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Desert Archaeology, Inc., personnel conducted archaeological fieldwork for the City of Tucson at the Mission and Mission Garden loci of the Clearwater site, AZ BB:13:6 (ASM), and the Santa Cruz River Westside Canal site, AZ BB:13:481 (ASM), in March through July 2007, and September through October 2008. The work was conducted to mitigate the effects of the planned construction of the Mission of San Agustín, Ancestral Village, Carrillo House, and Mission Garden components of the Tucson Origins Heritage Park. As of June 2015, only the Mission Garden component was constructed. The project was funded by the City of Tucson as part of the Rio Nuevo redevelopment project. In all, 461 archaeological features were documented at the Clearwater site, and 21 canal segments from the Santa Cruz River Westside Canal site were studied. These features date from the time span between the Silverbell Interval of the Early Agricultural period (circa 2100 B.C.) into the American Statehood period, ending at about A.D. 1960. The features located included prehistoric pit structures, roasting pits, and small pits used for various purposes. Mission-era features included foundations of the Mission Garden walls and several middens. American Territorial period features were also found and included a brick-lined well and several outhouse pits. A number of prehistoric and protohistoric mortuary features were also located. These were excavated, and the remains and associated artifacts were repatriated to the Tohono O'Odham Nation. Analyses presented in this report used the features, recovered artifacts, plant materials, and faunal bone to examine three research issues — the changing riverine oasis, oasis communities, and community diversity.

The results of phased data recovery efforts for the City of Phoenix Aviation Department in advance of construction of the PHX Sky Train are presented in this report. Investigations were conducted within the Sky Train's 44th Street Station area, located immediately west of 44th Street and south of the Grand Canal in Phoenix, Arizona. Twelve medium to large prehistoric canals were encountered during the project, which was an anticipated discovery given the project's location northwest of the Park of Four Waters at Pueblo Grande Museum and Cultural Park and in the trajectory of main canals that fed prehistoric Canal System 2. Unexpected was the discovery of prehistoric irrigated field systems comprised of ditches and field areas. This project provided the first plan exposure of such systems in the Salt River Valley. Also encountered during the project were several canal-side water catchment features and Hohokam habitation structures. The structures included pithouses, probably used a seasonal farm-houses, and a surface adobe structure, with associated pits, which was occupied more permanently as a farmstead. The ages of the archaeological remains ranged from the later Colonial period through the early Classic period, roughly AD 850-1350. The numbers and types of features documented by the project illustrate that people were using the canals and local terrain in a variety of ways, despite the intrusion of several large System 2 trunk canals through the area. Within the project area, land use, subsistence practices, and irrigation were inextricably intertwined. The results of the project reveal the Hohokam's intimate knowledge of their landscape and how to manipulate it to best advantage. The findings highlight why the study of the irrigated spaces between prehistoric settlements is crucial to fully understand how the Hohokam managed to thrive for so many centuries in their desert environment.

Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (SRP) requested that Logan Simpson Design Inc. (LSD) perform a Class III cultural resources survey prior to anticipated staging of 18 wire pulling locations for a new 230-kV transmission line from Kortsen Road to Thornton Road for the Desert Basin Generating Station, west of Casa Grande in Pinal County. The Class III survey was undertaken to identify, document and evaluate the Arizona/National Register of Historic Places (A/NRHP) eligibility of cultural resources within the project area, and supplements an earlier survey completed by LSD for the project (Orcholl 2009). The project is located on SRP easements across Western Area Power Administration (Western) and private land along Kortsen, Burris and Thornton roads, as well as adjacent to the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway. The project consists of 17 discrete 100 ft by 300 ft survey areas and one 186 ft by 300 ft survey area, encompassing a total of 13.0 acres.

The U.S. 89 Archaeological Project investigated 41 prehistoric sites located approximately 30 km north of Flagstaff, Arizona. All sites were on Coconino National Forest (CNF) land. The project was conducted by Desert Archaeology, Inc., for the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) prior to the widening and improvement of 26.7 km (16.6 miles) of U.S. 89, between the southern boundary of Wupatki National Monument in the north, and the town of Fernwood in the south. Archaeological fieldwork occurred over two primary field seasons in 1997 and 1998, with a very brief field season in 1999. A total of almost 12 person-years of labor was expended on the fieldwork. The U.S. 89 project area crosses diverse environmental zones, ranging from juniper-sage grasslands in the north at approximately 5,700 ft (1,737 m) asl, to ponderosa pine forests at over 7,200 ft (2,195 m) asl in the south. Mixed pinyon pine and juniper woodlands comprise the middle elevations. Five elevation zones were defined, using increments of 500 ft as a proxy for changes in precipitation, temperature, and vegetation. All project area sites are also within 25 km of Sunset Crater Volcano, with the closest sites only 5-6 km away. Sunset Crater erupted for a few years sometime between A.D. 1050 and 1125. Basalt lava from the eruption covered an area of approximately 8 km2, while another 2,300 km2 was covered by cinder and ash deposits. Sunset Crater cinders were found on all project area sites. An isopach map of cinder depth constructed for this project indicates that, minimally, the U.S. 89 sites were covered with from 5-50 cm of volcanic material, which had a significant impact on prehistoric settlement, subsistence, and economic systems. Prehistoric adaptation to environmental variability and to the Sunset Crater eruption were primary research themes. The results of the U.S. 89 investigations are presented in a series of anthropological papers: Anthropological Papers No. 30, Part I and Part 2, contain background information on the project and descriptions of the 41 investigated sites.Part 1 includes the two sites in Elevation Zone 1 (5,700-6,199 ft [1,737-1,889 m] asl) and 11 sites in Elevation Zone 2 (6,200-6,699 ft [1,890-2,042 m] asl), the lower elevation zones in the northern half of the project area.

This project involved archaeological investigations at eight Hohokam sites that will be impacted by the construction of a 36-mile long natural gas pipeline and associated easements. Excavation and data recovery were conducted at seven of the sites [AZ U:10:2(ASM), AZ U:10:176(ASM), AZ U:15:248(ASM), AZ U:14:54(ASM), AZ U:14:361 (ASM), AZ U:14:74(ASM), AZ AA:2:131(ASM)]. Archaeological extent testing was conducted at the other site, AZ U:10:175(ASM). Because no subsurface features were found in the portion of AZ U:10:175(ASM) that falls within the pipeline corridor, no further data recovery was conducted. The SRP Santan archaeological investigations concluded with the monitoring of construction activities through culturally sensitive areas.

The Tonto Creek Archaeological Project (TCAP), funded by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), was conducted by Desert Archaeology, Inc., in advance of the 1994-1996 realignment of Arizona State Route 188 in the Tonto Basin of east-central Arizona. From 1992 to 1996, portions of 27 archaeological sites were investigated. Site components ranged in date from the Middle Archaic period to the Late Historic era. Most dated to the Colonial, Sedentary, and early Classic periods, circa A.D. 750-1325. A total of 108 pithouse, pitroom, and mason surface structures were excavated, as well as numerous other cultural features. These are discussed in Anthropological Papers No. 22, which contains the site and non-mortuary feature descriptions as well as background information on project methods, chronology, and the local environment. More than 300 burials were recovered, with early Classic inhumations accounting for nearly 90 percent of the sample. The burial descriptions and analyses of osteodontic remains and artifact classes recovered primarily from mortuary contexts are presented in Anthropological Papers No. 24. The artifact classes include shell and ground stone jewelry, bone artifacts, wooden objects, and clay-lined painted baskets. Anthropological Papers No. 23 (Volume 1) reports on the various analyses conducted on the ceramic assemblage recovered from both domestic and mortuary contexts in the project area. This volume, Anthropological Papers No. 23 (Volume 2) discusses the analyses of flaked and ground stone, pollen, botanical, and faunal remains. Among the important findings of the flaked stone analysis (Chapter 9) is the association of "high" side-notched projectile points with Miami/Hardt phase contexts. This point type is one of the few diagnostic artifacts from this pivotal and inadequately resolved interval. The proliferation of projectile points during the Classic period, in terms of both quantity and types, and potentially more lethal design suggests increased conflict shortly before final abandonment of the project area. The meager Classic period faunal assemblage (Chapter 13) is dominated by small animals, indicating the heightened interest in projectile points is not related to an increase in large game hunting. Temporal trends in ground stone (Chapter 10) include an increase, over time, in the proportion of designed artifacts over expedient tools. The variety of tools and the range of activities in which they are utilized also increase. By the Classic period, a significant portion of the ground stone tool assemblage was used in nonfood-processing activities such as architectural construction, shaftsmoothing, hideworking, and woodworking. Several unique contexts are also described in detail, including a cache of ground and unworked stone items recovered from a floor pit in a small pre-Classic pithouse that may have been used as a sweat lodge. Sagebrush was the only economic pollen type recovered from this structure. A large and varied collection of macrobotanical remains (Chapter 11) and pollen (Chapter 12) was recovered from the project area. The presence of maize in Early Agricultural contexts at the Boatyard site indicates this cultigen has a long history in the Tonto Basin, extending back at least into the first millennium B.C. Although maize continues to be an important resource throughout the prehistoric sequence, the TCAP macrobotanical record documents a dramatic increase in agave and wild grass exploitation during the perhaps "not-so" Sedentary period. Notable trends in the Classic period botanical assemblage include continued high maize and agave ubiquities and a substantial increase in cotton ubiquity. The latter may be related to an expansion of irrigation systems in the adjacent Tonto Creek floodplain as indicated by elevated Evening Primrose Family pollen counts.

A cultural resources survey of three separate areas within the Catalina State Park in Pima County, Arizona for proposed improvements and expansion of the park’s main road, and the group and overnight camping areas. This cultural resources survey of portions of Catalina State Park identified one new and one previously recorded archaeological site and twelve isolated occurrences (lOs). Previously recorded site AZ BB:9:218 (ASM) is within the Sutherland Wash Archaeological District. This site should be protected and avoided by all ground disturbing activities. Newly recorded site AZ BB:9:332 (ASM) falls just west of the Sutherland Wash Archaeological District, it is potentially eligible for inclusion on the NRHP, and should be avoided by all ground disturbing activities. If avoidance is not possible, archaeological testing is recommended for both sites. The seven isolated occurrences of historic cultural material and the five prehistoric IOs are not considered eligible for inclusion on the NRHP as all scientifically valuable information regarding them has been recorded. Includes related correspondence.

Under the authority of the State of Arizona Antiquities Permit 1996-101ps, Desert Archaeology, Inc., completed archaeological testing. This project was undertaken because the parcel was located on floodplain deposits of the Santa Cruz River, and an initial survey identified a low-density surface artifact scatter that is part of a previously recorded archaeological site, AZ AA:12:44 (ASM). The object of the project was to determine whether subsurface archaeological or historical remains were present in the area prior to construction of a city park. This report includes sections on the project area location and description, archaeological background, previous archaeological work in the project area, project methods, results, a discussion of related issues, and recommendations. The archaeological testing was conducted between June 18 and 20, 1996, by Deborah Swartz, Susan Hall, and Tim Goddard of Desert Archaeology. The survey identified a low artifact density across the parcel. Because of the geomorphological setting, this suggested that buried deposits could be present. Twelve test trenches, totaling 518 m (1,700 ft), were excavated. The goal was to situate the trenches primarily within the areas of proposed subsurface construction impacts. Trenches were placed along proposed fence lines, power pole locations, and areas where large trees will be planted. Additional judgmental trenches were situated between the construction-related trenches to provide additional information about the subsurface deposits. Much of the area has been disturbed by modern dumping of asphalt and other construction materials, particularly in the eastern portion of the study area. In some places, this disturbance was as deep as the trench, approximately 1.6 m (5 ft), so no natural deposits were observed. In the trenches where the natural stratigraphy was observed, the deposits on the eastern side of the parcel contained no prehistoric remains. The natural sediments on the western portion of the parcel were different and did contain cultural features. Nine features were identified in the backhoe trenches, all on the western half of the parcel. These include one roasting pit, one well, three large pits, one small pit, one human inhumation, and two areas of darker sediments with light charcoal flecking but no distinct feature outlines. Descriptions of these features are provided below.

Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) conducted survey of 200 acres and limited testing of cultural resources on Fort McDowell Mohave-Apache Indian Community (FMIC) land at the request of Mr. Jon Czaplicki of the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation). The work was performed to define the boundaries of archaeological sites to be avoided by agricultural development. Eight sites were slated for preservation; however, only seven sites were relocated and flagged, and two new sites were defined. In most cases the sizes of the sites increased. This document includes lithic analyis by Ruth Rubenstein and ceramic analysis by Mac McDonnell.

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), United States Department of the Interior, was in the initial stages of the Water Management Project designed to bring Central Arizona Project water to the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC). Under terms of a contract signed in 1992 with the GRIC, facilities designed and constructed by Reclamation would deliver 173,000 acre-feet of water annually onto the reservation. Federal law mandates consideration of potential impacts of such projects upon cultural resources and requires that necessary and appropriate steps be taken to mitigate those impacts. In accordance with these laws, Reclamation did a complete inventory of all cultural resources that may fall within the project area. Data resulting from this inventory provided the basis for assessment of the significance of the resources and for the design of plans to mitigate potential impacts to them. Two survey areas in which a water delivery system and associated features (such as dikes) will be constructed were identified by Reclamation. Broad survey areas were defined so the location of eligible sites would be known before specific project design began. In total, 180 sites were identified and recorded during survey. These sites include possible Archaic period materials, a wide range of prehistoric Hohokam site types representing all periods of the Hohokam sequence, possible Protohistoric manifestations, and numerous Historic Pima sites of varying ages. The report consists of two volumes. Volume 1 contains background information; consideration of survey and recording methods; analyses, evaluation, and interpretation of collected data; and recommendations for future treatment of discovered sites. Volume 2 contains site descriptions.