The Archaeological Test Excavations of Five Sites in the Lake Pleasant Regional Park

During the summer of 1988, archaeologists from Archaeological Consulting Services of Tempe, Arizona, conducted an archaeological survey of seven miles of 250-foot wide road right-of-way in Lake Pleasant Regional Park located northwest of Phoenix. This survey was conducted in order to provide inventory and assessment of the cultural resources that might be affected by the construction of additional internal roads within the park boundary. This survey resulted in the identification of nine prehistoric sites and 29 prehistoric isolated occurrences. Five of these sites were determined to have the potential to possess significant archaeological research information and, as such, may have been eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Because the sites under consideration here cannot be avoided during planned construction activities and would thus be adversely affected, it was recommended that a testing program be conducted to determine eligibility.

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation, SWCA conducted an archaeological testing program at these sites from September 18-26, 1989. The purpose of this testing program was to determine the presence or absence of significant subsurface deposits as they relate to the National Register criteria. This report documents the nature and results of the archaeological testing conducted at these five sites.

Sites AZ T:3:61 (ASM), AZ T:3:62 (ASM), and AZ T:3:64 (ASM) were found to contain no significant subsurface deposits. Sites AZ T:3:60 (ASM) and AZ T:3:65 (ASM) were found to contain limited subsurface deposits consistent with those found at sites possessing similar surface manifestations from previous studies. These sites are not eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. SWCA recommends that archaeological clearance be granted for the Lake Pleasant Regional Park internal roads project.