1. Tonto Creek Archaeological Project: Life and Death Along Tonto Creek
- Author
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Fernandez, Rachel
- Subjects
AZ U:3:298 (ASM) ,Los Hermanos ,Vista del Puerto ,Pendants ,Artifact Scatter ,Early Classic Period ,Archaeological Overview ,Burial Pit ,Las Tortugas ,TNF AR-03-12-06-2283 ,AZ U:3:5 (ASM) ,AZ U:3:294 (ASM) ,Sedentary Period ,Archaeological Feature ,Middle Archaic ,Granary Row ,Funerary and Burial Structures or Features ,Wood ,Fauna ,Cerro Flojo ,Ground Stone ,Colonial Period ,TNF AR-03-12-06-199 ,Tonto Basin ,Late Historic period ,Middle Archaic Period ,Site Evaluation / Testing ,Arizona (State / Territory) ,AZ U:300 (ASM) ,Inhumation burial ,Tres Huerfanos ,TNF AR-03-12-06-126 ,TNF AR-03-12-06-203 ,Shell ,Pre-classic period ,AZ U:3:224 (ASM) ,TNF AR-03-12-06-2064 ,AZ U:3:289 (ASM) ,AZ U:3:299 (ASM) ,Heron Hatch ,Chipped Stone ,Prickly Saguaro ,AZ U:3:297 (ASM) ,AZ U:3:277 (ASM) ,Hodgepodge Ridge ,Ceramic ,Cremation Burial ,Archaic ,TNF AR-03-12-06-332 ,Data Recovery / Excavation ,TNF AR-03-12-06-1368 ,Mortuary Assemblages ,Pit ,Human Remains ,TNF AR-03-12-06-1362 ,TNF AR-03-12-06-1365 - Abstract
The Tonto Creek Archaeological Project (TCAP) area was located in the Tonto Basin of east-central Arizona. The project, funded by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), was undertaken by Desert Archaeology, Inc., in advance of the 1994-1996 realignment of Arizona State Route (SR) 188. The area available for investigation was a 61-m- (200-ft-) wide corridor, centered on the planned route for the realigned highway. This corridor, on Tonto National Forest land, followed a 13.3-km (8-mi) stretch of the western terrace overlooking Tonto Creek. From 1992 to 1996, portions of 27 archaeological sites were investigated in the project area. To coordinate archaeological investigation with the construction timetable, the TCAP area was divided into three sections (south-to-north): Sycamore Creek, Punkin Center, and Slate Creek. The Punkin Center section contained most of the sites, and over 80 percent of the field effort was expended in this section. Site components ranged in date from the Middle Archaic period to the Late Historic era. The majority dated to the Colonial, Sedentary, and early Classic periods, circa A.D. 750-1325. A total of 108 structures and 315 burials were excavated, in addition to numerous other cultural features. The architectural sample included pre-Classic period pit structures, as well as early Classic period pitrooms and surface masonry rooms. Early Classic inhumations accounted for nearly 90 percent of the excavated mortuary features. Other mortuary features included 21 Colonial period cremations and 13 pre-Classic inhumations. Eight sites in the Punkin Center section yielded the vast majority of burial features.Only two of the 315 burials were encountered outside of the Punkin Center section. A large assemblage of mortuary offerings was recovered from TCAP burials. Nearly 1,150 whole and reconstructible ceramic vessels, 37,500 pieces of shell and ground stone jewelry, and 187 projectile points were recovered from mortuary contexts. Additionally, painted wooden objects, three clay-lined and painted baskets, and several ground stone tools were collected. This collection was thoroughly documented prior to its repatriation to the Salt River-Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in 2000. This volume contains the descriptions of mortuary features from the project area and many of the analyses related to the mortuary assemblage.
- Published
- 2001
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