Hohokam and Historic Land Use of the Middle Gila River Valley Uplands: The Florence Army National Guard Survey, Pinal County, Arizona

William L. Deaver; Jeffrey Altschul

Hohokam and Historic Land Use of the Middle Gila River Valley Uplands: The Florence Army National Guard Survey, Pinal County, Arizona

Author(s): William L. Deaver; Jeffrey Altschul

Year: 1994

Summary

This document presents the results of a cultural resources survey of approximately 1,500 acres within the Florence Military Reservation (FMR) and adjoining State Trust Lands held in a special !and use permit (SLP) for military training exercises in Pinal County, Arizona. The project area is located north by northeast of Florence along U.S. 89). In addition to nine firing points, approximately 9.6 km of access roads were surveyed by Statistical Research, Inc. (SRI). A records check at the Arizona State Museum by the Arizona National Guard and SRI revealed that no known sites were within the proposed impact areas, but the specific areas mentioned above had never been surveyed. Other archaeological work had located several sites in the immediate project area so we expected to find cultural resources in the survey areas. The purpose of this cultural resources survey was to investigate the proposed firing points and access roads to locate cultural resources in the project area and make preliminary evaluations of their potential eligibility for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

In all, 51 archaeological sites and 294 additional isolated archaeological resources were identified in the project areas. Although the presence of archaeological resources was anticipated from previous studies, the number of sites was nevertheless surprising. The archaeological resources identified resulted from two very different uses of the landscape during two distinct periods. The earliest evidence of human activities in the project areas is attributable to the Colonial and Sedentary periods (ca. A.D. 775–1125) of the Hohokam cultural tradition. The evidence indicates that the Hohokam were farming on the Cottonwood Canyon alluvial fan, perhaps even using canal irrigation. These agricultural activities appear to have been the central focus of this occupation. The Hohokam are usually characterized as a cultural tradition focused on riverine agriculture, and in fact, the Gila River appears to have been the core of the Hohokam population. The intensive use of these upland, non-riverine areas indicates that the Hohokam agricultural adaptation was diversified and incorporated non-riverine as well as riverine farming strategies.

Cite this Record

Hohokam and Historic Land Use of the Middle Gila River Valley Uplands: The Florence Army National Guard Survey, Pinal County, Arizona. William L. Deaver, Jeffrey Altschul. Technical Series ,46. Tucson, AZ: SRI Press. 1994 ( tDAR id: 425945) ; doi:10.48512/XCV8425945