• Mimbres Black-on-white pottery, from southwest New Mexico, dates from A.D. 1100 to 1250.
• Tanque Verde Red-on-brown, pottery made by the Hohokam nearby, dates from A.D. 1200 to 1400.
• Fairbank Plainware, another pottery made by the Hohokam, dates from A.D. 1200 to 1400.
• Whetstone Plainware, pottery made by the Pima nearby, dates from A.D 1500 to 1700.
• Sobaipuri Plainware, the predominant local pottery found at Santa Cruz, was probably made by the Pima.
• In the prehistoric period, shells were obtained from the Pacific coast and the Gulf of California, while in the historic period, they may have been brought to Santa Cruz by Spanish Jesuits.
• Majolica, the predominant Mexican pottery found at Santa Cruz, was manufactured in Puebla, Mexico, from A.D. 1750 to 1800 and was brought in by settlers.
• Green lead glazeware, used for olive jars, was made in Seville and Cadiz in Spain and was the only artifact at Santa Cruz of definite Spanish origin.
• According to historic records, the church at Santa Cruz was used for five years, A.D. 1775-1780.
• Colonial residents at Santa Cruz often buried their dead beneath the floor of the church in an extended position with hands held as in prayer.
• Buttons often indicate the owner's wealth or military rank
• Ceramic candlesticks were an attempt by the Pima to imitate Spanish iron candlesticks.
• Chinese porcelain reached Santa Cruz on the Manila galleon to Acapulco, through Guadalajara, up the west coast of Sonora, to Pimeria Alta by mule train.
• A date on a coin found in an archaeological context indicates the earliest date the coin could have been deposited at the site.
• Spaniards are known to have reused stone from earlier period structures when building Santa Cruz.
• The prehistoric inhabitants of Santa Cruz were farmers living in small villages who cultivated maize, beans, squash, cotton, and melons.
• The predatory minnow, a food source once found locally in the San Pedro and lower Gila rivers, is now extinct there.
• The Native Americans of the Southwest, in contrast to the Spaniards, relied on wild animals rather than domesticated animals.
• The earliest structures at Santa Cruz, dating from A.D. 1100 to 1250, were badly marred by structures built over them in the later period.
• Historic records indicate the Spaniards burned remaining earlier period Native American structures to clear the interior plaza area.
• The Pima replaced their artifacts (bone awls, stone hoes, and stone knives, for example) with Spanish counterparts (steel knives and hoes, iron nails).
• Because guns were difficult to maintain and acquire on the frontier, parts were often reused on other weapons or for other purposes.
• The Hohokam often cremated their dead with food offerings; the remains were then placed in pots or in pits directly in the ground.
• Shell bracelets and beads found in the cremation pits were probably personal items of adornment that once belong to the deceased.
• A mano is a shaped stone used for grinding food. A metate is the stone slab on which the food is ground.
• Metal objects probably first became available to the Pima in Pimeria Alta in the 1650s through trade with Spanish settlers living farther east.
• Appliqué is a metal ornamentation or decoration that was applied to the stock of a gun.
• A rowel is a sharp-toothed wheel inserted into the end of a spur.
• A bronze hinge found just outside the church is believed to be part of a window frame.

The facts listed above may apply to more than one excavation unit.

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