The Hohokam Expressway Project: A Study of Prehistoric Irrigation in the Salt River Valley, Arizona

Author(s): W. Bruce Masse

Year: 1976

Summary

In 1970, and again in 1972, archaeologists from the Highway Salvage Program of the Arizona State Museum intensively surveyed the route of the proposed Hohokam Expressway in Phoenix, Arizona. This expressway was proposed in order to connect Interstate 10 with 44th Street and provide a north-south access route across the Salt River to relieve the traffic congestion caused by periodic flooding of the river (Fig. 1). Because a portion of the proposed right-of-way runs adjacent to Pueblo Grande and the Park of Four Waters, both important prehistoric Hohokam sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 was observed. A team of archaeologists representing the National Park Service, the Pueblo Grande Museum and a former Hohokam specialist now at a midwestern university spent several days studying the right-of-way alignment. It was their determination that while the possibility of buried resources did exist, historic modification of the land surface by farming did not allow for an adequate assessment of their significance. They recommended that the existing boundaries of the National Register properties not be expanded (as had been earlier proposed) and gave clearance to the Department of Transportation to begin the expressway project.

Cite this Record

The Hohokam Expressway Project: A Study of Prehistoric Irrigation in the Salt River Valley, Arizona. W. Bruce Masse. 1976 ( tDAR id: 425916) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8425916

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Keywords

Culture
Historic • Sedentary

Material
Ceramic • Chipped Stone • Fauna • Fire Cracked Rock • Glass • Ground Stone • Macrobotanical • Metal • Pollen • Shell • Textile • Wood

Site Name
AZ U:9:2 (ASM) • AZ U:9:26 (ASM) • AZ U:9:27 (ASM) • AZ U:9:28 (ASM) • Park of Four Waters

Site Type
Agricultural or Herding • Archaeological Feature • Canal or Canal Feature • Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Domestic Structures • Hamlet / Village • Hearth • Pit • Railroad • Refuse Pit • Resource Extraction / Production / Transportation Structure or Features • Road • Road, Trail, and Related Structures or Features • Roasting Pit / Oven / Horno • Settlements

Investigation Types
Archaeological Overview • Methodology, Theory, or Synthesis

Geographic Keywords
40th Street • 44th Street • 48th Street • Arizona • Phoenix • Salt River • University Drive • Van Buren Street • Washington Boulevard

Spatial Coverage

min long: -112.017; min lat: 33.413 ; max long: -111.927; max lat: 33.476 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Salt River Project Cultural Resource Manager

Contributor(s): Robert E. Gasser; Margaret T. Keller; Diane McLaughlin

Collaborator(s): Arizona Department of Transportation

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

Prepared By(s): Arizona State Museum, The University of Arizona

Record Identifiers

Arizona Department of Transportation Project No.(s): M-600-3-601

SRP Catalog No.(s): 3A.049 CAT-5465354654

SRP Library Call No.(s): E99.H68M37 1976

SRP Library Barcode No.(s): 00030940

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
1976_Masse_HohokamExpressway_OCR_PDFA_Redacted.pdf 81.67mb Sep 28, 2021 2:34:12 PM Public
This file is a redacted copy.
1976_Masse_HohokamExpressway_OCR_PDFA.pdf 66.50mb Sep 1, 1976 Feb 14, 2017 10:06:09 AM Confidential
This file is unredacted.

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Contact(s): Salt River Project Cultural Resource Manager

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