceramics were manufactured— a research direction we have refined greatly over the years, and one that continues to the present.

Because this project began in controversy over damage to this site, there was substantial media coverage of the archaeological fieldwork. Establishing that there was still a great deal preserved and professional recovery of that information helped quiet the controversy.

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