Cultural Affiliation Statement, Upper Gila River Valley, Arizona: Report

At the request of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and in collaboration with the Bureau of Indian Affairs' San Carlos Irrigation Project (SCIP), the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) undertook a Class III cultural resources inventory on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in the vicinity of San Carlos Reservoir, developed a cultural affiliation statement for human remains and associated objects encountered within the project area, and prepared an overview and needs assessment for cultural resources that may be adversely affected by activities related to the use and maintenance of San Carlos Reservoir.

The San Carlos Apache Tribe sought the establishment of a minimum pool in San Carlos Reservoir to prevent a total drawdown of the reservoir and a resulting catastrophic fish kill and loss of revenue from sport fishing and other reservoir-related recreational activities. The San Carlos Apache Tribe was also concerned with the effect fluctuating water levels was having on cultural resources located along the perimeter of the reservoir, particularly the possible exposure of human remains.

The project area for the cultural affiliation study is 4,800 mi2 (7,680 km2). Due to cultural diversity, the area is divided into three subareas: the Safford Basin, the Globe Highlands, and Point of Pines. In total, 1,434 archaeological sites in this region have been entered into the OldAZSITE and New AZSITE databases at the Arizona State Museum (ASM); several hundred others have not yet been entered.
The period chronology used here for the ceramic horizon includes the Early Formative (AD. 1-750), Late Formative (AD. 750-1050/1100), and Classic periods (AD. 1050/1100-1450/1500).

The cultural resources survey for this project can be found at tDAR ID: 393843.
The needs assessment for this project can be found at tDAR ID: 397321.