A Plan for Archaeological Investigations at Historic Dam Construction Camps in Central Arizona

In June 1986, the Bureau of Reclamation awarded a three-year contract to Dames & Moore to undertake historical archaeological studies as part of the mitigation program for the Regulatory Storage Division (Plan 6) of the Central Arizona Project. This report presents a plan for guiding this research which will investigate about 45 archaeological sites. The proposed primary goal is to produce a social history of life in temporary construction camps at seven major water storage dams built in central Arizona from the l890s to 1940s. Investigations of demography, daily life, work environments and ethnic relations are identified as research themes. The sites to be studied are described and methodologies for pursuing archaeological fieldwork, historic research and laboratory analysis are discussed.