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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.

Under contract to Balsz School District No. 31, SWCA, Inc., Environmental Consultants carried out a program of archaeological data recovery at a portion of the prehistoric Hohokam village of La Lomita, in Phoenix, Arizona, during August of 1995. Three areas were excavated in portions of the school property where future improvements are planned. Overburden was removed, and hand excavations were conducted at a total of 21 archaeological features, including ten pithouses or house fragments, three cremation burials, two pits, two canals, two potbreaks, a midden, and a surface or trash area. All the pithouses were investigated, and the remaining features were test excavated or mapped. The excavations resulted in the collection of over 8,000 artifacts, most of which were ceramics. Ceramic analysis revealed a shift in external socioeconomic relationships between the Colonial and Sedentary periods. Botanical analyses (pollen and flotation) identified the remains of corn, cotton, squash, and a variety of non-domesticated plants. Faunal remains were dominated by rabbit and other small mammals. The features excavated are similar to those investigated at the northern part of La Lomita in 1988. This part of the village was found (through archaeomagnetic dating and ceramic seriation) to date to the late Santa Cruz and early Sacaton phases, between about A.D. 900 and 1000.

This is one of nine volumes of reports on archaeology conducted for the United States Bureau of Reclamation along the route of the Salt-Gila Aqueduct, a component of the Central Arizona Project extending a distance of 58 miles from east of Phoenix, Arizona, to the Picacho Reservoir area. Eight prehistoric habitation sites were excavated in the Florence, Arizona area, as a part of this project, representing Colonial through Classic Period Hohokam occupations in this area. This volume includes descriptive reports of excavations at these sites as well as site-specific interpretations. Subsequent volumes will present the results of final analyses and interpretations derived from the entire project.