Archaeological Investigations Along Reach 5B 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 archaeological survey of Reach 5B. Reach 5B of the Granite Reef Aqueduct extends about 11 miles from the Buckeye-Salome Road east to the Burnt Mountain Study Area.
OCRM archaeologists identified and documented 13 field loci and 20 isolated artifacts during the Reach 5B survey. Based on relative density of cultural material dispersion, the field loci were grouped into four sites: AZ S:8:5 (ASU), previously recorded as AZ S:8:1 (ASM); AZ S:8:12 (ASU); AZ S:8:13 (ASU); and AZ S:8:14 (ASU).
Mitigation was completed at these four sites in June of 1979. Artifacts were collected from the surface of all 4 sites. In addition, test units were excavated at AZ S:8:12 (ASU) and AZ S:8:14 (ASU) but 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.