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Shovel test excavation forms for the Blossom Point Field Test Facility at the site 18CH227.

Test unit excavation forms for the Blossom Point Phase II for site 18CH227.

This is a report on archaeological field investigations conducted in 1994 and 1995 at a Classic period Hohokam compound located in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of Arizona. The work was performed at the southern locus of site AZ U:9:14 (ASM) under the direction of Glen Rice as part of a course in archaeological field methods taught in the Department of Anthropology at Arizona State University (course number ASB 231 for undergraduates and ASB 532 for graduate students). Archaeological permits for the field work were issued by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (AP-001-94) and the Phoenix Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The assistance of both the Salt River Community and the agency in helping to make the research possible is gratefully acknowledged. This report provides a record of the basic field data and observations (maps, profiles, stratigraphic analyses), and makes such data available for use in subsequent analyses, studies and interpretation of the collected samples and artifact assemblages. An analysis of the ceramic and lithic artifactts has been completed and is summarized here as well. The report also includes a summary of the 1994 season.

Salt River Project (SRP) proposes to realign County Road 191 in Catron County, New Mexico, in order to build a coal haul railroad within the SRP Fence Lake Coal Mine Transportation Corridor. The proposed railroad will intersect the existing alignment of the road, therefore, the road must be realigned. SRP contracted with SWCA Inc., Environmental Consultants (SWCA), to conduct a cultural resource survey for two proposed realignment segments. The lead agency for the cultural resources is the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Las Cruces District, Socorro Resource Area.

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.

On August 16, 17, and 18, 1994, Dennis Gilpin, Richard A. Anduze, and Lex Palmer of SWCA, Inc., Environmental Consultants, conducted an archaeological survey of the proposed Fence Lake Transportation Corridor Reroute 3 in Catron County, New Mexico. The project was located on New Mexico State Trust Land; the Bureau of Land Management, Las Cruces District, is the lead federal agency for cultural resources. The survey was conducted under New Mexico State Blanket Survey Permit No. 94/055. The project (SWCA project number 23-94826) was conducted for Judy Brunson-Hadley, Ph.D., Project Archaeologist, Salt River Project, P.O. Box 52025, Phoenix, Arizona, 85072-2025. The proposed undertaking involves constructing a railroad transportation corridor from the proposed Fence Lake Coal Mine in Catron County, New Mexico, to the Coronado Generating Station in Apache County, Arizona. The original route and two reroutes have been previously inventoried; the inventory reported herein was for a third reroute. In total, 150.48 acres were inventoried for the project. As a result of the survey, two previously recorded sites, four previously unrecorded sites, and 16 isolated occurrences were identified within the survey corridor. The six sites included two undated lithic scatters (Sites LA 105991 and LA 105992); one one-room Anasazi structure (LA 105990); one multicomponent site consisting of Archaic projectile points, an Anasazi structural habitation, and a historic camp (LA 86262 [previously recorded]); one multicomponent site consisting of an Anasazi sherd and lithic scatter and segments of the Old Zuni Trail (LA 86273 [previously recorded]); and one multicomponent site (LA 105989) consisting of an Anasazi sherd and lithic scatter, historic features and artifacts, and trail segments that might be variants of the Zuni Salt Trail or a trail to Ojo Caliente. Sites LA 86262 and 86273 have been determined to be eligible for inclusion to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) by the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Officer and the Bureau of Land Management. Sites LA 105989, 105990, and 105992 are potentially eligible for inclusion to the NRHP. Site LA 105991 is not considered eligible for inclusion to the NRHP because of the site's surface nature and the small quantity and dispersed nature of the artifacts; detailed recording has exhausted the site's data potential.

At the request of U S West Communications (US West), Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) performed archaeological monitoring along a utility right-of-way. The right-of-way is within the south side access road for the Grand Canal, which passes through the City of Phoenix administered Pueblo Grande National Historic Landmark (Pueblo Grande; AZ U:9:7(ASM)). The canal is administered by the Salt River Project and owned by the Bureau of Reclamation. Limited testing within the right-of-way suggested that subsurface remains were present; with the reduction in the depth of the utility trench, US West attempted to avoid impacting such features. The purpose of the monitoring was to identify any cultural remains and features, to record the features, to collect samples and artifacts, and to halt excavation if human remains were encountered. A canal and roasting pit were exposed in the wall of the manhole pit, the only portion of trench deeper than 2 ft-6 in.

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.

Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) conducted a cultural resources survey on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community for a proposed landfill site. The survey, requested by Terry Leonard of the SRPMIC, was undertaken to identify and assess cultural resources that might be impacted by the development of the landfill. Twenty-three sites were identified, 18 prehistoric and five historic. Nine of the prehistoric sites represent lithic scatters, four are artifact scatters, and five are canal alignments. Of the historic sites, four consist of trash scatters and one is a historic road alignment. Nine prehistoric and nine historic isolated finds were recorded.

Between October, 1990, and January, 1991, SWCA, Environmental Consultants conducted archaeological survey of approximately 1,800 acres of Tonto National Forest land in the Roosevelt Basin, central Arizona. This project, the Roosevelt Bajada Survey, was done to provide survey data on portions of the Basin that are not being investigated by Arizona State University (ASU) as part of its Roosevelt Lake Project. The survey recorded 111 new sites and rerecorded five previously known sites; four additional sites in the survey units had already been recorded adequately. In addition, 30 Isolated Occurrences were recorded.

In April and November, 1989, Statistical Research conducted a cultural resource survey of nearly 4,000 acres of land owned by the State of Arizona in Mohave, Yavapai and La Paz counties. The field reconnaissance documented 16 archaeological sites consisting of artifact scatters, trails, rock features, rock art and stationary grinding-features. The non-random survey strategy was based on a stratified sample of 640 acre-study units in the Hualapai and Aquarius Mountains, the Big Sandy Valley and the Date Creek Basin. Ethnographic models of Walapai and Yavapai subsistence strategies were employed to form hypotheses concerning the location, function, variability, cultural affliation and chronology of the data base sample. The hypotheses were then refuted or supported by the site sample from the project area. Results support the findings of previous surveys in the region reporting a paucity of sites in the eastern Hualapai Mountains and high site density and diversity for the Aquarius-Mohon Mountain-Goodwin Mesa areas. Support for statistical-based models of site distribution and function is present at sites concentrated in upper bajada and up!and areas of Study Unit I. Study Unit II displayed site distributions representative of Western Yavapai settlement systems primarily concentrated on desert ecosystems and numerous temporary camps. Obsidian, was acquired from local sources and possibly traded to the Aquarius Mountain groups from the Upper Date Creek Basin. Diagnostic artifacts ranging from, the Middle Archaic Period to Historical times suggest a long period of occupation in the Date Creek Basin and areas to the east of the Big Sandy Valley. All sites except AZ M:2:3 are considered eligible for inclusion into the National Register under criterion "D" based on their ability to address important regional-research issues. AZ M:2:3 14 has been severely impacted by erosion and lacks integrity. Sections within this document include an introduction, environmental characteristics, research and culture history, research design, methods and site descriptions, evaluation of project results, and recommendations. Appendices include the project site form, isolated finds, and an obsidian sourcing analysis contributed by Paul Bouey.

At the request of Salt River Project, the Museum of Northern Arizona conducted an archaeological survey of a proposed 500kV transmission line between the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station (near Wintersburg, Arizona) and the Kyrene Substation (near Tempe, Arizona). During survey of the 73.3 mi right-of-way, evidences of historic and prehistoric activity were recorded at 10 sites and 43 loci of isolated artifacts or features. With few exceptions, all identified remains could be assigned to the Hohokam culture. The Museum recommends, where feasible, that all cultural remains be avoided. In instances where sites or portions of sites cannot be avoided specific mitigation recommendations are presented. This file includes related correspondence.

During 1974-1978, the Museum of Northern Arizona conducted an extensive archaeological mitigation program for the Salt River Project prior to the construction of the Coronado Generating Plant near St. Johns, Arizona, and its energy corridors, the Coronado-Silver King Transmission Line and the Coronado Coal Haul Railroad. Lithic material from those corridors was separated from remaining project data and is reported herein. Objectives of this study are identification and description of all lithic material collected; the recognition of basic morphological and technological differences not related to specific raw material attributes, and additionally, whether such differences refer to specific cultures, time periods, or regions. Therefore, emphasis has been placed on the distributional analysis of raw materials in order to determine whether they were available on or adjacent to the sites, or transported there. Also, an effort has been made to describe the characteristics of material types as they affect flaking quality. Certain methodological considerations applicable to lithic analysis are investigated, including a wide variety of project-specific conditions and processes affecting both the nature of the assemblages available for analysis and the manner in which artifact analyses were undertaken. Among these considerations are theoretical assumptions subject to either verification or repudiation; collection and sampling techniques which were utilized, their extreme variability from site to site, and the effects of this on the validity of statistical inferences; and classification problems which had to be resolved. In this report the lithic material is first described and identified according to mineral type, i.e. chert, chalcedony, etc., with a discussion of geographic distribution. Next is classification by artifact type, and finally, lithic assemblages from individual sites are discussed in detail, with raw data from each site presented in tabular form.

In May 1976, at the request of the Salt River Project, an archaeological clearance investigation of 16 20-acre mining claims on Bureau of Land Management land and a quarter section of state land south of St. Johns, Arizona, was conducted by the Museum of Northern Arizona. 18 archaeological sites were located and recorded. A brief description of the investigations, the project area, and the archaeological situation encountered is given.