Where the Rivers Converge: Report on the Rock Island Complex

Part of the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study project

Author(s): Owen Lindauer

Year: 1995

Summary

The Roosevelt Platform Mound Study (RPMS) was one of three mitigative 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 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 the Arizona State University Office of Cultural Resource Management (OCRM) to complete the research for this investigation.

The RPMS was an eight year archaeological research project that began in April 1989. It focused on sites of the Salado period, especially on platform mounds and the residential compounds clustered around the mounds. The study examined sites within four archaeological site complexes, created only for project administrative and management purposes. It examined sites in the Rock Island Complex, located at center of the Tonto Basin, overlooking the confluence of Tonto Creek and the Salt River. Many of the prehistoric sites in this area now lie beneath the reservoir (Wood 1989; Hohmann and Kelley 1988). The RPMS conducted investigations at four sites in this complex.

This report is the fourth volume in the RPMS report series (the Roosevelt Monograph Series) and the second volume that serves primarily as a site description report. It discusses the four sites examined in the Rock Island Complex. The volume primarily describes a single large site, AZ U:8:23(ASM)/AR-03-12-06-177(USFS), and briefly reports on the three remaining sites. It also presents some of the analyses and integrated conclusions that address the project's research objectives outlined in the research design (Rice 1990a).

Cite this Record

Where the Rivers Converge: Report on the Rock Island Complex, Anthropological Field Studies 33. Owen Lindauer. Roosevelt Monograph Series ,4. Tempe, Arizona: Office of Cultural Resource Management, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University. 1995 ( tDAR id: 380998) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8Z320HC

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Keywords

Culture
Ancestral Puebloan • Hohokam • Salado

Material
Ceramic • Chipped Stone • Dating Sample • Fauna • Ground Stone • Human Remains • Macrobotanical • Pollen • Shell • Wood

Site Name
AR-03-12-06-177(USFS) • AR-03-12-06-862(USFS) • AR-03-12-06-863(USFS) • AR-03-12-06-970(USFS) • AZ U:8:23(ASM) • AZ U:8:391(ASM) • AZ U:8:392(ASM) • AZ U:8:400(ASM) • Bass Point Mound • Rock Island Mound

Site Type
Ancient Earthwork • Archaeological Feature • Artifact Scatter • Cemetery • Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Domestic Structures • Funerary and Burial Structures or Features • Hamlet / Village • Midden • Non-Domestic Structures • Petroglyph • Pit House / Earth Lodge • Platform Mound • Plaza • Roasting Pit / Oven / Horno • Room Block / Compound / Pueblo • Settlements • Sheet Midden • Storage facilities • Storage Pit • Trash Midden

Investigation Types
Archaeological Overview • Bioarchaeological Research • Data Recovery / Excavation • Environment Research • Research Design / Data Recovery Plan • Site Evaluation / Testing

General
Rock Island complex • Rock Island Site • Roosevelt Dam • Salado Culture Sites • Tonto Basin Prehistory

Geographic Keywords
Pinto Creek • Rock Island Complex • Roosevelt Lake • Salt River • Sierra Ancha • Theodore Roosevelt Dam • Tonto Basin

Temporal Keywords
Gila Phase • Miami Phase • Roosevelt Phase

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1200 to 1400 (Radiocarbon, ceramic, and architectural construction data)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -111.165; min lat: 33.686 ; max long: -111.147; max lat: 33.733 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office

Contributor(s): David Jacobs; Peter H. McCartney; Glen Rice; Arleyn Simon; Judi L. Cameron; J. Phil Dering; Suzanne K. Fish; Joel D. Irish; Chris Loendorf; John C. Ravesloot; Marcia H. Regan; Katherine Spielmann; Christy G. Turner II

Field Director(s): Glen Rice; David Jacobs; Arleyn Simon; Peter McCartney

Lab Director(s): Mary Carroll

Project Director(s): Owen Lindauer; Charles Redman; John C. Ravesloot

Landowner(s): US Forest Service, Tonto National Forest

Sponsor(s): USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office

Permitting Agency(s): US Forest Service, Tonto National Forest

Prepared By(s): Office of Cultural Resource Management, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University

Submitted To(s): USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office

Record Identifiers

Bureau of Reclamation Contract No.(s): 9-CS-32-06230

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