Archaeological Investigations at AZ T:4:53 (ASU), A Site Located Along the Reach 9 Completion 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 the completion of Reach 9. The project area extends about 1 mile from the Agua Fria River Siphon east to the New River Siphon.
OCRM archaeologists identified and documented one field locus and four isolated artifacts during the Reach 9 completion survey. The field locus was designated as AZ T:4:53 (ASU).
Mitigation was completed at AZ T:4:53 (ASU) in May of 1979. Artifacts were collected from the surface and four test pits were excavated in areas of high artifact density. No subsurface features were identified.
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.