Archaeological Testing for the Consolidated Rental Car Facility, Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona

Summary

This report presents the results of archaeological testing at the Consolidated Rental Car Facility in Phoenix, Arizona. Testing was conducted at the request of the City of Phoenix Aviation Department and the City Archaeologist under an on-call archaeological services contract between the City and SWCA, Inc. (Contract no. 90034) and was assigned project number PGM 2001-16 by the City of Phoenix Archaeology Section.

SWCA conducted archaeological testing at the Consolidated Rental Car Facility because the project area lies within the boundary of Pueblo Salado (AZ T:12:47 [ASM]), a prehistoric Hohokam village known to contain prehistoric adobe structures, pithouses, pit features, trash deposits, canals, and burial features. A considerable portion of Pueblo Salado was tested with backhoe trenches in the 1990s for the Sky Harbor Center (Greenwald et al, 1995). This resulted in the discovery of a Classic period compound and numerous other features including both human cremations and inhumations. Intensive data recovery was subsequently conducted at the site resulting in the horizontal exposure of the compound and the recovery of 34 inhumations, one human bone concentration, and five cremations. Additional human remains were also recovered from Area 14 (see Greenwald et al. 1995). As stated in SWCA’s testing plan (SWCA 2001), the identification and subsequent recovery of human remains constitutes the primary objective of the Consolidated Rental Car Facility testing program. However, the archaeological testing program was also designed to locate and document additional cultural features and subsurface deposits such as domestic dwellings, storage pits, and canals.

SWCA conducted the archaeological testing program for the Consolidated Rental Car Facility in June and July of 2001. SWCA archaeologists Mike Foster and John Lindly served as field supervisors while crew members included Chris Ruff, April Tutt, Heather Kober, Cynthia Keller, and Eric Bredemann. SWCA mechanically excavated 113 trenches, ranging between 10 and 500 m in length, throughout the project area. Only one feature, a prehistoric canal, was identified during archaeological testing. The canal has been fully documented and SWCA recommends no further archaeological work within the boundary of the proposed Consolidated Rental Car Facility.

This is a revised file.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SWCA DAHA Resources   •
• Digital Archive of Huhugam Archaeology (DAHA)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

Contributor(s): Bruce G. Phillips; Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd.; Chris Ruff; April Tutt; Heather Kober; Cynthia Keller; Eric Bredemann

Field Director(s): Mike S. Foster; John M. Lindly

Sponsor(s): City of Phoenix

Prepared By(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

Submitted To(s): City of Phoenix, Aviation Department

Record Identifiers

City of Phoenix Project No.(s): PGM 2001-16

SWCA Project No.(s): 4902-041

Contract No.(s): 90034

File Information