Salvage Excavations in the New Yard at Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona

In 1993 Arizona State Parks received an Arizona Heritage Fund/State Historic Preservation Office grant to rebuild the historic wall that originally surrounded the New Yard at Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park(AZ X:6:90(ASM)). The project entailed removing a reconstructed adobe wall and replicating the original adobe wall, which was originally built by the prisoners in 1900. Although a previous archaeology survey noted that subsurface cultural remains may be present surface indications had not shown any prehistoric or historic remains. Over the years there had been extensive remodeling of the wall and surrounding areas, removal of the soil, and leveling of the land. Therefore, it was unexpected when Yuma Prison parks personnel noticed a small amount of historic trash emerging as the backhoe began removing a section of the reconstructed adobe wall. Parks personnel asked the construction company to stop work at that particular location until the state parks archaeologist Catherine Johnson could travel to Yuma to investigate.

Ms. Johnson asked Archaeological Consulting Services. Ltd. (ACS) to analyze historic material recovered from salvage excavations. Ms. Karolyn Jackman Jensen analyzed, interpreted. and reported on the historic artifacts. Dr. Margaret Glass analyzed, interpreted, and reported on the faunal material. Project background and field methods were written by Ms. Johnson.