Preliminary Results of Archaeological Testing at AZ U:9:226 (ASM) Within the Proposed Red Mountain Freeway Corridor (Gilbert Road to Higley Road), Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona

Summary

Entranco conducted archaeological testing at AZ U:9:226 (ASM) in Mesa, Maricopa County, between November 3, 2000 and March 5, 2001. The testing was completed to evaluate the eligibility of AZ U:9:226 (ASM) for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The project was conducted at the request of the Arizona Department of Transportation prior to the proposed construction of the Red Mountain Freeway (RMF), Gilbert Road to Higley Road segment.

As discussed in this document, the RMF corridor encompasses the entire freeway right-of-way (R/W) and consists of areas that will be disturbed by construction of the freeway, and areas that will not be disturbed. The archaeological testing at AZ U:9:226 (ASM) was limited to the area of proposed construction impacts, and is referred to as the “project area” throughout this report. The portion of AZ U:9:226 (ASM) located outside of the project area, but within the R/W, will not be affected by the proposed construction and therefore was not tested.

AZ U:9:226 (ASM) represents the reported location of T-9 (Gasser 1987) or Casas del Oriente (?) (Howard and Huckleberry 1991; Macnider et al. 1999; Mitchell 1988). T-9 and Casas del Oriente are two names that have been assigned to the large habitation site that is located on Turney’s 1929 map of prehistoric settlements in the Salt River Valley. Because modern surveys found this location to be covered with citrus orchards and disturbed by gravel mining operations, the testing was recommended to determine the site’s location, boundaries, and the nature and integrity of subsurface deposits prior to ground disturbing activities (Macnider et al. 1999).

Testing at AZ U:9:226 (ASM) consisted of total station mapping and the systematic excavation of 227 backhoe trenches. Ten dispersed subsurface features were discovered, including eight pits that are possibly prehistoric, one historic pit, and one canal of undetermined age; two pieces of flaked stone, and a small amount of historic glass and metal artifacts were also recorded. In addition, a segment of the Old Consolidated Canal, designated as AZ U:9:228 (ASM), was identified and recorded within the project area.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Salt River Project Digital Library

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Salt River Project Cultural Resource Manager

Contributor(s): Laurene Montero

Landowner(s): Arizona Department of Transportation

Repository(s): Salt River Project, Tempe, AZ

Prepared By(s): ENTRANCO Environmental Services Group

Submitted To(s): Arizona Department of Transportation, Environmental Planning Group

Record Identifiers

TRACS No.(s): 202L MA 017 H5299 01C

SRP Library Call No.(s): HE206.2.R43S88x 2001

Project Report(s): 2001-009

SRP Library Barcode No.(s): 00091052

ASM Permit No.(s): 2000-125ps

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