Archaeological Monitoring of Four Well Field Sites on Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe Lands Near Leupp, Navajo County, Arizona

USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office

Archaeological Monitoring of Four Well Field Sites on Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe Lands Near Leupp, Navajo County, Arizona

Summary

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) investigated a potential well field southwest of the community of Leupp on the Navajo Nation, and north of Meteor Crater on Hopi Tribal lands. Five well sites were originally identified to assess the overall potential for developing a well field to pump ground water for delivery by pipeline to the Peabody Coal Mine as well as to Hopi and Navajo communities. Under an on-call contract with Reclamation, at the request of Jon Czaplicki, Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) conducted an intensive Class III cultural resources survey of the five well sites to provide an inventory and assessment of cultural resources that might be affected by the proposed undertaking (Jolly and Aguila 2004). Thirteen prehistoric and historic sites were identified. Avoidance of five eligible sites (AZ O:49:01, AZ N:56:09, AZ N:56:11, Hopi Site 011-2004, and Hopi Site 013-2004) and four sites of unknown eligibility (AZ N:56:06, AZ N:56:07, AZ N:56:08, and AZ N:56:10) was recommended. If eligible sites could not be avoided, then development of a treatment plan was recommended to ensure the undertaking would have no adverse effect on the cultural resources. If sites of unknown eligibility could not be avoided, then testing was recommended to determine the presence and evaluate the condition of the subsurface deposits. No further work was recommended for the not eligible sites.

In consultation with the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe, Reclamation determined that archaeological monitoring and related site visits were required for four of the five well sites (1–4) at six prehistoric and historic sites during the drilling phase for this project. Under our on-call contract with Reclamation, ACS was directed to monitor the drilling operations at Well Sites 1–3 for the first 5 feet of drilling or until drilling hits bedrock, whichever came first. At Well Site 3, the monitor was to identify an area for the drilling contractor near the drill site where spoil material from drilling could be dispersed. Because AZ O:49:01 is a large, dispersed lithic scatter, this area ideally was to have as few surface artifacts as possible. At Well Site 4, the monitor was to be present during installation of a new pump at the existing well site to ensure that none of the recorded features at Hopi site 013-2004 were disturbed. The monitor was also to visit this site during the pump test to determine if water runoff might have uncovered any buried features. Another monitoring task was to ensure that the previous sites recommended as eligible or potentially eligible were not inadvertently impacted by drilling operations

Cite this Record

Archaeological Monitoring of Four Well Field Sites on Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe Lands Near Leupp, Navajo County, Arizona. ( tDAR id: 393879) ; doi:10.6067/XCV80G3MKG