The Pueblo Grande Museum Expansion Data Recovery Project

Summary

During July 1994, Soil Systems, Inc. (SSI) conducted an archaeological data recovery project at Pueblo Grande, AZ U:9:1(ASM). The project area lies immediately west and north of the original museum building. The data recovery project carried out by SSI was conducted under contract to the City of Phoenix and was associated with the expansion of the museum facilities at the Pueblo Grande Museum and Cultural Park, which are administered by the City of Phoenix Parks, Recreation, and Library Department.

Three additional buildings were to be constructed as part of the expansion project. The first, called Building A for the purposes of this report, is immediately north and west of the previous public entry into the museum, in what was the primary public parking lot. The second building, Building B, is to be attached to the west side of the existing museum building, and the third, Building C, is west-northwest of Building B. Prior to the initiation of data recovery excavations, personnel from the Pueblo Grande Museum marked the "footprint" of each of the three buildings on the ground within the project area. Pueblo Grande Museum and the City of Phoenix are committed to the preservation of existing archaeological features within the confines of the Pueblo Grande Cultural Park, thereby minimizing the impact to cultural remains that resulted from construction activities associated with the museum expansion.

In an effort to better understand the nature and distribution of cultural features in the project area, the City of Phoenix funded a testing program in 1990 within the proposed project area (Birnie and Walsh-Anduze 1991). The area tested was west of the current museum building and the public parking lot. Testing was undertaken prior to the completion of the final architectural drawings. In fact, at the time that the testing program was conducted, bids for the architect had not been selected. Consequently, the area tested included a 30,000-sq-ft area to the west and north of the existing museum. Subsequent design changes and the final architectural footprints for the three new buildings were not available until data recovery began in July 1994. As a result, the paved parking lot area containing Building A was not tested. The data derived from the testing project were used to plan the placement of the three new buildings in areas that would have the least impact to buried archaeological remains. The data recovery project investigated portions of the area previously tested, namely the area immediately west and northwest of the northwest corner of the existing museum building.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Pueblo Grande (AZ U:9:1(ASM)): Unit 08, Pueblo Grande Cultural Park: Soil Systems, Inc. Pueblo Grande Museum Expansion Data Recovery

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Principal Investigator(s): Cory D. Breternitz

Project Director(s): Michael Foster

Prepared By(s): Soil Systems, Inc.

Submitted To(s): City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department

Record Identifiers

Soil Systems Project No.(s): 94-11

Soil Systems Technical Report No.(s): 95-17

Notes

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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