Theodore Roosevelt Dam Studies: Map of Project and Investigation Areas for the Mitigation Program

The Theodore Roosevelt dam studies impact mitigation program consisted of three data recovery studies that the Bureau of Reclamation funded to investigate the prehistory of the Tonto Basin in the vicinity of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. The research was necessary to mitigate any adverse effects related to modifying and raising the height of the Theodore Roosevelt Dam in the Tonto Basin.

A planning team composed of archaeologists from the Bureau of Reclamation, Tonto National Forest, and the State Historic Preservation Office developed a program of multiple, parallel projects to complete the impact mitigation studies for the Roosevelt Dam modifications. The goal established by the planning team was to treat the prehistoric sites as part of regional systems. Most of the research effort was directed at sites that lay within the limits of the expanded reservoir, but sites beyond the reservoir were also included.

Each of the three projects examined one or more clusters of sites at different locations around the reservoir. "The Roosevelt Platform Mound Study" focused on sites of the Salado period, especially on platform mounds and the residential compounds clustered around the mounds. The Arizona State University Office of Cultural Resource Management (OCRM) conducted the work for the platform mound study. A second project, "The Roosevelt Community Development Study", examined the developments that took place in the centuries leading up to the appearance of platform mounds. This research was conducted at a series of sites on the northern bank of the Salt River opposite the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study's Pinto Creek Complex sites. Desert Archaeology, Inc. conducted the work for the Roosevelt Community Development study. The third project, "The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study", examined small sites located away from the larger prehistoric villages for the purpose of determining the importance of nonriverine settings in the adaptive strategies of the people of the Tonto Basin. It involved work at six different locations around the perimeter of Roosevelt Lake. Statistical Research, Inc. completed the research for the third study.

The map shows each study's project and investigation areas. The studies are labeled by the cultural resource management firm that conducted that study. This black and white map was published in many of the report volumes that were published to report the results of the three studies.