The Sun Lakes-Casa Grande Project: Limited Archaeological Testing at Twenty-one Sites near the Toltec Buttes, Eloy, Arizona

Author(s): David B. Tucker; David P. Doak

Year: 2004

Summary

Between November 2000 and February 2001, a crew from SWCA® Environmental Consultants (SWCA) of Tucson conducted archaeological testing operations at twenty-one sites lying within a 1570-acre parcel near Toltec, a subdivision of Eloy, in Pinal County, Arizona. The work was done at the request of Mr. Jason Burgess of B&R Engineering, Inc., acting on behalf of Sun Lakes-Casa Grande Development, LLC, an affiliate of Robson Communities, Inc., who intend to construct a planned community of housing and recreational facilities on the property. All of the work undertaken took place on privately held lands. The SWCA crew included, at various times, David Doak and/or Joseph Howell (field directors), Steven Ditschler, Jessica Evans, Christina Page, and Patricia Stern. Generally work was done by the field director working with one other person, along with a backhoe operator, Roger Lane, of Casey’s Backhoe Service of Chandler, Arizona.

Prior to the current testing project, B&R Engineering had contracted with Cultural and Environmental Systems, Inc. (CES) to conduct a Class III cultural resource survey of the 1570 acre property. This survey was conducted, but a final report was never written. All that was provided was a preliminary report consisting of a short summary of the survey, a table listing the 21 sites that were found, and a series of draft site maps. No site or feature descriptions were written. Of the 21 sites reported by CES, one site, AZ AA:2:117 (ASM), was previously recorded. The remainder, AZ AA:2:151 (ASM) through AZ AA:2:170 (ASM) were newly recorded by CES, but have not yet been registered with the Arizona State Museum. CES recommended that all sites should be considered potentially eligible to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and that a testing program be initiated in order to evaluate the sites.

Based only on the incomplete information provided by CES and on a brief field visit by SWCA personnel, SWCA prepared a Plan of Work to conduct NRHP eligibility evaluation and limited archaeological testing at the 21 sites within the Sun Lakes-Casa Grande development. This plan of work was submitted as a courtesy to the State Historic Preservation Office for approval (November 30, 2000), despite the lack of any Federal, State, or Local regulations that would require any further archaeological work on the property.

All sites within the project area were thoroughly examined and re-mapped using high-accuracy Trimble GeoExplorer Global Positioning System (GPS) machines. For the fourteen historic sites or sites with historic components, this level of data collection, combined with limited archival research, was considered sufficient to allow eligibility assessments. For the eighteen prehistoric sites or sites with significant prehistoric components, limited subsurface testing was conducted in order to gather sufficient data for assessment. Based on this work, we recommend that 8 of the 21 sites be considered eligible to the NRHP, while the remaining 13 sites are recommended ineligible. Archaeological data recovery investigations are recommended for the eight eligible properties.

Cite this Record

The Sun Lakes-Casa Grande Project: Limited Archaeological Testing at Twenty-one Sites near the Toltec Buttes, Eloy, Arizona, 430. David B. Tucker, David P. Doak. 2004 ( tDAR id: 445563) ; doi:10.48512/XCV8445563

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Keywords

Culture
Archaic • Euroamerican • Historic • Historic Native American • Hohokam • Huhugam

Material
Andesite • Animal Bone • Basalt • Brownware • Buffware • Ceramic • Chipped Stone • Core • Fauna • Fire Cracked Rock • Glass • Ground Stone • Mano • Metal • metate • Plainware • Projectile Point • Quartzite • Red-on-Brown • Red-on-Buff • Red-on-White • Redware • Rhyolite • Scraper • Shell

Site Name
AZ AA:2:117 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:151 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:152 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:153 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:154 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:155 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:156 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:157 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:158 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:159 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:160 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:161 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:162 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:163 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:164 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:165 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:166 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:167 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:168 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:169 (ASM) • AZ AA:2:170 (ASM)

Site Type
Archaeological Feature • Artifact Scatter • Berm • Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Hamlet / Village • Hearth • Pit • Roasting Pit / Oven / Horno • Settlements • Trash Dump

Investigation Types
Archaeological Overview • Data Recovery / Excavation • Historic Background Research • Reconnaissance / Survey • Research Design / Data Recovery Plan • Site Evaluation / Testing

Geographic Keywords
Arizona (State / Territory) • Eloy, AZ • Pinal (County) • Santa Cruz River

Temporal Keywords
Ceramic Period • Classic Period • Colonial Period • Gila Phase • Pioneer Period • Prehistoric • Proto-Historic • Sacaton Phase • Santa Cruz Phase • Sedentary Period

Spatial Coverage

min long: -111.642; min lat: 32.668 ; max long: -111.459; max lat: 32.84 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

Contributor(s): Sun Lakes-Casa Grande Development, L.L.C.; Victoria R. Evans; Linda M. Gregonis

Field Director(s): David Doak; Joseph Howell

Collaborator(s): Robson Communities, Inc.

Sponsor(s): B&R Engineering, Inc.

Prepared By(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

Record Identifiers

SWCA Project No. (s): 4509-2311

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
04-430_OCR_PDFA_Redacted.pdf 8.99mb Feb 9, 2021 11:39:54 AM Public
This file is the redacted version of the resource.
04-430_OCR_PDFA.pdf 7.64mb Dec 3, 2004 May 10, 2018 11:32:08 AM Confidential
This file is the unredacted version of the resource.

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Contact(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

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