The Fourmile Wash Project: Archaeological Investigations at Eight Sites in the Tonopah Desert in Western Arizona

Summary

The Fourmile Wash Data Recovery Project (SWCA Project No. 22-88160-1) included excavation and other data recovery activities at eight archaeological sites located in northwestern Maricopa County, Arizona. The excavations were conducted between 18 April and 5 May 1988 by SWCA, Inc., under contract with Headquarters West, Ltd. The project was necessitated by the fact that these sites are located on lands administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that were scheduled to be transferred to private ownership as part of a land exchange.

The project sites are located 42 miles west of Phoenix, Arizona, in northwestern Maricopa County, northeast of Tonopah, Arizona. The project sites were first identified during the Lower Gila-White Tanks West Project (BLM -020-10-88-202), a pedestrian survey of 8,960 acres conducted by BLM personnel from the Phoenix District Office. The purpose of the project was to gather and interpret information regarding the prehistoric occupations represented by these sites and to mitigate the potential adverse impact of future actions upon these sites.

Initially, investigators determined that the project sites had been occupied primarily between A.D. 900 and 1150. However, the area was occupied at least as late as A.D. 1400. The eight sites represent loci utilized in a variety of subsistence activities during the seasonal round of a local population, including the gathering of wild plant resources and the hunting of game animals. In addition, researchers determined that the occupants may have cultivated maize and chenopods using floodwater farming techniques. The populations that had inhabited the region had perhaps been local groups distinct from surrounding groups such as the Hohokam. The ceramic assemblage and other aspects of the artifact assemblage indicated that these local populations had interacted with neighboring culture groups.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Salt River Project Digital Library

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 900 to 1200 (Dating for the Flatiron site based on ceramic analysis)

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Salt River Project Cultural Resource Manager

Contributor(s): Suzanne K. Fish; Gary Funkhouser; Bruce B. Huckell; Lisa W. Huckell; Linda J. Pierce; Arthur W. Vokes

Sponsor(s): Headquarters West, Ltd.

Prepared By(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

Record Identifiers

SWCA Project No.(s): 22-88160-1

SWCA Anthropological Research Paper Number(s): 1

SRP Library Barcode No.(s): 00090558

BLM Project No.(s): BLM-020-10-88-202

File Information