Prehistory and History of the Upper Gila River, Arizona and New Mexico: An Archaeological Overview

摘要

From July 1983 to February 1984, New World Research, Inc. carried out a cultural resources literature search and field check of portions of the upper Gila River and the lower and middle San Francisco River. The purpose of the research was to provide initial planning information for proposed brush removal, channel clearing, local flood control, and a dam and reservoir site. The archaeology of the upper Gila region is poorly understood; to help remedy this, somewhat extended introductory discussions are provided. Previous research in the area is outlined. The environmental setting is discussed. The prehistoric and historic periods are summarized. Subsequently, the cultural resources located by the overview research are evaluated, and a discussion of the study area's archaeological sensitivity is provided. The project's key management findings are as follows: (1) The upper Gila region is an area of unusually rich cultural resources, which indicates that any extensive land-altering project could incur lengthy and costly mitigation procedures. (2) Some of the mitigation procedures could be avoided by careful restriction of the areas to affected. (3) intensive survey is recommended as the next step in cultural resources research for some of the areas; a sample survey seems more appropriate in the remainder.