Archaeological Investigations Along Reach 7 of the Granite Reef Aqueduct, Central Arizona Project

Under contract with the Bureau of Reclamation, the Office of Cultural Resource Management (OCRM), Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, completed an archaeological survey of Reach 7, the Hassayampa, Jackrabbit, and Centennial Wash Siphons, and two borrow areas. Reach 7 of the Granite Reef Aqueduct extends about 11 miles from the Hassayampa-Wickenburg Road west to the Hassayampa River.
OCRM archaeologists identified and documented 35 field loci and over 100 isolated artifacts during the Reach 7 survey. Based on relative density of cultural material dispersion, the majority of the field loci were grouped into five sites: AZ T:5:2 (ASU); AZ T:5:3 (ASU); AZ T:5:4 (ASU); AZ T:6:1 (ASU); and AZ T:6:2 (ASU).
Mitigation was completed at four sites in March of 1978. The features, consisting of rock piles or rock rings, at AZ T:5:3 (ASU) and AZ T:5:4 (ASU) were tested. Surface collection at AZ T:5:4 (ASU) and AZ T:6:1 (ASU) was conducted based on a stratified random sample, while all surface artifacts at AZ T:6:2 (ASU) were collected.
The investigations identified a pattern of secondary resource zone exploitation in the desert areas between the river valleys. Researchers defined and described a secondary resource zone as an area which did not support a permanent population, but was utilized intermittently, probably on a seasonal basis, in the exploitation of wild plant and animal food resources by people whose primary subsistence was derived from a different zone.