Salvage Excavations in the New Yard at Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona

Author(s): Karolyn Jackman Jensen; Margaret Glass; Catherine Johnson

Year: 1999

Summary

In 1993 Arizona State Parks received an Arizona Heritage Fund/State Historic Preservation Office grant to rebuild the historic wall that originally surrounded the New Yard at Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park(AZ X:6:90(ASM)). The project entailed removing a reconstructed adobe wall and replicating the original adobe wall, which was originally built by the prisoners in 1900. Although a previous archaeology survey noted that subsurface cultural remains may be present surface indications had not shown any prehistoric or historic remains. Over the years there had been extensive remodeling of the wall and surrounding areas, removal of the soil, and leveling of the land. Therefore, it was unexpected when Yuma Prison parks personnel noticed a small amount of historic trash emerging as the backhoe began removing a section of the reconstructed adobe wall. Parks personnel asked the construction company to stop work at that particular location until the state parks archaeologist Catherine Johnson could travel to Yuma to investigate.

Ms. Johnson asked Archaeological Consulting Services. Ltd. (ACS) to analyze historic material recovered from salvage excavations. Ms. Karolyn Jackman Jensen analyzed, interpreted. and reported on the historic artifacts. Dr. Margaret Glass analyzed, interpreted, and reported on the faunal material. Project background and field methods were written by Ms. Johnson.

Cite this Record

Salvage Excavations in the New Yard at Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona. Karolyn Jackman Jensen, Margaret Glass, Catherine Johnson. Phoenix, AZ: Arizona State Parks. 1999 ( tDAR id: 399366) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8348N6H

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

Culture
Historic

Material
Abalone • Adobe • Bone • Brass • Cattle (Bos taurus) • Ceramic • Chicken (Gallus domesticus) • Colorado River Squawfish (Ptychocheilus lucis) • Copper • Cork • Cotton • Egg • Fauna • Fish • Glass • Graphite • Hair • Hay • Hide • Iron • Lead • Leather • Macrobotanical • Mammal • Metal • Mineral • Mortar • Paper • Peach • Pig (Sus domesticus) • Plaster • Rubber • Sheep or Goat (Ovis / Capra) • Shell • Stoneware • Stucco • Textile • Tin • Whiteware • Wood Show More

Site Type
Adobe Wall • Archaeological Feature • Midden • Non-Domestic Structures • Prison

Investigation Types
Data Recovery / Excavation

General
Abalone Shell • Advertisement • Arms • Battery • Board • Bone (Animal) • Bone (Cattle) • Bone (Chicken) • Bone (Fish) • Bone (Sheep or Goat) • Bottle • Bowl • Box • Brockway • Bromo Seltzer Bottle • Brunswig • Brush • Bucket • Button • Can • Cartridge • Cleaning Product • Clock • Clothing • Coca-Cola Bottle • Coffee Pot • Cough Drop Box • Crank • Crock • Cup • Doll • Dr. J. H. McLeans Volcanic Oil Liniment Box • Edgar F. Breffitt & Co. • Egg Shell • Export Beer • Fruit Industries Wine • Glass Bottle • Glove • Hardware • Hat • Horse Shoe • Household Artifact • Illinois Glass • Insulator • Kitchen Artifact • Lamp • Latchford Marble • Lathe • Lead Shot • Letter • Light Bulb • Light Fixture • Machinery • Marble • Medicinal Artifact • Medicine Bottle • Medicine Box • Mentholatum Jar • Milk • Mirror • Mug • Mustard • Newspaper • New Yard • Obear-Nestor • Olive Oil • Parke Davis • Peach Pit • Personal Possession • Pickle • Pipe • Plate • Pool Cue • Purse • Ribbon • Roofing • Sack • Salt or Pepper Shaker • Saucer • Shoe • Shoe Polish Bottle • Shotgun Shell • Sleeve • Slipper • Sock • Soup • Spike • Spool • Spoon • String • Structural Artifact • Sunglasses • Syringe • Teaspoon • Tile • Tobacco Can • Tool • Toy • Tumbler • Underwear • Vase • Vaseline Bottle • Water Pipe • West End Pottery • Whiskey • Window • Wire Show More

Geographic Keywords
Arizona (State / Territory) • Yuma, AZ • Yuma (County) • Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park

Temporal Keywords
1870s • 1880s • 1890s • 1900s • 19th Century • 20th Century • Historic

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1876 to 1909 (Years of use of the prison.)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -114.628; min lat: 32.719 ; max long: -114.603; max lat: 32.74 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Arizona State Parks

Permitting Agency(s): Arizona State Museum

Repository(s): Arizona State Parks

Prepared By(s): Arizona State Parks

Record Identifiers

ASM Permit No.(s): 1998-122ps

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
Salvage-Excavation-at-Prison-State-Historic-Park.pdf 1.79mb Mar 19, 1999 Sep 30, 2015 9:54:09 AM Confidential
This file is unredacted
Salvage-Excavation-at-Prison-State-Historic-Park_Redacted.pdf 1.97mb Mar 19, 1999 Feb 24, 2016 2:48:29 PM Public
Figure 2 has been redacted in this file.

Accessing Restricted Files

At least one of the files for this resource is restricted from public view. For more information regarding access to these files, please reference the contact information below

Contact(s): Arizona State Parks