The Tree Army in the Desert: Documenting Civilian Conservation Corps Sites in Petrified Forest National Park

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Like many parks and public spaces in the United States, Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO) in northeastern Arizona was built by men who needed to work. From 1934-1942 three Civilian Conservation Corps companies constructed infrastructural roads, trails, bridges, overlooks and buildings, assisted with scientific research and fieldwork, and provided education and outreach programs to visitors at the then-Monument. The CCC is responsible for approximately 90% of the infrastructure built within PEFO from 1934-1942 and left significant markers of their presence on the landscape— yet prior to 2021, the majority of the CCC-affiliated archaeological sites within PEFO were either recorded not to current acceptable standards, recorded as indeterminate trash scatters, or unrecorded altogether. This paper will summarize the results of the documentation of over 25 CCC-affiliated archaeological sites within PEFO over the past two field seasons, including three company campsites and eight quarrying areas, and offer some possible directives for the future of Arizona New Deal archaeology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37452.0