Central Arizona Project

In Chapter 5, Whittlesey and Benaron provide a synthesis of the ethnohistoric data and archaeological evidence for Yavapai and Western occupation of central Arizona. The authors summarize available information on Yavapai and Apache domestic remains and material culture to assist identification in the archaeological record. They also describe subsistence and land use patterns.

This chapter reviews archaeological evidence for Yavapai and Western Apache occupation of central Arizona. Whittlesey begins with a description of the only site – Site 66//1157 -- in the LVAP project area to present clearly identified Yavapai or Western Apache material culture. She also discusses the archaeological data from the Yavapai construction camps at Bartlett and Horseshoe Dams. Whittlesey then provides an overview of archaeological evidence for Yavapai and for Western Apache archaeology...

Chapter 7 documents two previously unpublished events that have figured prominently in Yavapai and Western Apache archaeology in central Arizona. First, Ferg details the Goodwin and Sayles 1937 Verde Survey. He argues that this three-day trip into the Verde Valley in the fall of 1937 marks the beginnings of ethnoarchaeological studies of the Western Apache. He provides thorough descriptions of all the sites located during the survey in an effort to differentiate Yavapai and Western Apache...

In Chapter 8, Whittlesey and her co-authors discuss the historical events and the cultural processes that shaped the use and occupation of central Arizona after AD 1540. The authors focus on broad trends in politics, economics, and the environment that contributed to changes in land-use patterns. They center their discussion on Euro-American populations, but also consider indigenous populations living on reservations. Furthermore, the authors examine patterns in the relations between...

In Chapter 9, Van West and Altshcul examine late prehistoric period agriculture in the Transition Zone of central Arizona, and consider how agricultural production influenced population zone in this area. They begin with a description of the Transition Zone’s environmental context. They then present evidence for prehistoric agriculture in the LVAP project area. These authors use these data to model potential agricultural productivity in Horseshoe Basin. Next, they model the population sizes on...

Chapter 10 presents results from a ceramic seriation of undecorated pottery to identify temporally-sensitive attributes. Montogomery and Whittlesey describe their analysis of particular undecorated pottery attributes, which were selected based on their potential sensitivity to temporal change. They identify several attributes that are particularly sensitive to time: temper, slip, and polish. They also note several other variables that display slight variation through time. These authors propose...

In Chapter 11, Whittlesey describes the production and distribution of prehistoric ceramics in the lower Verde Valley. She then compares these patterns to similar data from the Agua Fria drainage and the Tonto Basin. Finally, she suggests that production and distribution patterns of ceramics in central Arizona may be better explained with a ceramic environment approach, which highlights the relationships between the landscape and the human use of resources. Whittlesey’s proposed approach centers...

In Chapter 12, Deaver summarizes research on the chronology of archaeological sites, features, and material remains in the LVAP project area. He begins with a synthetic discussion of the chronologic sequence in the Verde Valley area. He then presents data for the chronologic assignment of archaeological features and sites investigated during the LVAP. Next, Deaver discusses a comparison of the chronologic sequence in the Verde Valley to the sequence in the Hohokam core area in order to evaluate...

Chapter 13 addresses changes in social organization from the pre-Classic to Classic periods in the lower Verde Valley through an examination of changes in domestic space. First, Klucas and co-authors identify the nature (i.e., composition, arrangement, size) of the domestic residential units that occupied the prehistoric settlements. They then examine differences in these variables between different settlements (e.g., between large settlements and small farmsteads) and across time periods. These...

In Chapter 14, Ciolek-Torello presents one of the first full syntheses of indigenous settlement and demographic patterns in the Verde Valley, without reference to interaction in the Hohokam core area. He begins with a summary of prehistoric settlement patterns from pre-ceramic periods through the Late Classic period across the entire Transition Zone of central Arizona. He then characterizes settlement systems in the lower Verde Valley through time and describes the archaeological sites and...

In Chapter 15, Whittlesey reviews the Hohokam core-periphery model in light of the new data generated by the LVAP. She begins with a description of the intellectual history and the key concepts of the Hohokam core-periphery model and the Hohokam regional system model. She then examines the utility of the core-periphery model for explaining current data on Hohokam prehistory. After reviewing the distribution of several quintessential Hohokam traits among sites in the “core” and in the...

In Chapter 16, Reid considers the impact that a return to questions about migration, population movement, and ethnic identity has on the interpretation of Arizona’s prehistory. He begins with an intellectual history of migration research in the Southwest, and offers perspective on the strength of making inferences about migration with archaeological data. He uses the arguments for migration at Grasshopper as an example of building such inferences. Reid then advances into a discussion of...

Chapter 17 highlights the full scope of the LVAP as a big project and places it in the context of other big archaeological projects. Altschul begins with historical sketches over other large archaeological projects, ranging from WPA efforts to the River Basin Surveys to large NSF-funded research. He then provides a history of the LVAP to illustrate how a large CRM-based project is conducted. He concludes with a discussion of four components that he defines as critical to the ultimate success of...

Chapter 18 provides a summary of the LVAP’s research themes and offers an overview of the research results. Ciolek-Torello synthesizes the chronology and cultural sequence of the lower Verde Valley. He places this sequence and its cultural developments in the context of other cultural sequences in central and southern Arizona. Whittlesey then summarizes the argument for an indigenous cultural tradition in the Transition Zone of central Arizona, one with roots in Mogollon prehistory and with...

Chapter 19 summarizes and compares the prehistoric, historic-period Yavapai and Western Apaches, and Euroamerican landscapes. Whittlesey considers the land-based units (i.e., domestic space, food production spaces, ritual spaces) that define interaction with the landscape during each of these cultural historical periods and attempts to identify landmarks associated with these units. She focuses on the following units: territorial boundaries, agricultural landscapes, procurement spaces, dwelling...

Chapter 20 provides a brief retrospective of the LVAP. Altschul and the other authors discuss changes to the archaeological data recovery efforts and re-orientation of theoretical perspectives that took place over the six years of the project. They conclude with an overview of the project’s results and its implications for the prehistory and history of the Southwest.

This document contains the references cited for the Lower Verde Archaeological Project summary volume. It also provides a list of contributors and a brief summary of Statiscal Research, Inc. and its mission.

This report presents the results of an experimental study of ceramics from the Lower Verde Archaeological Project (LVAP) designed to test the effectiveness of inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICPS) as a tool for sourcing the locale of ceramic manufacture. A major theme of LVAP research was to explore the parameters of human interaction and exchange within the lower Verde region and adjacent areas of desert Arizona (Ciolek-Torrello et al. 1992). It is necessary to understand...

This report is focused on the rock art present at a small ridge top agricultural locality in the lower Verde Valley near Horseshoe Dam known as the Crash Landing site, AZ U:2:78/01-278. Four boulders that exhibited over 24 petroglyph design elements were found at this site, as well as numerous other cultural features including a two-room isolated masonry field house and a large agricultural complex with rock piles, contour terraces, and boundary walls. The research design for the Lower...

The goal of the present study is to identify the provenance of ceramics recovered from the Lower Verde Archaeological Project (LVAP) sites on the basis of the temper found within them (Ciolek-Torrello et al. 1992:III-75 to III-85). The focus of this attached report is on sand temper used in pottery vessels. Ceramic wares and/or types produced within the study area are distinguished from those imported from other areas. A reconnaissance sample of wash sands from the lower Verde River area was...

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) directed Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) to conduct archaeological monitoring at the Aravaipa Apache Burial Site (BOR-ARV98-l) during construction of the Aravaipa fish barrier for the Central Arizona Project. ACS also conducted a supplemental cultural resources survey near the site. A staging area associated with the fish barrier was constructed within the boundaries of BOR-ARV98-1, in a previously disturbed area that was devoid of...

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) directed Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) to survey and map an Apache site which maybe impacted by the construction of a staging area for a proposed Central Arizona Project fish barrier on Aravaipa Creek. The site was previously identified by a Reclamation archaeologist as containing a one-room cobble-walled structure, approximately 24 deflated rockpiles, at least two depressions, and a light artifact scatter. A consultation with Apache...

In 1987, the Bureau of Reclamation directed Northland Research, Inc. to complete a Class I and III cultural resource literature search and survey for the proposed site of the Florence Water Treatment Plant and its associated delivery lines, an element of the Central Arizona Project located near the Salt-Gila Aqueduct. Three archaeological loci representing Hohokam use of the area were recorded in or near the project area. In order to evaluate the loci within the context of the intensive site...

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) conducted a cultural resource survey of state land for a proposed borrow area adjacent to Avra Valley Airport. No archaeological sites were identified during the survey, but five isolated occurrences were recorded. This project was completed on the Tucson Aqueduct portion of the Central Arizona Project.

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation, Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) exhumed three historic burials encountered near the Tonto Basin Ranger Station at Roosevelt Lake, Arizona. Two historic graves had been disturbed during the excavation of a waterline trench, and a subsequent backhoe investigation confirmed the presence of a third burial. The cemetery was assigned site number AR-03-12-06-299(USFS).

The Bureau of Reclamation, Arizona Projects Office directed the Nevada Archaeological Survey to conduct archaeological investigations at thirteen sites located along the proposed Mead-Davis-Parker 230kv Transmission Line Right-Of-Way #2, for the Central Arizona Project. The investigation was designed to evaluate each site for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. The archaeological field work consisted of photography, mapping, and representative collections of artifacts,...

The following report contains the description and interpretation of archaeological data recovered from AZ T: 8:31 (ASU), AZ T:8:35 (ASU), and AZ T:8:38 (ASU). Situated within south-central Arizona, these sites form an integral part of the Cave Creek Archaeological District. Impact on these cultural resources will result from the construction along Reach 10 of the Granite Reef Aqueduct, a feature of the Central Arizona Project. A plan to mitigate this adverse impact through a program of research...

Under contract with the Bureau of Reclamation, the Office of Cultural Resource Management (OCRM), Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University conducted a cultural resource study of AZ U:6:2(ASU), an historic site located adjacent to Granite Reef Dam on the south side of the Salt River. A portion of the historic camp was contained within the construction right-of-way of the Salt River Siphon, a feature of the Central Arizona Project which connects the Granite Reef and Salt-Gila...

The Arizona Projects Office, Bureau of Reclamation has begun planning for the Central Arizona Project (CAP), Tucson Division, which is designed to bring CAP water to Tucson. This report summarizes and evaluates previous archaeological research and the known cultural resource base within a 4,015 sq km (1,550 sq mi) area in southeastern Pinal and northeastern Pima counties that might be affected by construction of proposed alternatives. A detailed consideration of the archaeological record shows...

In 1979 the Bureau of Reclamation contracted with the Arizona State Museum for a Class I survey of the Tucson Division of the Central Arizona Project (Westfall 1979). This study covered Reaches 1 and 2 and included Arizona archaeological grid units AA:3, AA:7, AA:8, AA:12, AA:16, and BB:9. Subsequently planning was initiated for a possible Reach 3. The possible extension of the project into three additional grids (AZ BB:13, AZ DD:4, and AZ EE:1) required further archaeological study. This report...

At the request of the United States Bureau of Reclamation, an archaeological survey was conducted by the Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, for the purpose of granting archaeological clearance along the route of the proposed Liberty-Parker 230 KV Transmission Line and two 115 KV transmission lines which will supply power to the Central Arizona Project's Little Harquahala and Bouse Hills pumping plants. Funds for this purpose were provided by the Arizona Archaeological Center...

The Bureau of Reclamation has developed an archaeological site database for the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal main stem based on Class III survey data that includes all previously recorded sites. An unknown number of these sites were either destroyed by construction or excavation, while others are no longer located within the CAP right-of-way (ROW). To assist Reclamation in checking the accuracy of its site database, Northland Research, Inc. (Northland) was asked to relocate and record 19...

This report documents three separate fieldwork tasks conducted by Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) for the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC). Plans are underway to develop the project area in conjunction with the Central Arizona Project, Water Distribution Facilities. The project was initiated at the request of Reclamation's Arizona Projects Office to assess the National Register of Historic Places eligibility of 18...

Archaeological Consulting Services,Ltd. (ACS) conducted archaeological investigations on the Gila River Indian Community in 1995 and 1996. More than 10,000 acres were in the project area, and 85 sites were recorded. Because the area had been used for agriculture, much land had been plowed. Volume 1 provides an overall picture of the project including the culture history and previous research done in the Middle Gila River Valley, followed by a description of our research orientation, and the...

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), United States Department of the Interior, was in the initial stages of the Water Management Project designed to bring Central Arizona Project water to the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC). Under terms of a contract signed in 1992 with the GRIC, facilities designed and constructed by Reclamation would deliver 173,000 acre-feet of water annually onto the reservation. Federal law mandates consideration of potential impacts of such projects upon cultural...

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), United States Department of the Interior, was in the initial stages of the Water Management Project designed to bring Central Arizona Project water to the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC). Under terms of a contract signed in 1992 with the GRIC, facilities designed and constructed by Reclamation would deliver 173,000 acre-feet of water annually onto the reservation. Federal law mandates consideration of potential impacts of such projects upon cultural...

In March, 1968, Prescott College, under contract with the Archeological Salvage Program, a division of the National Park Service, conducted a reconnaissance of 148 miles of the feasibility alignment of the proposed Granite Reef Aqueduct in west-central Arizona, stretching from Parker Dam on the Colorado River to the Agua Fria River, north of Phoenix. The reconnaissance was undertaken in support of the development of an Environmental Impact Statement for the Granite Reef Aqueduct to identify any...

During April 1972, the Arizona State Museum, under contract with the National Park Service, conducted an archaeological survey of the Buckskin Mountain Tunnel portion of the Granite Reef Aqueduct, Central Arizona Project. Funds for this investigation were provided by the Bureau of Reclamation. Archaeologists surveyed over 8 linear miles of the proposed tunnel, including the intake and outlet portals. Only one archaeological site, AZ L:16:1 (ASM), a tool quarry site with a trail crossing...

In anticipation of the construction of the Granite Reef Aqueduct, a component of the Central Arizona Project, the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office contracted with Arizona State Museum to conduct a cultural resources inventory of the aqueduct right-of-way to evaluate the potential effect of the project to archaeological sites. Arizona State Museum archaeologists conducted the survey in the summer of 1972 and identified 32 archaeological sites (27 prehistoric and 5 historic) and 57...

At the request of the Arizona Archaeological Center, National Park Service, Tucson, Arizona, an archaeological inventory was made of a proposed 230 Kv transmission line right-of-way corridor for the Central Arizona Project. This survey was undertaken in support of the initial environmental assessment of the Granite Reef Aqueduct portion of the Central Arizona Project. The survey corridor stretched from Boulder City, Nevada, to Davis Dam, Nevada, and from there to Parker Dam, Arizona. Six...

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) directed the Arizona State Museum to conduct a cultural resources survey of the Salt-Gila (Fannin-McFarland) Aqueduct as part of its environmental assessment of the impacts of the proposed Central Arizona Project. Twenty-two archaeological sites and two major areas of cultural activity were identified during the survey. Of these sites, 19 were recommended for further investigation and 5 were suggested for clearance (not eligible for the NRHP). The...

The Central Arizona Project (CAP) was authorized by the Colorado River Basin Act (P.L. 90-537) in 1968. The following year, the Cultural Resources Management Division of the Arizona State Museum conducted a survey of the preliminary alignment of the Tucson Aqueduct and portions of the Salt-Gila Aqueduct for the Bureau of Reclamation and under a National Park Service contract. The feasibility alignment extended 140 miles from the abandoned town of Charleston, north to the Gila River. The field...

During the summer of 1988, archaeologists from Archaeological Consulting Services of Tempe, Arizona, conducted an archaeological survey of 220 acres in the vicinity of Lake Pleasant Regional Park located northwest of Phoenix. This survey was conducted in order to provide inventory and assessment of the cultural resources that might be affected by the proposed exchange of this parcel to the Maricopa County Water Conservation District by the Bureau of Reclamation. This survey resulted in the...

During the summer of 1988, archaeologists from Archaeological Consulting Services of Tempe, Arizona, conducted an archaeological survey of seven miles of 250-foot wide road right-of-way in Lake Pleasant Regional Park located northwest of Phoenix. This survey was conducted in order to provide inventory and assessment of the cultural resources that might be affected by the construction of additional internal roads within the park boundary. This survey resulted in the identification of nine...

Underwritten by the Bureau of Reclamation, Northland Research archaeologists surveyed more than 7,450 hectares (18,410 acres) of southern Arizona. Two hundred four archaeological sites were recorded. Some sites, but not many, were historic in age; a few were Archaic, from the era before ceramics and sedentary agriculture in the Southwestern lowlands. The majority were from the intervening Hohokam cultural sequence. We learned from these sites that the prehistory of southern Arizona is, at one...

Few things in Southwestern archaeology are so widely and hotly contested as the Hohokam phase sequence and chronology. Presently, no fewer than 12 different Hohokam chronologies exist and more appear to be under production. Disputes concerning the Hohokam chronology involve not only the dating of phases but also, even more basically, challenges to the integrity of the phase definitions. In the last decade, controversy has focused on three aspects of the chronology; (1) the validity and ordering...

This report describes the results of archaeological investigations undertaken northeast and in the vicinity of the Tator Hills at the southern edge of the Santa Cruz Flats. The archaeological investigations were funded by the Bureau of Reclamation, Arizona Projects Office, and identified as Tasks 43 and 45 of Contract 3-PA-30-00740. The work was conducted to mitigate the impact to prehistoric resources in the construction of the Central Arizona Irrigation and Drainage District, Central Unit IV...

In 1978, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) directed the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) to complete an intensive archaeological survey of the proposed alignment for the Salt-Gila Aqueduct, a feature of the Central Arizona Project. The survey area was 11,115 acres and included the 60 mile-long transmission line (with a typical width of 200 meters), three proposed utility line locations, one flood retention dike location, 11 possible spoil or realignment areas, and a subsidence well....

The Bureau of Reclamation contracted with the Arizona State Museum in June of 1972 to generate an archaeological impact statement on the proposed Granite Reef Aqueduct of the Central Arizona Project. Reach 11 of the Granite Reef Aqueduct passes through Paradise Valley somewhat north of the Phoenix-Mesa metropolitan area. One site, AZ U:5:13(ASM), a surface sherd and lithic scatter, was identified on Reach 11. In March of 1974 the Arizona State Museum was hired by the Bureau of Reclamation to...

This report documents the results of a testing program completed by SWCA, Inc. Environmental Consultants in August of 1990 in anticipation of the modification of Bartlett Dam. Modifications to the dam were planned as part of the Central Arizona Project's Regulatory Storage Division (Plan 6) and the Safety of Dams Project. During the month of April, 1990, archaeologists from Northland Research, Inc. conducted an archaeological survey of approximately 929 acres located on the Lower Verde River...

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office, Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) conducted an intensive Class III cultural resources survey of approximately 1,700 acres of the Lower Verde Area around the perimeter of Bartlett Reservoir on the Tonto National Forest. Approximately 150 acres of the project area were inaccessible due to either the elevated level of Bartlett Reservoir or steep terrain. This survey identified 108 sites, which far exceeded original...

On July 15, 1983, the chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) ratified a programmatic memorandum of agreement among the Arizona and New Mexico State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs), the Bureau of Reclamation, and the ACHP. The subject of that agreement was the construction of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) and its impact upon historic properties. That agreement was negotiated in compliance with Section 2(b) of Executive Order 11593, "Protection and Enhancement...

This report presents the results of archaeological investigations at 13 prehistoric sites located on the Santa Cruz Flats. The investigations were sponsored by the Bureau of Reclamation in order to mitigate the impact to prehistoric resources in the construction of the Central Arizona Irrigation and Drainage District, Central Unit II and III irrigation systems. These systems are located southwest of Interstate 10, south and west of Eloy, Arizona, south and east of Arizona City, Arizona, and...

This document contains the specialized analyses and syntheses of archaeological data recovered during the excavation of sites on the Santa Cruz Flats. The investigations were sponsored by the Bureau of Reclamation in order to mitigate the impact to prehistoric resources in the construction of the Central Arizona Irrigation and Drainage District, Central Unit II and III irrigation systems. These systems are located southwest of Interstate 10, south and west of Eloy, Arizona, south and east of...

The Central Arizona Project (CAP) was authorized by the Colorado River Basin Act (P.L. 90-537) in 1968. The following year, the Department of Anthropology at Arizona State University conducted a survey of the preliminary alignment of the Granite Reef Aqueduct and portions of the Salt-Gila Aqueduct for the Bureau of Reclamation under a National Park Service contract. The feasibility alignment extended from the Agua Fria River, southeast to the Gila River and was divided into eight sections: four...

Under contract with the Bureau of Reclamation, the Office of Cultural Resource Management (OCRM), Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, completed an archaeological survey of Wildlife Oases Monitoring Plots along Reaches 6 and 9 of the Granite Reef Aqueduct. Five monitoring plots were located along each reach. No sites and only 3 isolated occurrences were identified during the survey. Results suggest that the project area was part of a secondary resource zone, an area which...

Under contract to the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) conducted a cultural resources overview of 37 entities (including seven tribal sectors, 21 water company service districts, and nine irrigation districts) that could receive new or additional water from a proposed reallocation of Central Arizona Project (CAP) water. The purpose of the overview was to provide Reclamation with an initial summary assessment of known and/or projected cultural...

Federal undertakings, particularly flood control and water transmission projects, have served as the impetus for some of the largest public archaeology projects in Arizona since the 1950s. The Central Arizona Project, a 336 mile diversion canal that distributes water from the Colorado River into central and southern Arizona, was the largest and most costly transmission system constructed in the United States. It took nearly 25 years to identify and mitigate the cultural resources within the...

This final report reflects a year of on-call Class III cultural resource surveys for Plan 6, the Regulatory Storage Division of the Central Arizona Project. Included are eight reports representing close to 6000 acres of survey performed in the vicinity of the planned New Waddell Dam by Archaeological Consulting Services for the Arizona Projects Office, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Because New Waddell Dam is designed to be rock filled, one of the focal points of the contract was to survey proposed...

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) inspected archaeological sites located within the Tucson Aqueduct System Reliability Investigation (TASRI) and the Pascua Yaqui Farm Development areas. The purpose of the investigation was to assess physical processes that have impacted the integrity of archaeological sites and estimate the potential for buried features and artifacts. All of the sites appear to be Hohokam, protohistoric, and...

Under contract with the Under contract with the Bureau of Reclamation, the Office of Cultural Resource Management (OCRM), Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University conducted the Granite Reef Aquedcut archaeological project over a period of five years to mitigate the adverse effects of aqueduct and water control feature construction. The project was organized around a series of archaeological surveys, data recovery tasks, and problem-oriented analyses that were guided by a consistent...

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. AZ-25 presents a written historical summary and relevant historical documentation about the construction and use of Bartlett Dam, which impounds the Verde River 50 miles northeast of Phoenix, Arizona to create Bartlett Reservoir. The report contains a narrative description, photographs, drawings, and maps. The Bartlett Dam is a major component of the Salt River Project's water supply system that provides Verde River water for agricultural,...

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. AZ-24 presents a written historical summary and relevant historical documentation about the construction and use of Horseshoe Mesa Dam, which impounds the Verde River 66 miles northeast of Phoenix, Arizona to create Horseshoe Reservoir. The report contains a narrative description, photographs, drawings, and maps. Horseshoe Dam is located at a topographical bend in the Verde River about forty miles north of the confluence of the Verde with the...

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. AZ-6 examines the origins and construction of Theodore Roosevelt Dam, the first major project to increase the Salt River Valley's water supply beyond that available from the "normal flow" of the Salt River in south-central Arizona. Sponsored by the Arizona Projects Office of the Bureau of Reclamation, this HAER documentation was undertaken because the Roosevelt Dam was dramatically altered in the early 1990s. The alteration served to increase the...

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. AZ-6A examines the origins, construction, use, and significance of the Theodore Roosevelt Dam Power Plant and Transformer House, located in south-central Arizona along the Salt River. The report contains a narrative description, drawings, maps, and historic photographs of the dam's power plant and transformer house. As the key structure in one of the first major federally sponsored Reclamation projects in the West, Theodore Roosevelt Dam...

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. AZ-11 presents a written historical summary and relevant historical documentation about the construction and use of Waddell Dam, which was the only water storage dam successfully built by private interests in central Arizona. Sponsored by the Phoenix Area Office of the Bureau of Reclamation, this HAER documentation was undertaken as mitigation for the construction of New Waddell Dam as part of the Central Arizona Project, and the submersion of the...

Flooding along the Salt, Gila, Verde, and Agua Fria Rivers in February and March of 1978 resulted in extensive damage to property in Central Arizona and in the disruption of ground transportation and commerce in the greater Phoenix area. Major flooding also occurred along these rivers in December, 1978 and February, 1980. The recognition of this flooding problem, and of requirements for the regulatory storage of Central Arizona Project (CAP) water, prompted the U.S. Department of the Interior,...

In compliance with Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.C. 306102), the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office (Reclamation) contracted with Tierra Right of Way Services to relocate, re-evaluate, and re-record previously identified cultural resources situated on Reclamation-managed lands near Lake Pleasant, in Maricopa and Yavapai Counties, Arizona. Between November 2, 2020 and March 18, 2022, Tierra Right of Way archaeologists conducted several field sessions to...

The Central Arizona Project (CAP) , Indian Distribution Division (IDD) is designed to deliver allocated CAP water to Indian users. The Middle Gila Basin Overview is the initial cultural resources planning study for the system. It summarizes and evaluates the extant data in an area 3,570 square miles (9,139 sq km) large, centered on the Gila River. The data suggests that archaeological sites in this area are numerous and varied, but most of all poorly-studied despite 100 years of research. A...

In 1978, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) directed the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) to complete an intensive archaeological survey of the proposed alignment for the Salt-Gila Aqueduct, a feature of the Central Arizona Project. The survey area was 11,115 acres and included the 60 mile-long transmission line (with a typical width of 200 meters), three proposed utility line locations, one flood retention dike location, 11 possible spoil or realignment areas, and a subsidence well....

This poster presents the results of several projects completed around New Waddell Dam and Lake Pleasant Regional Park.

The Water Management Project (WMP) was developed to bring Central Arizona Project (CAP) water to the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC). Under terms of a contract signed in 1992 with the GRIC, facilities designed and constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation would deliver 173,000 acre-feet of water annually onto the reservation. In anticipation of project construction, Reclamation directed Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. to develop a research design for cultural resource investigations...

The Research Design for the Distribution Division is a general document, setting out a basic theoretical orientation for a research project that will include mostly small, prehistoric sites from widely scattered locations in the Gila Basin. Discussion includes considerations of "knowledge", "explanation", and archaeological research as a form of scientific inquiry.

Under contract with the Bureau of Reclamation, the Office of Cultural Resource Management (OCRM), Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, completed a general research design for completion of archaeological survey and mitigation of cultural resources that would be impacted by the construction of the Granite Reef Aqueduct for the Central Arizona Project. Because it was not possible to specify the extent of the work to be completed at the initiation of the project, general...

Between October, 1990, and January, 1991, SWCA, Environmental Consultants conducted archaeological survey of approximately 1,800 acres of Tonto National Forest land in the Roosevelt Basin, central Arizona. This project, the Roosevelt Bajada Survey, was done to provide survey data on portions of the Basin that are not being investigated by Arizona State University (ASU) as part of its Roosevelt Lake Project. The survey recorded 111 new sites and rerecorded five previously known sites; four...

Between March 11 and 21, 1991, SWCA, Inc., Environmental Consultants conducted a cultural resources survey of approximately 2,300 acres of Pima -Maricopa Indian Community Lands in Maricopa County, Arizona. The survey was conducted in order to locate and describe cultural remains within the project area that might be adversely affected by proposed development of the area in conjunction with the Central Arizona Project, Water Distribution Facilities. A total of 20 sites (AZ U:5:41 through AZ...

Under the sponsorship of the Bureau of Reclamation, the New Waddell Dam Borrow Areas Mitigative Data Recovery Project, more simply known as the Waddell Project, performed data recovery at 17 sites in the vicinity of Lake Pleasant, Arizona. Supplemental surveys conducted under the same contract added two sites to the inventory slated for investigation. The project area, composed of multiple survey areas, was spread across two drainages, the Agua Fria and New River, in what is considered the...

Shelltown (AZ AA: 1:66[ASM]) and the Hind site (AZ AA: 1:62[ASM]) were small, surprisingly uncommon prehistoric settlements inhabited by members of the Hohokam culture in south-central Arizona between the early 8th and late 10th centuries A.D. Although they seem relatively large now – the Hind site is approximately 20 acres and Shelltown is a protean 178 acres – neither site appears to have been occupied by more than a couple of extended families at any one point in time. However, at Shelltown,...

Shelltown (AZ AA: 1:66[ASM]) and the Hind site (AZ AA: 1:62[ASM]) were small, surprisingly uncommon prehistoric settlements inhabited by members of the Hohokam culture in south-central Arizona between the early 8th and late 10th centuries A.D. Although they seem relatively large now – the Hind site is approximately 20 acres and Shelltown is a protean 178 acres – neither site appears to have been occupied by more than a couple of extended families at any one point in time. However, at Shelltown,...

This report is about 58 archaeological sites located in and around an expansive desert basin known as the Santa Cruz Flats, located south of the Gila River. None of these sites are large. The biggest among them had only three, widely separated houses. Most of them had no houses, and the majority lacked material remains except for a mere scattering of artifacts now perched on the modern ground surface. Several of the sites included occupations dated to the modern, Historic, Euro-American era,...

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation–Phoenix Area Office (PXAO), ACS conducted Phase 1 cultural resource assessments and investigations at AZ T:4:150(ASM), a multicomponent rockshelter site in Lake Pleasant Regional Park, in 2008. The site was being impacted by increased visitation and Reclamation is seeking to mitigate those impacts. ACS archaeologists completed surface collection, mapping, and soil coring at the site. These investigations confirmed that the site held the potential to...

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation–Phoenix Area Office, ACS conducted surface collection, mapping, and soil coring at AZ T:4:150(ASM), a multicomponent rockshelter site in Lake Pleasant Regional Park. The site is being impacted by increased visitation and Reclamation is seeking to mitigate those impacts. The investigations identified four features; these included a thermal pit (Feature 1), a rock ring (Feature 2), the rockshelter (Feature 3), and a previously unrecorded rockpile...

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation–Phoenix Area Office (PXAO), ACS conducted Phase 1 cultural resource assessments and investigations at AZ T:4:150(ASM), a multicomponent rockshelter site in Lake Pleasant Regional Park, in 2008. The site was being impacted by increased visitation and Reclamation is seeking to mitigate those impacts. ACS archaeologists completed surface collection, mapping, and soil coring at the site. These investigations confirmed that the site held the potential to...

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation–Phoenix Area Office (PXAO), ACS conducted Phase 1 cultural resource assessments and investigations at AZ T:4:150(ASM), a multicomponent rockshelter site in Lake Pleasant Regional Park, in 2008. The site was being impacted by increased visitation and Reclamation is seeking to mitigate those impacts. ACS archaeologists completed surface collection, mapping, and soil coring at the site. These investigations confirmed that the site held the potential to...

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation–Phoenix Area Office (PXAO), ACS conducted Phase 1 cultural resource assessments and investigations at AZ T:4:150(ASM), a multicomponent rockshelter site in Lake Pleasant Regional Park, in 2008. The site was being impacted by increased visitation and Reclamation is seeking to mitigate those impacts. ACS archaeologists completed surface collection, mapping, and soil coring at the site. These investigations confirmed that the site held the potential to...

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation–Phoenix Area Office (PXAO), ACS conducted Phase 1 cultural resource assessments and investigations at AZ T:4:150(ASM), a multicomponent rockshelter site in Lake Pleasant Regional Park, in 2008. The site was being impacted by increased visitation and Reclamation is seeking to mitigate those impacts. ACS archaeologists completed surface collection, mapping, and soil coring at the site. These investigations confirmed that the site held the potential to...

In 2008, at the request of the Bureau of Reclamation–Phoenix Area Office (PXAO), Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) conducted Phase 1 cultural resource assessments and investigations at AZ T:4:150(ASM), a multicomponent rockshelter site in Lake Pleasant Regional Park. These investigations confirmed that the site held the potential to yield important information about the Prehistoric, Protohistoric, and Historic period occupations of the Lake Pleasant area. Please see...

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation–Phoenix Area Office, ACS conducted Phase 2 data recovery at the Lake Pleasant Rockshelter site (AZ T:4:150[ASM]), Yavapai County, Arizona. Based on the results of Phase 1 investigations conducted at the site (Pinter et al. 2009), Reclamation determined that potentially significant subsurface cultural deposits were present that could provide important new data on prehistoric, protohistoric, and historic Native American and Euroamerican occupation of the...

ACS conducted Phase 2 data recovery at the Lake Pleasant Rockshelter site (AZ T:4:150[ASM]) in 2010 at the request of the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office. The proposed work plan for Phase 2 (Pinter et al. 2009) was accepted by Reclamation, and was implemented in two sessions due to inclement weather and rising lake levels. The first session occurred in January 2010, followed by a hiatus to allow the lake level to drop and the weather to cool; the second and final session occurred in...

ACS conducted Phase 2 data recovery at the Lake Pleasant Rockshelter site (AZ T:4:150[ASM]) in 2010 at the request of the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office. The proposed work plan for Phase 2 (Pinter et al. 2009) was accepted by Reclamation, and was implemented in two sessions due to inclement weather and rising lake levels. The first session occurred in January 2010, followed by a hiatus to allow the lake level to drop and the weather to cool; the second and final session occurred in...

The Phoenix Area Office (PXAO), Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), has developed an archaeological site database for the Central Arizona Project (CAP) main stem canal. The current data is based on data resulting from Class III surveys conducted in the 1970s and 1980s prior to the canal’s construction. The majority of these sites have not been revisited since they were first recorded. An unknown number of these sites were destroyed by either construction or excavation, while others are no...

The Phoenix Area Office (PXAO), Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), has developed an archaeological site database for the Central Arizona Project (CAP) main stem canal. The current data is based on data resulting from Class III surveys conducted in the 1970s and 1980s prior to the canal’s construction. To assist in checking the accuracy of its site database, Reclamation requested that Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) revisit 74 sites that had been identified in Reaches 3, 4,...

The Phoenix Area Office (PXAO), Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), has developed an archaeological site database for the Central Arizona Project (CAP) main stem canal. The current data is based on data resulting from Class III surveys conducted in the 1970s and 1980s prior to the canal’s construction. To assist in checking the accuracy of its site database, Reclamation requested that Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) revisit 74 sites that had been identified in Reaches 3, 4,...

The Phoenix Area Office (PXAO), Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), has developed an archaeological site database for the Central Arizona Project (CAP) main stem canal. The current data is based on data resulting from Class III surveys conducted in the 1970s and 1980s prior to the canal’s construction. The majority of these sites have not been revisited since they were first recorded. An unknown number of these sites were destroyed by either construction or excavation, while others are no...

The Roosevelt Community Development Study (RCD) was one of three data recovery mitigative studies that the Bureau of Reclamation funded to investigate the prehistory of the Tonto Basin in the vicinity of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. The series of investigations constituted Reclamation's program for complying with historic preservation legislation as it applied to the raising and modification of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. Reclamation contracted with Desert Archaeology, Inc. to complete the research for...

The Roosevelt Community Development Study (RCD) was one of three data recovery mitigative studies that the Bureau of Reclamation funded to investigate the prehistory of the Tonto Basin in the vicinity of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. The series of investigations constituted Reclamation's program for complying with historic preservation legislation as it applied to the raising and modification of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. Reclamation contracted with Desert Archaeology, Inc. to complete the research for...

The Roosevelt Community Development Study (RCD) was one of three data recovery mitigative studies that the Bureau of Reclamation funded to investigate the prehistory of the Tonto Basin in the vicinity of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. The series of investigations constituted Reclamation's program for complying with historic preservation legislation as it applied to the raising and modification of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. Reclamation contracted with Desert Archaeology, Inc. to complete the research for...

The Roosevelt Community Development Study (RCD) involved the testing and excavation of 27 sites in the Lower Tonto Basin of central Arizona. This is one of three related data recovery projects undertaken in the Tonto Basin for the Bureau of Reclamation prior to the raising of the Roosevelt Lake dam. The results of the RCD project are presented in four Anthropological Papers of the Center for Desert Archaeology: Anthropological Papers No. 12 is the research design; Anthropological Papers No. 13...

The Roosevelt Community Development Study (RCD) was one of three data recovery mitigative studies that the Bureau of Reclamation funded to investigate the prehistory of the Tonto Basin in the vicinity of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. The series of investigations constituted Reclamation's program for complying with historic preservation legislation as it applied to the raising and modification of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. Reclamation contracted with Desert Archaeology, Inc. to complete the research for...

The Roosevelt Community Development Study (RCD) involved the testing and excavation of 27 sites in the Lower Tonto Basin of central Arizona. This is one of three related data recovery projects undertaken in the Tonto Basin for the Bureau of Reclamation prior to the raising of the Roosevelt Lake dam. The results of the RCD project are presented in four Anthropological Papers of the Center for Desert Archaeology: Anthropological Papers No. 12 is the research design; Anthropological Papers No. 13...