Hohokam Archaeology along the Salt-Gila Aqueduct Central Arizona Project, Volume IV: Prehistoric Occupation of the Queen Creek Delta

Hohokam Archaeology along the Salt-Gila Aqueduct Central Arizona Project, Volume IV: Prehistoric Occupation of the Queen Creek Delta

Part of the Salt-Gila Aqueduct (Fannin-McFarland Aqueduct) Archaeological Data Collection Studies and Supplemental Class III Survey project

Editor(s): Lynn S. Teague; Patricia L. Crown

Year: 1984

Summary

This is the fourth volume in a nine-volume series that reports archaeological investigations along the Salt-Gila Aqueduct in southcentral Arizona. The aqueduct, under construction by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, is a 58-mile-long component of the Central Arizona Project; it begins east of Phoenix and extends to the vicinity of the Picacho Mountains. This volume reports excavations conducted at the three largest sites located north of the Gila River in the Aqueduct study area. All will be directly affected by the construction of the Aqueduct or the Sonoqui Dike, a flood-control earthen dam. Two of the sites were occupied during the Colonial and Sedentary periods. The third site was occupied in the late prehistoric period. The Siphon Draw Site, one of only two sites with evidence for occupation during the Gila Butte phase, was occupied into the early Sacaton phase. Despite its location on the minor drainage of Siphon Draw, a rich assemblage of artifacts, including a figurine cache and an excavated sample of 25 pit houses, testifies to the nature of the Hohokam occupation of this area. Eight structures were excavated at the site of EI Polvorón, located south of Queen Creek. The dating of this site suggests an occupation after A.D. 1400, making EI Polvorón the only excavated single component site occupied during this late prehistoric period in the Hohokam region. This site provides the basis for the definition of a new phase, the Polvorón phase, comprising the period from A.D. 1400 to 1450. Frogtown, the largest site in the Aqueduct study area, was located south of Queen Creek. Extensive trenching, implemented to document the nature of the settlement, revealed more than 100 pit houses within the site boundaries. Fifty-four of these structures were excavated and have been used in a detailed reconstruction of Santa Cruz phase and Sacaton phase site structure. Taken together, these sites reveal the nature of prehistoric settlement on smaller drainages within the Salt-Gila Basin. The research reported here demonstrates the extent to which such sites participated in the larger Hohokam cultural tradition. Similarities are documented between major riverine sites and these sites in terms of subsistence practices, internal site structure, and external relationships.

Cite this Record

Hohokam Archaeology along the Salt-Gila Aqueduct Central Arizona Project, Volume IV: Prehistoric Occupation of the Queen Creek Delta. Lynn S. Teague, Patricia L. Crown. Archaeological Series ,No. 150. 1984 ( tDAR id: 374970) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8FQ9V13