Theodore Roosevelt Dam Archaeological Project

Part of: Center for Archaeology & Society , Digital Archive of Huhugam Archaeology (DAHA)

The Center for Archaeology and Society (CAS) and the Center for Digital Antiquity (DA) at Arizona State University have created and are making available via tDAR, a collection of digital documents, data sets, and other information. This digital collection comprises many of the results of the detailed and intensive archaeological investigations undertaken for the Theodore Roosevelt Dam project in the Tonto Basin of central Arizona.

The collection is organized into general three sub-collections: the Roosevelt Platform Mound studies, the Roosevelt Rural Sites study, and the Roosevelt Community Development study. The general locations of components and site areas investigated by these studies is illustrated by the map image also included in this collection.

The reports describing the investigations and results have been available since the late 1990s in paper format. The data also have been available, if one knew where to look for it or who to contact for a copy, but not easily accessible or usable. The documents and data now are more broadly discoverable, accessible, and useful for additional current and future educational, scholarly, and scientific uses. The CAS and DA plan to enhance this tDAR collection, with additional documents, data, and other related information as it is developed and becomes available.

Between 1989 and 1993, the Bureau of Reclamation funded four substantial field archaeological projects in Tonto Basin of central Arizona, all associated with the modification of the Theodore Roosevelt Dam that would raise the lake level. Earlier archaeological surveys in the area around Roosevelt Lake had identified hundreds of sites that likely would be affected as a result of the dam modification (Fuller et al. 1976; Jewett 1986; Rice and Bostwick 1986). It was known or suspected that many of the sites likely to affected would be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Therefore, to comply with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the Bureau of Reclamation, the lead agency for the undertaking, determined to mitigate the adverse effect to the archaeological resources by a large-scale data recovery effort. The reports, other documents, and data described and made available in this tDAR collection are the results of this effort.

The data recovery program was divided into four projects, each of which had different research objectives and were conducted by separate research teams which also coordinated their activities (Pedrick 1992:2-3; Rice and Lincoln 1998:1-3).

"The Roosevelt Bajada Survey was a sampling survey by SWCA Inc. of portions of the bajada and foothills surrounding Tonto Basin (Ahlstrom et al. 1991). The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study conducted by Statistical Research focused on small agricultural and habitation sites in the rural areas away from the large settlements in the basin (Ciolek-Torrello et al. 1990). Desert Archaeology Inc. of Tucson was responsible for the Roosevelt Community Development Study, and their aim was to provide a longitudinal record of the history of occupation of Tonto Basin (Doelle et al. 1992). The Roosevelt Platform Mound Study, conducted by the Office of Cultural Resource Management at Arizona State University, studied the organization of Classic period platform mound complexes (Rice 1990). As the study progressed, Reclamation modified the Platform Mound Study to include the investigation of a series of 44 sites on the bajada that had been identified in the survey conducted by SWCA (Rice and Lincoln 1998:1)."

Ahlstrom, Richard V. N., Mark L. Chenault, and Kirk C. Anderson (1991) The Roosevelt Bajada Survey, Tonto Basin, Gila County, Arizona. SWCA Archaeological Report No. 91-24. SWCA, Inc. Environmental Consultants, Tucson. Accessed 18 July 2016, tDAR # 402032, https://core.tdar.org/document/402032/the-roosevelt-bajada-survey-tonto-basin-gila-county-central-arizona.

Ciolek-Torrello, Richard S., Steven D. Shelley, Jeffrey H. Altschul and John Welch (1990) Research Design. Roosevelt Rural Sites Study, Vol. 1. Technical Series No. 28. Statistical Research, Tucson. Accessed 18 July 2016, tDAR # 378209, https://core.tdar.org/document/378209/the-roosevelt-rural-sites-study-volume-1-research-design.

Doelle, William H., Henry D. Wallace, Mark D. Elson, and Douglas B. Craig (1992) Research Design for the Roosevelt Community Development Study. Anthropological Papers No. 12. Center for Desert Archaeology, Tucson. Accessed 18 July 2016, tDAR # 378203, https://core.tdar.org/document/378203/research-design-for-the-roosevelt-community-development-study.

Pedrick, Kathryn E. (1992) Introduction. In Developing Perspectives on Tonto Basin Prehistory, edited by Charles 1. Redman, Glen E. Rice, and Kathryn E. Pedrick, pp. 1-4. Roosevelt Monograph Series 2, Anthropological Field Studies 26. Office of Cultural Resource Management, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe. tDAR # 406896, https://core.tdar.org/document/406896/developing-perspectives-on-tonto-basin-prehistory.

Rice, Glen E. [editor] (1990) A Design for Salado Research. Roosevelt Monograph Series 1, Anthropological Field Studies 22. Office of Cultural Resource Management, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe. Accessed 18 July 2016, tDAR record 394282, https://core.tdar.org/document/394282/a-design-for-salado-research.

Rice, Glen E. and Thomas R. Lincoln (1998) The Bureau of Reclamation Archaeology Projects in the Tonto Basin. In A Synthesis of Tonto Basin Prehistory: The Roosevelt Archaeology Studies, 1989 to 1998, edited by Glen E. Rice, pp. 1-10. Roosevelt Monograph Series 12/Anthropological Field Studies 41, Office of Cultural Resources Management, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe. Accessed 6 May 2015, tDAR #394298, https://core.tdar.org/document/394298/a-synthesis-of-tonto-basin-prehistory-the-roosevelt-archaeology-studies-1989-to-1998.


Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-33 of 33)

There are 33 Documents within this Collection [remove this filter]


Individual Resources
  • The Roosevelt Bajada Survey, Tonto Basin, Gila County, Central Arizona (1991)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Richard V. N. Ahlstrom. Mark L. Chenault. Kirk C. Anderson.

    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...

Roosevelt Community Development Study-Center for Desert Archaeology
  • Research Design for the Roosevelt Community Development Study (1992)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text William H. Doelle. Henry D. Wallace. Mark D. Elson. Douglas B. Craig.

    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, Number 13, Volume 1: Introduction and Small Sites (1994)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Mark D. Elson. Deborah L. Swartz.

    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, Number 13, Volume 2: Meddler Point, Pyramid Point, and Griffin Wash Sites (1994)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Mark D. Elson. Deborah L. Swartz. Douglas B. Craig. Jeffrey J. Clark.

    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, Number 14, Volume 1: Stone and Shell Artifacts (1995)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Alaina Harmon

    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, Number 14, Volume 2: Ceramic Chronology, Technology, and Economics (1995)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Keith Kintigh

    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, Number 14, Volume 3: Paleobiological and Osteological Analyses (1995)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Alaina Harmon

    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: New Perspectives on Tonto Basin Prehistory (1995)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Francis McManamon

    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. This volume synthesizes data recovered from the RCD excavations to provide a more...

Roosevelt Platform Mound Study (RPMS): Research Design, Field and Laboratory Manuals, and Background Research
  • A Design for Salado Research (1990)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Claudine Gravel-Miguel

    This is the introduction to the Roosevelt Platform Mound Studies. The Roosevelt Platform Mound Study investigated the physical and social organization of three Classic period community complexes in the Tonto Basin of Arizona known as Pinto Creek, Cline Terrace, and Rock Island. The data were collected from the investigation of 79 prehistoric sites arranged in three clusters within the Tonto Basin. There are many other sites not examined by the investigations described in this series of...

  • Developing Perspectives on Tonto Basin Prehistory (1992)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Francis McManamon

    This volume is the second in the Roosevelt Monograph Series and is based on papers presented by members of the research team of the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study at a symposium held at the Society for American Archaeology annual meeting in New Orleans in the spring of 1991. Three additional chapters have been added based on papers presented elsewhere during that year. We are grateful to the authors for their contributions and their early insights on the data recovered in the early phases of the...

  • A Field Plan for Salado Research (2000)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Glen Rice. Arleyn Simon. David Jacobs. Owen Lindauer.

    This guideline describes the field recording procedures, codes, techniques of recording, taking photos, illustrating excavations units and other field methods and techniques used as part of the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study (1989-1998).

  • Making Archaeological Data and Information Discoverable, Accessible, and Usable for 21st Century Research: The Theodore Roosevelt Dam Archaeological Project, Tonto Basin, Arizona (2016)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Francis McManamon. Keith Kintigh.

    The Center for Archaeology and Society (CAS), the Phoenix Area Office of the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Center for Digital Antiquity (DA) have created and are making freely available, via tDAR (the Digital Archaeological Record), a large collection of reports, articles, and data sets resulting from the archaeological investigations undertaken for the Theodore Roosevelt Dam project in the Tonto Basin of central Arizona. At present, this tDAR collection includes over two dozen volumes (more...

  • Roosevelt Platform Mound Study Laboratory Manual: A Laboratory Plan for Salado Research (2000)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Arleyn Simon.

    The Roosevelt Platform Mound Study (RPMS) Lab manual entitled "A Laboratory Plan for Salado Research" (2000) represents the final, principal guide for the study's artifact processing, identification, and specialized analyses. In the opening chapter, the manual describes artifact processing and documentation procedures. The second chapter describes the RPMS database and data documentation procedures. In the remaining chapters, the manual details the artifact processing and specialized analyses...

  • Theodore Roosevelt Dam Studies: B & W Map of the Project and Investigation Areas (1997)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: M Scott Thompson

    The Theodore Roosevelt dam studies impact mitigation program consisted of three data recovery studies that the Bureau of Reclamation funded to investigate the prehistory of the Tonto Basin in the vicinity of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. The research was necessary to mitigate any adverse effects related to modifying and raising the height of the Theodore Roosevelt Dam in the Tonto Basin. A planning team composed of archaeologists from the Bureau of Reclamation, Tonto National Forest, and the State...

Roosevelt Platform Mound Study: Cline Terrace Complex, Cline Mesa Sites Roosevelt Platform Mound Study: Cline Terrace Mound Roosevelt Platform Mound Study: Pinto Creek Complex, Livingston Area Sites, Pillar Mound, Pinto Point Sites, Pinto Point Mound Roosevelt Platform Mound Study: Pinto Creek Complex, Schoolhouse Mesa Sites Roosevelt Platform Mound Study: Pinto Creek Complex, Schoolhouse Point Mound Roosevelt Platform Mound Study: Report and Data Sets on the Uplands Complex
  • Classic Period Settlement in the Uplands of Tonto Basin, Roosevelt Platform Mound Study: Report on the Uplands Complex (1997)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Theodore J. Oliver.

    This report is the third site description volume for the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study. This volume describes 52 Uplands Complex sites investigated by the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study. Excavations or surface collections were conducted at 32 of the sites. These sites were in four study units located in the bajadas and foothill-transition zone of the piedmont that surround and define the Tonto Basin. Although the four Uplands Complex study units are in separate localities, the term "uplands"...

Roosevelt Platform Mound Study: Rock Island Complex
  • Where the Rivers Converge, Roosevelt Platform Mound Study: Report on the Rock Island Complex (1995)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Owen Lindauer.

    This report is the second site description volume for the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study. This volume describes the four sites investigated in the Rock Island Complex by the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study. It also presents some of the analyses and integrated conclusions that address the project's research objectives established by the Bureau of Reclamation and Tonto National Forest archaeologists and outlined in our research design. This volume primarily describes a single large site,...

Roosevelt Platform Mound Study: Summary and Synthesis Reports
  • Archaeology in America: Cline Terrace Platform Mound and Tonto National Monument (2009)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Glen E. Rice. Arleyn W. Simon. David Jacobs.

    The Cline Terrace site (AD 1280 to 1400) was a Hohokam style platform mound in the Tonto basin of central Arizona. Cline Terrace is one of the most thoroughly documented platform mounds in the Southwest. A modern excavation project, the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study, generated a large data set from the platform mound, as well as from three villages and two hamlet sites surrounding the mound. These data enabled detailed comparisons between a platform mound and the associated communities where...

  • Archaeology in America: Hohokam Platform Mounds (2009)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Glen E. Rice. Arleyn W. Simon. Owen Lindauer.

    The prehistoric Hohokam people of central Arizona constructed platform mounds at more than 100 sites between AD 1250 and 1450. These were stage-like platforms 2–2.5 meters high on which the Hohokam built rooms to place them in higher and more prominent locations in comparison to other rooms in the surrounding community. Sometimes additional rooms were constructed around the base of the platform mound, and a wall was built at ground level to surround the platform mound and rooms inside a...

  • Archaeology in America: Schoolhouse Point Mesa Sites (2009)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Owen Lindauer.

    On the southern end of the Tonto basin, along the waters of the Salt River, is a peninsula of land known as Schoolhouse Point Mesa, for the small school that once was located there. The structure and arrangement of the community on Schoolhouse Point Mesa reflect the characteristics of five other, nearby communities in the basin that also overlook the Salt River. Like the other four villages nearby, the Schoolhouse Point community grew quickly starting around AD 1250, called the Roosevelt phase...

  • Environment and Subsistence in the Classic Period Tonto Basin, The Roosevelt Archaeology Studies, 1989 to 1998 (1998)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Katherine Spielmann. Marc Baker. Judi Cameron. J. Philip Dering. Suzanne K. Fish. Michael Waters.

    This volume serves two purposes. It summarizes the subsistence data from the RPMS project and explores what we have learned from the subsistence-related data from the RMPS investigations, as well as the related Roosevelt Rural Sites Study and the Community Development Study. The Roosevelt Platform Mound Study (RMPS) research design was particularly concerned with Classic period sociopolitical organization. Because platform mounds similar to those of the Hohokam were built across the basin...

  • Platform Mounds of the Arizona Desert: An Experiment in Organizational Complexity (1993)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Glen E. Rice. Charles Redman.

    Platform mounds were built by the prehistoric Salado and Hohokam people of southern Arizona from the 13th through the 15th century A.O., the Classic period. They are basically artificial, flat-topped hills on which the ruling families of the day built their homes. Additional residences and storage rooms were built around the base of a mound, and the whole was enclosed within a compound wall. Each mound was the administrative, ceremonial, and economic center for a small-scale political system,...

  • Salado Ceramics and Social Organization: Prehistoric Interactions in Tonto Basin, The Roosevelt Archaeology Studies, 1989 to 1998 (1998)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Claudine Gravel-Miguel

    This report is the second synthesis volume of the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study (RPMS), a multi-year archaeological research project in Tonto Basin of central Arizona that began in April of 1989. This report examines ceramic types as a means of investigation community and social relationships among and between the ceramic producers and users. Stylistic, mineralogical, and chemical analyses are used to investigate these topics. The RPMS was funded by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department...

  • A Synthesis of Tonto Basin Prehistory: The Roosevelt Archaeology Studies, 1989 to 1998 (1998)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Claudine Gravel-Miguel

    Between 1989 and 1993, the Bureau of Reclamation funded four archaeological projects in Tonto Basin of central Arizona, all associated with the modification of the Theodore Roosevelt Dam. The projects were assigned different research objectives and were conducted by separate research teams. The Roosevelt Bajada Survey (RBS) was a sampling survey by SWCA Inc. of portions of the bajada and foothills surrounding Tonto Basin. The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study (RRSS) conducted by Statistical Research...

The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study
  • The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study, Volume 1: Research Design (1990)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Richard Ciolek-Torello. Steven D. Shelley. Jeffrey Altschul. John R. Welch.

    The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study (RRS) 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 Statistical Research, Inc. to conduct this study. The RRS was...

  • The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study, Volume 2: Prehistoric Rural Settlements in the Tonto Basin, Part 1 (1994)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Keith Kintigh

    The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study (RRS) 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 Statistical Research, Inc. to conduct this study. The RRS was...

  • The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study, Volume 2: Prehistoric Rural Settlements in the Tonto Basin, Part 2 (1994)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Keith Kintigh

    The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study (RRS) 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 Statistical Research, Inc. to conduct this study. The RRS was...

  • The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study, Volume 3: Changing Land Use in the Tonto Basin (1994)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Keith Kintigh

    The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study (RRS) 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 Statistical Research, Inc. to conduct this study. The RRS was...