As part of an $11 million package to improve the Tucson neighborhoods of Barrio Sin Nombre and Barrio San Agustín in Menlo Park, a landfill remediation project that is expected to become a park was halted recently when earth movers found more than they expected below the soil. 

It turns out that those earth movers were close to grading over an archaeological site considered to be part of Tucson’s birthplace dating back to around 2,100 B.C., or 4,100 years ago, per Tucson.com. 

For its part, the city thought it had done all of the appropriate action before digging. Tucson spokeswoman Lane Mandle said city staff went to neighboring homes to give residents notification for the grading and the landfill after it was approved in August. The problem is that the city was working off of earlier maps that had not been updated to reflect exact archaeological locations, including a partial section that was once a Tohono O'odham burial site.

Luckily, the city claims they had not yet graded unmarked historical areas.

With fences place and an archaeologist on site to monitor future work, the project will move forward. The hope of many preservationists is that the area will host a future park called Tucson Origins Heritage Park that will feature areas once used by the Tohono O’odham and early Spanish colonists. The park was approved in 1999 but remained on hold after it was determined in 2008 there weren’t enough funds to complete it. Then it was further complicated by a rezoning and the park plans still remain in limbo despite the grading work.