Partial Data Recovery and Burial Removal at Pueblo Grande (AZ U:9:1(ASM)): Unit 15, The Former Maricopa County Sheriff's Substation, Washington and 48th Streets, Phoenix, Arizona -- DRAFT REPORT

Summary

This report describes the methodology, results, and recommendations of a partial data recovery and burial removal project conducted by Soil Systems, Inc. (SSI) in March and May 1999 for Kitchell Development Co. for a parcel along the east side of the large Hohokam village site known as Pueblo Grande (AZ U:9:1(ASM)) in Phoenix, Arizona. According to proposed development plans, two areas were to be excavated below grade for a building foundation and a runoff detention basin and the rest of the parcel was to be resurfaced at grade. Because this parcel is located immediately east of a known part of the large Hohokam site of Pueblo Grande, a two-phase testing program consisting of backhoe trenching was conducted in the two areas.

Phase 1 testing involved excavating eight backhoe trenches in the areas where construction would occur below grade if existing plans were followed. Personnel from Soil Systems, Inc. (SSI) conducted the Phase 1 fieldwork from 15 to 22 March 1999. No intact prehistoric cultural deposits were present in the area of the planned detention basin in the southwestern corner of the parcel and therefore no further archaeological treatment was recommended for that location. However, Phase 1 testing indicated that prehistoric features including human inhumations and cremations were present in the northwest part of the parcel in the area of the planned building foundation, and that they were shallow enough that they would be impacted by proposed construction. The shallowness of some of the mortuary features in the test trenches indicated that any modification of the existing ground surface without a grade change would also impact prehistoric mortuary remains (see Leonard 1999a).

Therefore, a Phase 2 testing program was conducted in the areas west and southwest of the proposed foundation to define the extent and depth of archaeological remains outside the proposed building (see Leonard 1999b). Phase 2 fieldwork was completed between 18 and 27 May 1999. Four of the Phase 1 trenches were extended southward and five new backhoe trenches were excavated. The Phase 2 testing program helped to define the area of archaeological sensitivity but encountered more prehistoric remains including mortuary features, some of which were as shallow as those in the area of the building foundation.

The results of both phases of testing indicated that unless data recovery was undertaken or the development plans were changed, almost any construction activity in this portion of the parcel would result in disturbance of intact prehistoric remains. In the area of archaeological sensitivity revealed by testing, archaeological data recovery and burial removal were undertaken between 4 November 1999 and 1 February 2000. While data recovery was in process, the demolition and removal of existing buildings in the parcel were monitored. Additional backhoe trenching was conducted to determine whether intact cultural contexts were present under the demolished building foundation along the northern side of the parcel where proposed construction would extend below the existing grade. The additional trenches encountered one inhumation burial that originated between 1.0 to 1.7 m (3.3 to 5.6 ft) m below the modern ground surface, below the level of impact of the proposed construction. Finally, the construction of a facility for preventing underground toxic gas accumulation was archaeologically monitored, along the western edge of the lot.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Pueblo Grande (AZ U:9:1(ASM)): Unit 15, Washington and 48th Streets: Soil Systems, Inc. Kitchell Development Testing and Data Recovery (The Former Maricopa County Sheriff's Substation)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Principal Investigator(s): Cory D. Breternitz

Project Director(s): Banks L. Leonard

Record Identifiers

Arizona State Museum Burial Agreement Case No.(s): 99-05

Arizona State Antiquities Act Permit No.(s): 1999-62ps/ext.

Soil Systems Technical Report No.(s): 02-43

Soil Systems Project No. (s): 99-01

Notes

General Note: This document is a near finalized draft report. The text and tables were finalized, but the figures were not inserted into this electronic copy. Final versions of the report were produced in hard copy only, because copy-ready figures were inserted into the formatted text.

General Note: Please note that SSI recorded the Pueblo Grande number as AZ U:9:7(ASM), which is the designation for a portion of Pueblo Grande. The correct number for the site as a whole is AZ U:9:1(ASM).

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