Non-agricultural Recurrence, Mobility, Adaptation, and Groundwater Variations on the Lower Bajada, Sonoran Desert, USA.

The construction of a solar-power-array on Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, prompted the archaeological investigation of one of the most completely excavated Archaic period sites in the Sonoran Desert. Beginning with the Middle Archaic period and continuing to the early Historic period, people visited this location to gather and process wild plants, particularly mesquite. Despite the long occupational history, the plant-processing tools and techniques changed little over time. This paper focuses on the settlement location and history of Falcon Landing, a multicomponent site in the western Phoenix Basin. The excavation of Falcon Landing uncovered over 3,000 features representing over 5,000 years of intermittent human occupation. The results of this project offer a unique and intriguing look into Archaic period subsistence and settlement in a lower bajada landscape, and how this subsistence and settlement strategy persisted for millennia and became an integral part of human adaptation to the Sonoran Desert. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]