Archaeological Excavation of Isolated Human Remains at the Tres Rios Wetlands Demonstration Site in Southwest Phoenix, Maricopa County: Report

The Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office (PXAO) partnered with the City of Goodyear and the Corps of Engineers to develop an artificial wetland for the purpose of treating brine concentrated wastewater to be discharged into surface waters at the Tres Rios Wetlands Demonstration Site, in Maricopa County, Arizona. Although the area had been investigated for the presences of buried cultural resources prior to construction, human remains and associated grave goods were discovered during construction of the wetland ponds. At the request of PXAO, Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) excavated and analyzed the isolated human remains and associated artifacts before construction was allowed to resume. This report presents the results of this undertaking.

The discovery was designated as AZ:T:12:93(ASM), but this site may have originally been part of AZ T:12:2(ASU), which was previously identified in the project area. AZ T:12:2(ASU) was not relocated during the Tres Rios cultural resource investigations and it is not possible to definitively associate AZ:T:12:93(ASM) with AZ T:12:2(ASU).

ACS concluded that AZ:T:12:93(ASM) does not appear to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places due to lack of integrity. With the recovery of the human remains and associated artifacts from Feature 1, all information from AZ T:12:93(ASM) has been recorded and no further investigations were recommended. The human remains and associated grave goods were stored at the Pueblo Grande Museum until they could be repatriated to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.