Archaeological Testing at the Coolidge Substation, Pinal County, Arizona

Summary

This report has been prepared by Desert Archaeology, Inc., at the request of Aspen Environmental Group (Aspen) and the Western Area Power Administration (Western) for the archaeological testing of the Coolidge Substation, Pinal County, Arizona. Cultural resources previously known to be present within the substation include one archaeological site, AZ U:14:292 (ASM), a prehistoric artifact scatter in the northwestern corner of the property, and two canals observed in trench w alls w est of the substation's control building. The purpose of testing was to identify and characterize the presence or absence of subsurface cultural resources within the substation property and to evaluate resource significance for National Register of Historic Places (National Register) listing. The archaeological testing was conducted for the purpose of compliance under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended.

The archaeological work was conducted between 1-18 November 2011, in accordance with the testing plan (Henderson 2011) prepared for the project. Dr. T. Kathleen Henderson oversaw all aspects of the project, while Ms. Connie Darby provided daily direction of the fieldwork. In all, 23 archaeological features were identified, including prehistoric pithouses, borrow pits, pits, a cremation burial, and prehistoric and historic canals. All features except the canals occurred in the vicinity of U:14:292, and were assigned to that site. The canals were numbered separately as AZ U:14:437 (ASM) (prehistoric canals) and AZ U:14:438 (ASM) (historic canals) following Arizona State Museum (ASM) procedures for linear sites.

Desert Archaeology recommends that U:14:292 and U:14:437 are eligible for inclusion in the National Register, as they contain significant subsurface contexts that could be adversely affected by construction within the substation. Further recommendations here include avoidance of these sites, or, if this is not possible, data recovery treatments should be developed and implemented, which mitigate the adverse effects of construction on these historic properties. Although it is not possible to fully evaluate U:14:438, a component of the historic Price & Powell Ditch, the features of the site inside the substation are determined to be non-contributing elements, because they lack integrity and research significance. Construction inside the substation will not affect significant deposits in the path of U:14:438.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Desert Archaeology, Inc.

Contributor(s): Rebecca J. Hill; Frances M. Landreth; John McCool

Prepared By(s): Desert Archaeology, Inc.

Submitted To(s): Aspen Environmental Group

Record Identifiers

ASM Accession No.(s): 2011-475

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