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The Record of Native People on Gulf of California Islands [No. 201]A century ago it was common knowledge among historians and anthropologists with research interests in northwestern Mexico that Indians had inhabited four large islands in the Gulf of California. Three of these islands—Cerralvo, Espíritu Santo, and San José—are in the far southern Gulf off the coast of Baja California. The fourth island, Isla Tiburón, is located on the mainland side more than 400 km to the northwest, in the constricted region of the Gulf known as the Midriff. At the turn of the twentieth century, Isla Tiburón was well known as the homeland of the Seri Indians and was the only Gulf island still inhabited by native people. Since 1900, ethnohistorical and archaeological research has greatly expanded our knowledge of Indians on both sides of the Gulf. Much of that information, however, pertains to the people living on the peninsula and mainland, and touches on the islands only incidentally. Consequently, few historians or anthropologists are aware that Indians made use of many islands in addition to Cerralvo, Espíritu Santo, San José, and Tiburón. Scholars in other fi elds may not even know that there were Indians on the Gulf islands other than Tiburón. This is particularly unfortunate for ecologists because native people have been in the region for thousands of years and may have played a signifi cant role in shaping the island ecosystems we see today. Although indigenous humans were by far the largest native terrestrial mammal on all but two islands, and the most voracious omnivore on all of them, Homo sapiens does not appear on island species lists, and the potential effects of native people on insular ecosystems have seldom been considered. Discoveries made just in the past decade show that researchers in all fi elds have seriously underestimated the extent to which native people made use of the islands. Reports of early Spanish navigators have established the presence of Indians on many islands in addition to the four listed above. Recent archaeological research on several islands, along with fortuitous observations on others, have revealed evidence of native people on islands with no known documentary record of Indians. Chronological data from the southern Gulf establishes a time depth for indigenous people spanning at least ten millennia. New information from Seri oral history alludes to Seri voyages far beyond Isla Tiburón and greatly expands the picture of indigenous people in the Midriff region. Collectively, these results show that the traditional assumption, that most islands were beyond the range of native people, is dead wrong. It is now clear that Indians knew and exploited nearly every signifi cant island in the Gulf. This study reviews the evidence of native people on each of 32 major Gulf islands. The list includes all 22 islands larger than 2 km2 and 10 smaller islands for which some data exist (summarized in Table 3.2). The data are drawn from historical documents, oral history, and the archaeological record. To the extent possible these data are given as quotations from the original sources. Collectively, the evidence suggests that native people were familiar with at least 29 of the 32 islands. For 19 of the islands the evidence can be considered unequivocal, consisting of unambiguous historical documentation, credible oral history, and/or a clear archaeological record. For ten islands there is some evidence of human use, but it is limited, weak, or equivocal, and therefore, in need of corroboration. There are no data of any kind for two islands, and one small island has produced no evidence of native people despite a comprehensive archaeological survey (these data are summarized in Table 4.1). Of course, Indians made greater use of some islands than others. In general, large islands, with a greater diversity of resources (including fresh water), were exploited more than small islands, and several supported permanent or seasonal communities of people. However, native visitors may have been drawn seasonally or intermittently to even very small islands with special resources, such as nesting seabirds, sea lion colonies, concentrations of cactus fruit, and abundant seed crops that appear after a rain. Historic and ethnographic sources show that islands did not need permanent water to sustain native visitors, who were quite capable of bringing water with them, subsisting on temporary water in tinajas, or utilizing water substitutes. Distance was apparently no barrier to native use of islands. The cane balsa was the universal watercraft, and historic sources suggest that balsa traffi c was extensive throughout the Gulf. In the hands of the Indians, the balsa was a swift and seaworthy craft, and navigation was no doubt facilitated by expert knowledge of winds and currents. All but two islands were within a day’s paddle, and in most cases the overwater distance to the more remote islands could have been reduced by island hopping. Although we now know that native people exploited nearly every signifi cant island, we need much more information about the time span over which those visits took place. Indians were certainly making use of many islands during the seventeenth century when European navigators began keeping careful records. Seri oral history fi rmly places Seri ancestors on several Midriff Islands during the nineteenth century and conceivably earlier. Archaeology is potentially capable of extending island chronologies into the prehistoric past, but there has been only limited progress on this front. Fewer than half of the 32 islands considered in this study have been systematically surveyed, and controlled excavations have been conducted on only three islands. Unfortunately, the archaeological record for many islands consists only of surface remains, and includes few or no time-sensitive artifacts or structures, and little or no organic material suitable for radiocarbon analysis. Clovis projectile points from both the Sonora mainland and the Baja California peninsula indicate that humans were present in the Gulf region by 13,000 years ago, which means that native people have been potential island visitors since that time. So far, radiocarbon dates have been secured for only five islands, and for four of these islands the few dates that are currently available all post-date AD 700. However, a series of 179 radiocarbon dates from 40 sites on Isla Espíritu Santo have clearly established this island’s long occupational sequence, which extends from about 9000 BC to the fi fteenth century AD. Although one site on this island produced spectacular radiocarbon ages on shells from approximately 36,550 to greater than 47,500 BP, these shells were probably already ancient when people collected them. During the late Pleistocene and early Holocene it is likely that not all of today’s islands existed, or existed as islands. Some small volcanic islands may not yet have emerged from the sea, while some of today’s islands were connected to the shore by land bridges because sea level was much lower than it is today. Any island without a landbridge connection at that time would have been accessible only by watercraft. These non-landbridge islands should be considered prime places to search for early evidence of navigation. This in turn raises the question of whether initial human entry into the Americas took place by boat along a Pacifi c coastal route, and whether subsequent dispersal involved the Gulf. In most coastal entry and dispersal scenarios, it is assumed that coastally-adapted boat people arriving at the southern tip of Baja California crossed the mouth of the Gulf to the Mexican mainland, making landfall in Sinaloa or even farther south. However, as R. James Hills has pointed out, this is highly unlikely. People arriving at the southern tip of the peninsula would have seen seemingly endless ocean in all directions except along the peninsular coast leading into the Gulf. There would have been no reason for people adapted to coastal resources to set out into an apparently empty sea. Instead, they would have followed the coastline into the Gulf, presumably exploring the islands along the way. The fi rst reasonable place to cross the Gulf would have been the Midriff, where they could have island-hopped to the mainland with no overwater distance exceeding 17 km. In Hills’ scenario, the Gulf would occupy a pivotal position in human dispersal in the Americas, and it is possible that evidence of this process has been preserved on some of the Gulf islands.
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Hohokam Archaeology Along the Salt Gila Aqueduct Central Arizona Project - Volume VII: Environment and Subsistence [No. 150 Vol. 7]This seventh volume in the nine-volume series showing results of archaeological studies along the Salt-Gila Aqueduct, focuses upon studies of environmental conditions and subsistence practices at the 45 Hohokam sites investigated by the project. These represent an important element of project research and a level of attention to these studies unprecedented in Hohokam archaeology. It is in this volume that the final results of botanical, faunal, and palynological work are reported. In addition, there are summary statements on SGA Project work related to agricultural technology, broader agricultural strategies, and strategies for the exploitation of natural resources of the Sonoran Desert. This work, taken as a whole, reflects the extraordinary diversity and flexibility of Hohokam subsistence strategies. While drought and floods are the inevitable enemies of agricultural populations, the Hohokam appear to have developed the means of coping with their environment early in their history.
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Hohokam Habitation Sites in the Northern Santa Rita Mountains [No. 147, Vol. 2, Part 2]Comparisons show them to be similar to forms known from other Hohokam sites. In the ninth chapter an analysis of the factors influencing settlement location is presented. Variables such as topography, soils, vegetation, elevation, and distance to permanent water are found to have low correlations to site location, but location of sites is highly correlated to stream profile gradient. Comparisons with sites located in similar areas in southeastern Arizona suggest that this variable may have considerable explanatory and predictive power. The last chapter pulls together all available data to examine the nature of the Hohokam occupation of the Rosemont area. Functional site types and intrasite organization are first discussed. Three categories of functional site types (new farmsteads, stable or growing farmsteads, and one site with a ballcourt) are recognized, as is a pattern on intrasite organization which is probably based in part on Hohokam customs and in part on local topography. Economy and subsistence are next examined, and from the meager data available it is proposed that maize agriculture supplemented by hunting and gathering of upland fauna and flora supported the area's inhabitants. Examination of areal and regional relationships indicates principal contacts with the Phoenix Basin Hohokam, the Mogollon, and the Trincheras cultures. Intrusive decorated pottery is the primary evidence for contact, although the presence of a large number of inhumations and certain aspects of architecture provide further documentation of intercultural contact. The nature of the Tucson Basin Hohokam occupation of the area is next traced in terms of site distribution, population distribution, and intersite organization. Possible organization of the Rosemont "local system" is discussed, and reconstructions of temporal trends in settlement and population numbers are presented. Unstable climatic conditions, in conjunction with overexploitation of the local resource base, is suggested to be the ultimate cause of abandonment of the Rosemont area.
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Archaeological Investigations in West-Central Arizona: The Cyprus-Bagdad Project [No. 136]For ten weeks during the late spring and summer of 1976, the Arizona State Museum conducted data recovery operations at seven archaeological sites as part of the Cyprus-Bagdad Project. These sites were located within the right-of-way of a pipeline to be built by the Cyprus-Bagdad Copper Company, and were investigated in an effort to mitigate adverse impacts from pipeline construction. Research conducted within the project was directed primarily toward problems involving prehistoric adaptation to the local environ- ment. The analyzed data were applied to the testing of hypotheses regarding the relationship of site locations to local availability of water and to the locations of economically significant resources. Also tested were hypotheses intended to assess the importance of agriculture as a mode of subsistence for the area's prehistoric inhabitants. The data were also used to determine the functions of individ- ual project sites. Analysis indicates that these sites represent differing functions ranging from specialized activities such as 1ithic raw material procurement and wild plant food procurement and proces- sing to long-term habitation. At least one site possessed material remains that indicated its inhabitants practiced agriculture. Evi- dence from the project sites also suggests that the availability of water was perhaps the primary consideration of the area's prehistoric inhabitants in determining site location. The history of previous anthropological research and the cul- ture history of the project area are briefly discussed. All seven project sites are described in terms of their condition when discov- ered; morphology; environment; architectural and agricultural features; and chipped stone, ground stone, and ceramic assemblages. The appendices to this report discuss the cr i teria used in evaluating the various artifact assemblages and the location and composition of local source areas of lithic raw material.
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Test Excavations at Painted Rock Reservoir: Sites AZ Z:1:7, AZ Z:1:8, and AZ S:16:36 [No. 143]This report describes the results of test excavations undertaken by the Arizona State Museum during 1978 and 1979 in the vicinity of Gila Bend, Arizona, for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Excavations at AZ Z:1 :7 and AZ Z:1 :8 .involved Santa Cruz and Sacaton Phase Hohokam components within an area that was scheduled for agricultural development. Excavations at AZ S:16:36 were undertaken in connection with proposed modifications of the borrow area at Painted Rock Dam. This site consisted of rock circles and was apparently typical of an interesting archaeological complex concentrated on the northern terraces of the Gila River. Testing results were inconclusive with respect to the cultural affiliation and function of these sites. The report includes a reassessment of prehistory in the Gila Bend area. It is intended to provide a context for the evaluation of. the data derived from these sites. This reassessment is unquestionably speculative. It is hoped, however, that it may encourage others to perform further research in the area.
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An Archaeological Sample Survey of the Middle Santa Cruz River Basin, Picacho Reservoir to Tucson, Arizona: A Class II Survey of the Proposed Tucson Aqueduct Phase A, Central Arizona Project [No. 148]This report presents the results of the Class II (sample) survey of the Tucson Division of the Central Arizona Project. The survey was designed to test the predictive model developed as a part of the Class I (overview) survey of the project area (Westfall 1979). Statistical tests using the survey data show that the model was not particularly successful in predicting the location of cultural resources within the survey area and that it definitely underestimated the archaeological sensitivity of Zone 4, the creosote-bur sage community, which covers most of the project area. Although there was no significant difference in the frequency of sites between zones, the survey results suggest that Zone 3, which includes the desert wash systems of the area, is relatively higher in archaeological sensitivity. An alternate model based on topography and availability of water is evaluated using the survey data. This model may provide a more accurate approximation of site distribution. Finally, recommendations for selection of an aqueduct alignment or alignments and for future archaeological work are provided. As suggested by Westfall, the areas along major water sources such as the Santa Cruz River, McClellan, Brady, and possibly Durham washes, are high in archaeological sensitivity. More sites and larger, more complex sites are concentrated in these areas; construction in these areas should be minimized or avoided if possible. Additional archaeological studies should attempt to assess the relationships between sites, and to determine whether the topographic model proposed in this report may be a reliable predictor of site location. Further survey may permit refinement of this model, or may suggest an alternative which is a better estimator of site distribution. The necessary data concerning functional site types are not readily derived from surface observations, and model testing may await excavation of some sites in the area.
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Hohokam Archaeology Along the Salt Gila Aqueduct Central Arizona Project - Volume IX: Synthesis and Conclusions [No. 150 Vol. 9]This volume is the last in a series of nine reporting the work of the Salt-Gila Aqueduct, Central Arizona Project Archaeological Data Collection Studies and Supplemental Class 3 Survey Project (SGA). This study was funded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Contract No. 0-07- 32-V0101) to mitigate potential adverse impacts of Central Arizona Project construction on cultural resources in the aqueduct right-of-way. Data recovery was conducted at 45 Hohokam sites along a 93 km (58 mile) transect extending from Apache Junction to a point southwest of Coolidge and near Picacho, Arizona (Fig. Intro. 1). This is the largest of the Central Arizona Project archaeological studies to date, although it may fall short of being the largest that will be conducted under the program. (excerpt from Introduction)
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Las Colinas Testing: Research Design [No. 157]This report deals with the proposed testing of prehistoric and historic archaeological resources within the Interstate 10 (I-10) corridor between Interstate 17 and 30th Drive (Group II, Las Colinas) in Phoenix, Arizona. The historic and prehistoric resources are dealt with in separate sections of the research design. The research design dealing with historic resources documents the search for evidence bearing on the possible existence, character, location, and condition of any subsurface historic remains within the pertinent segment of the I-10 corridor. This research shows that for much of its recorded history the corridor segment area consisted of sparsely settled agricultural land. With the exception of several historic canal segments and a house and associated well, no evidence for the possible existence of undocumented historic resources was discovered. No surface indications of the house and well or the canal segments have been observed during the several surface surveys of the corridor. Because of the scale and accuracy of the maps from which the information was derived, it is impossible to determine precisely the former location of the house and well. Thus it is not possible to derive a specific testing program to deal with these features. Their approximate location has been noted, and the possibility of encountering the remains of the house and well has been considered in conjunction with the testing of the prehistoric resources. The approximate position and alignment of the canal segments may be plotted. It is likely that parts of these segments will be encountered during the testing for prehistoric resources, and this probability has been considered in the context of that testing. No testing specifically directed at these historic canal segments is proposed. The portion of the research design dealing with the prehistoric resources first addresses several preliminary research questions that were employed to guide the background research. Data relating to the original nature and extent of Las Colinas, to the relationship of the site to the I-10 corridor, and to the postoccupational processes that have affected the site are reviewed and discussed. For the purposes of this and subsequent discussions, the corridor is divided into six sub-areas. It is shown that Las Colinas was a large Hohokam site that probably once covered slightly less than 2 square miles. The site once contained numerous features, including several platform mounds, trash mounds, houseblocks, pit houses, borrow pits, cremations, inhumations, and possibly a ballcourt. These features were distributed in a roughly linear fashion along an approximately north-south axis. The site appears to have been occupied primarily during the Classic period (A.D. 1150 to 1450), but there is some evidence for earlier occupations. The I-10 corridor cuts the former extent of the site in an east-west direction, subsuming the feature known as Mound 8 and passing slightly north of the feature designated Mound 7. The principal postoccupational processes that have affected Las Colinas include cultivation of the land and associated activities, and the construction of houses, buildings and roads. Most of the major features at the site had been substantially disturbed or destroyed by 1930. The postoccupational processes occurring within the I-10 corridor mirror those experienced by the site as a whole. All but one of the corridor sub-areas had been brought under cultivation by 1889, and parts of the area were still being farmed through the 1950s and even the 1960s. Several early residences associated with the agricultural use of the area were constructed within or near the corridor, but the development of the bulk of the corridor area for residential purposes did not occur until the 1950s and even the 1960s. Even today, substantial portions of the corridor segment under consideration remain as open lots and fields. A testing program based on the information from the preliminary research is presented. Additional research questions are generated to guide the proposed testing, and these questions are related to several current issues in Hohokam archaeology. The methodology to be employed for the testing is outlined and discussed. The techniques to be used include remote sensing (Subsurface Interface Radar), backhoe trenching, and some hand excavation. The specific combinations of these techniques to be used in each of the corridor sub-areas are presented and discussed. These combinations of techniques are tailored to the existing information for each sub-area and to the managerial and scientific goals of the proposed testing. The kinds of data to be collected and the modes of analysis to be employed in processing those data are presented. A plan of work is included in the Appendix.
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Hohokam Palettes [No. 196]This study focuses on one of the few hallmark artifacts from the Hohokam Pre-Classic period: palettes. Previous research on palettes is synthesized and the nature of the prehistoric production, distribution, and use-lives of these artifacts is explored. The term "palette" is found to inadequately and inaccurately describe the many ways in which these artifacts were used within Hohokam society. In its place, the author suggests that the term "tablet" be used for the artifact class. Important byproducts of this study are life-size and highly accurate line drawings of over one thousand palettes, as well as a fully searchable relational database.
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Effects of Inundation on Cultural Resources in Painted Rock Reservoir, Arizona, An Assessment [No. 149]In August 1981 the Cultural Resource Management Division of the Arizona State Museum carried out a 640-acre archaeological survey at Painted Rock Dam in southwestern Arizona. The study, sponsored by the Los Angeles District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, assessed the effects of inundation on rock alignments and other remains. Intensive survey revealed 82 finds in or near the study area, ranging from isolated artifacts to "Rock City," a complex of trails, rock alignments, and artifacts. The remains range in age from probably Preceramic to Recent, but in many cases the actual age and cultural affiliation of finds were ambiguous. This report attempts to distinguish ancient from recent alignments and assesses the potential significance of the remains. Ability to assess the effects of inundation was limited by the lack of pre-inundation data. Nonetheless, some conclusions were reached. Inundation damage was largely due to wave action and was most pronounced on slopes and on top of ridges or knolls. Wave action could ultimately destroy all sites within the reservoir area, but the rate of destruction is unknown and will vary according to the physical setting of sites. The report ends with recommendations for a program of site monitoring and testing and excavation of sites in immediate danger.
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Social Identities Among Archaic Mobile Hunters and Gatherers in the American Southwest [No. 197]The mobile hunters and gatherers of the Archaic Southwest were members of at least three different kinds of social groups: bands, endogamous marriage groups and a risk-sharing economic network. By comparing the geographic distributions of iconological and technological style in cordage, sandals and projectile points, it is possible to distinguish marriage groups from the larger economic networks. Using artifacts from Bat Cave, Tularosa Cave and Cordova Cave in the New Mexico Mogollon and from Presnal Shelter in the Tularosa Basin, this research was able to demonstrate that technological style in fiber artifacts is more geographically constrained than iconological style in textiles or projectile points indicating that although groups using these rock shelters came from different bands, they belonged to the same marriage group, yet participated in different risk-sharing economic networks.
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Pima County Land Exchange Survey [No. 151]This archaeological survey was conducted for Pima County in connection with a recent land trade agreement. Approximately 19.2 square kilometers were surveyed: 9.7 square kilometers near the Pima County Fairgrounds and 9.5 square kilometers in Tucson Mountain Park. Nineteen sites were recorded by the survey; three are on the Fairgrounds property and 16 are in Tucson Mountain Park. Five belong primarily to the historic period, and 14 are primarily prehistoric. The prehistoric sites range from stone quarries, to hilltop camps with rock features, to long-term camps near drainages. The environmental zone model that structured the survey was determined to be useful, but only in a general way. Some problems are discussed about the applicability of this and other similar models for future survey work. Recommendations are that, with the exception of the northern part of Section 15, archaeological clearance be granted for the Fairgrounds parcels. In Tucson Mountain Park, sites are legally protected and no land modification is planned. However, if the Park plans any improvements, such as trails or interpretive exhibits, it is recommended that all sites be avoided. It is also recommended that the archaeological and historical resources not be signed and that attention not be called to their locations.
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The 1968 Excavations at Mound 8 Las Colinas Ruins Group, Phoenix, Arizona [No. 154]This report describes the nature, extent, and results of archaeological excavations conducted at Mound 8 of the Las Colinas Ruins Group, Phoenix, Arizona. The excavations, undertaken in 1968, and subsequent analyses carried out during the following decade, were supervised by Laurens C. Hammack, then of the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona. The Arizona State Museum excavations were authorized by the Arizona Department of Transportation as part of an annual Statewide Archaeological Contract between the two agencies. Las Colinas is a Classic period (A.D. 1100-1450) Hohokam site located between Interstate 17 and 27th Avenue, south of McDowell Road, in Phoenix. The site consists of a specially constructed platform mound, habitation structures, and assorted features. These prehistoric remains were damaged by the construction of a historic adobe house in the 1880s and by vandalism through the following years. Mound 8, and the remains in the immediate vicinity, are threatened by the proposed construction of a segment of Interstate 10 known as the Papago Freeway. Excavations focused on Mound 8, although the flat area east of the mound was tested; a single cremation area was discovered there. Habitation structures on and around the mound were excavated also. It was determined that the mound was composed of post-reinforced, adobe-walled cells and encircling walls that formed the core of the structure. Various additions were made to this core, the most notable of which was a massive, solid-adobe wall. The top of the mound was capped with a layer of adobe on four different occasions. At least 22 habitation structures, both pit houses and houses with solid-adobe walls, were discovered during the excavations. The range of structure morphology for any given period of occupation is much greater than that previously reported for other Classic period Hohokam sites. These and numerous other architectural features are discussed in this report. Substantial collections of ceramic, chipped stone, and ground stone artifacts were recovered. These assemblages were thoroughly analyzed. The methods and results of these analyses are reported in this volume. In addition, specialized analyses were performed on a wide range of materials recovered from the excavations. These analyses, described in appendices, pertain to human osteological remains, disposal of the dead, mammalian remains, bone artifacts, avian remains, shell artifacts, pollen identification, charcoal identification, and historic artifacts. A final appendix lists Arizona State Museum catalogue numbers for many of the artifacts and illustrations found in the volume.
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The Arizona State Museum Cultural Resource Management Division Data Recovery Manual [No. 158]While the Cultural Resource Management Division (CRMD) of the Arizona State Museum (ASM) has had an official Survey Manual since 1980, it has not had a corresponding Data Recovery Manual. The need for such a manual has become increasingly apparent in recent years as the CRMD has conducted a growing number of projects involving collection and excavation of sites. This volume will satisfy that need. lt is not possible to present in one publication all of the information required to guide personnel in the field. For this reason the CRMD has adopted the Simon Fraser University Guide to Basic Archaeological Field Procedures (Fladmark 1980) as a standard background text for field techniques. The CRMD Data Recovery Manual will concentrate on specific technical procedures for intensive surface collection and site excavation in Southwestern contexts. The information presented in this manual should not be accepted as dogma. Every project is unique, and no single inflexible approach to all technical problems will be appropriate. Rather, the manual should be used for general guidance and should not stand in the way of project-specific decision making when this is called for. The CRMD Data Recovery Manual has been organized in a sequence comparable to that of the Simon Fraser Guide (SFG). Sections of the manual amend and add to the specific sections of the SFG. The ASM Survey Manual (Vogler 1980) serves this function for Chapter 1 of the SFG. Examples of standard forms are provided in the Data Recovery Manual along with instructions for their use. Although individual projects may require data not elicited by these forms, and the detail with which individual information classes are covered may vary, all information requested on these forms is essential to good basic recording. Some response should be made in each information category. (excerpt from the Introduction)
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The 1979-1983 Testing at Los Morteros (AZ AA:12:57 ASM), A Large Hohokam Village Site in the Tucson Basin [No. 177]Los Morteros (AZ AA:12:57 [ASM]) is a large Hohokam village site located at the northern end of the Tucson Mountains along the Santa Cruz River. Named for the bedrock mortars located near the center of the site, Los Morteros has a rich and varied history. Several phases of prehistoric occupation are suggested by ceramics representing the Colonial, Sedentary, and Classic periods (A.D. 500 to 1450). The range of features present is considerable, including cremation pits, pit houses, roasting pits, mounds, canals, petroglyphs, hill-side terraces (trincheras), a ballcourt, and the bedrock mortars. Spatially, th~ site covers a large area, but most features are clustered in a limited core area (Fig. 1.1). The area around Los Morteros has also been used during historical times (see Stein 1982). In this report reference to the historical period is limited to those events that bear directly on the site of Los Morteros, in particular the history of archaeological interest in the site. Our major concern is with the prehistoric components at Los Morteros. (excerpt from Introduction)
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Prehistory of the St. Johns Area, East-Central Arizona: The TEP St. Johns Project [No. 153]The TEP St. Johns Project was conducted by the Cultural Resource Management Section of the Arizona State Museum under contract to Tucson Electric Power Company and was designed to mi~igate impacts to cultural resources located within a proposed railrbad right-of-way corridor east of St. Johns, Arizona. The proposed corridor begins at a point 8 miles northeast of St, Johns and extends 27 miles southward to the proposed TEP Springerville Generating Station north of Springerville, Arizona. The corridor crosses both State and private lands; no federal lands were involved. Archaeological investigations on State lands were conducted under Arizona State Museum Permits No. 79-15 (Phase I) and No. 79-21 (Phase 11). A preexcavation testing phase determined that 14 of 25 recorded sites within the corridor warranted intensive study; 12 of these yielded evidence for occupation by Archaic groups, and two were small Cibola Anasazi pueblos occupied in the Pueblo I I and Pueblo 111 periods (A.D. 1050 to 1200). The research design stressed the need to describe and define the Archaic culture pattern represented in th~ St. Johns area, which had previously been the subject of only limited study. Evidence was found for an intermittent Archaic occupation spanning 5500 B.C. to A.D. 600, and the settlement pattern was found to have interesting parallels with the pattern described by Irwin-Williams (1973) for the 0shara Tradition in northwestern New Mexico. Analysis of data focused on describing vafiabil ity in lithic reduction technology and attempted to ascertain if this variability could be related to temporal and cultural change. The two pueblo sites were found to be individual components of a larger Cibola Anasazi pueblo settlement of 11 small pueblos (the Platt Ranch Settlement). The settlement was occupied for a relatively short period--between A.D. 1050 and 1250. An interesting aspect of the pueblos was that all were constructed of adobe rather than rock masonry. The research strategy addressed problems of determining whether occupation was seasonal or permanent and the subsequent implications for defining Puebloan settlement systems duiing the Pueblo II and Pueblo III periods in the upper Little Colorado River region.
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An Archaeological Assessment of the Proposed Catalina State Park [No. 141]In April of 1980, the Cultural Resource Management Section (CRMS) of the Arizona State Museum (ASM) contracted with Arizona State Parks to provide an archaeological assessment of a portion of the proposed Catalina State Park lands. Approximately 9.7 square km (3.75 square miles) of the proposed park, which is located roughly 22 km (14 miles) north of Tucson, Arizona, were surveyed, and a records check and literature search were undertaken for the area. Two previous CRMS projects, the Rancho Romero reconnaissance (Roubicek, Cummings, and Hartmann 1973) and the Canada del Oro assessment (Brew 1975), had studied portions of the present project area, but to acquire the precise archaeological information required by Arizona State Park planners for the first phase of park development for public use, additional study of the area, especially in the form of survey work, was deemed mandatory. The archaeological survey that was conducted in conjunction with preparing the archaeological assessment resulted in the location of four previously unrecorded prehistoric sites (two camp sites, one resource- processing locality, and one agriculture-related water-control system); the relocation of known sites, with the correction of some erroneous site loca- tions; the definition of zones of moderate artifact density that will require additional investigation; and photographic documentation of all recent his- toric structures encountered in the project area. The literature search revealed seven previously recorded sites in the project area, some additional historical information on ranching activities in the vicinity, and sources that should produce more in-depth data for future studies. This report provides both a summary of the available information on the prehistoric and historic resources contained in the study area and recommendations regarding their management, and discusses the eligibility of various sites for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places and the Arizona State Register of Historic Places.
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Highway Salvage on Arizona State Highway 98: Kayenta Anasazi Sites Between Kaibito and the Klethla Valley [No. 140]The purpose of this report is to document the results of the · Arizona State Highway 98 salvage project, conducted in 1967. The col- lections and field notes for the present repor~ have traveled with the author of the in the on a circuitous path, until the report was finished. Analysis artifacts has been completed by several people, as recognized acknowledgments. The present report presents the results of part of the salvage excavations in the right-of-way of Navajo Route 22, now State Highway 98, which connects U.S. Highway 160 in the Klethla Valley with Page, Arizona (Figure 1). In 1966, Calvin H. Jennings and Larry E. Powers recorded 21 sites during survey of this corridor. During the following year, eleven of these sites were tested or excavated. From July 10 to August 10, 1967, Jennings supervised the excavation o( six sites within the eastern 17 miles of Highway 98. Between September 18 and October 27, 1967, the author, assisted by Peter J. Pilles, Jr., excavated five more sites in the adjacent 14-mile section of the highway extending west to Kaibito, Arizona. The latter phase of the work is reported here; the report for the eastern portion has not yet been written, although I have included some illustrations of two of the sites excavated by Jennings for com- parative purposes. The information in this report is presented in order to add to the rapidly accumulating data on Kayenta Anasazi settlement. The Highway 98 project is one of several corridor salvage operations con- ducted in this part of the Kayenta region during the last 20 years. These excavations have all taken place in a rather limited area, includ- ing the Klethla Valley (Bliss 1960; Ambler and Olson 1977), the Shonta Plateau (Anderson 1969), and the area west of Klethla Valley included in this report. In the near future, other information for this area will be available in the report of large-scale salvage operations along the Black Mesa to Lake Powell coal-haul railroad corridor. All of these projects are in close proximity to two intensive, long-term projects-- the Long House Valley survey and survey and excavations on Black Mesa-- that have systematically accumulated environmental and cultural data for the study and understanding of Kayenta settlement and climatic change. [excerpt from the Introduction]