Tonto Creek Archaeological Project: Life and Death Along Tonto Creek
Creators: name: Fernandez, Rachel
Publisher: name: Center for Desert Archaeology
Year: 2001
Subjects: subject: Tonto Basin
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/92/tonto-basin
subject: Arizona (State / Territory)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/79515/arizona-state-territory
subject: Sedentary Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5504/sedentary-period
subject: Colonial Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5377/colonial-period
subject: Pre-classic period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5857/pre-classic-period
subject: Middle Archaic Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/6134/middle-archaic-period
subject: Late Historic period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5611/late-historic-period
subject: Early Classic Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/5628/early-classic-period
subject: Archaic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/8/archaic
subject: Middle Archaic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/10/middle-archaic
subject: Prickly Saguaro
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83885/prickly-saguaro
subject: AZ U:3:289 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83858/az-u3289-asm
subject: AZ U:3:299 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83860/az-u3299-asm
subject: AZ U:3:298 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83859/az-u3298-asm
subject: AZ U:3:224 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83862/az-u3224-asm
subject: AZ U:3:297 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83861/az-u3297-asm
subject: AZ U:3:294 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83864/az-u3294-asm
subject: AZ U:3:5 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83867/az-u35-asm
subject: AZ U:3:277 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83870/az-u3277-asm
subject: Cerro Flojo
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83556/cerro-flojo
subject: TNF AR-03-12-06-126
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83876/tnf-ar-03-12-06-126
subject: Heron Hatch
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83555/heron-hatch
subject: TNF AR-03-12-06-2064
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83875/tnf-ar-03-12-06-2064
subject: TNF AR-03-12-06-2283
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83878/tnf-ar-03-12-06-2283
subject: Tres Huerfanos
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83557/tres-huerfanos
subject: TNF AR-03-12-06-203
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83877/tnf-ar-03-12-06-203
subject: Hodgepodge Ridge
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83560/hodgepodge-ridge
subject: TNF AR-03-12-06-1368
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83880/tnf-ar-03-12-06-1368
subject: Los Hermanos
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83559/los-hermanos
subject: AZ U:300 (ASM)
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83879/az-u300-asm
subject: Granary Row
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83562/granary-row
subject: TNF AR-03-12-06-1362
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83882/tnf-ar-03-12-06-1362
subject: Las Tortugas
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83561/las-tortugas
subject: TNF AR-03-12-06-1365
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83881/tnf-ar-03-12-06-1365
subject: TNF AR-03-12-06-332
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83884/tnf-ar-03-12-06-332
subject: Vista del Puerto
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83563/vista-del-puerto
subject: TNF AR-03-12-06-199
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/83883/tnf-ar-03-12-06-199
subject: Funerary and Burial Structures or Features
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/301/funerary-and-burial-structures-or-features
subject: Inhumation burial
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/2192/inhumation-burial
subject: Burial Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/307/burial-pit
subject: Archaeological Feature
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/339/archaeological-feature
subject: Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/355/pit
subject: Artifact Scatter
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/340/artifact-scatter
subject: Cremation Burial
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/2106/cremation-burial
subject: Shell
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/14/shell
subject: Wood
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/15/wood
subject: Ceramic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/1/ceramic
subject: Chipped Stone
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/2/chipped-stone
subject: Fauna
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/4/fauna
subject: Pendants
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/101/pendants
subject: Ground Stone
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/7/ground-stone
subject: Human Remains
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/9/human-remains
subject: Mortuary Assemblages
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/79298/mortuary-assemblages
subject: Archaeological Overview
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/1/archaeological-overview
subject: Data Recovery / Excavation
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/5/data-recovery-excavation
subject: Site Evaluation / Testing
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/10/site-evaluation-testing

description: The Tonto Creek Archaeological Project (TCAP) area was located in the Tonto Basin of east-central Arizona. The project, funded by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), was undertaken by Desert Archaeology, Inc., in advance of the 1994-1996 realignment of Arizona State Route (SR) 188. The area available for investigation was a 61-m- (200-ft-) wide corridor, centered on the planned route for the realigned highway. This corridor, on Tonto National Forest land, followed a 13.3-km (8-mi) stretch of the western terrace overlooking Tonto Creek. From 1992 to 1996, portions of 27 archaeological sites were investigated in the project area. To coordinate archaeological investigation with the construction timetable, the TCAP area was divided into three sections (south-to-north): Sycamore Creek, Punkin Center, and Slate Creek. The Punkin Center section contained most of the sites, and over 80 percent of the field effort was expended in this section. Site components ranged in date from the Middle Archaic period to the Late Historic era. The majority dated to the Colonial, Sedentary, and early Classic periods, circa A.D. 750-1325. A total of 108 structures and 315 burials were excavated, in addition to numerous other cultural features. The architectural sample included pre-Classic period pit structures, as well as early Classic period pitrooms and surface masonry rooms. Early Classic inhumations accounted for nearly 90 percent of the excavated mortuary features. Other mortuary features included 21 Colonial period cremations and 13 pre-Classic inhumations. Eight sites in the Punkin Center section yielded the vast majority of burial features.Only two of the 315 burials were encountered outside of the Punkin Center section. A large assemblage of mortuary offerings was recovered from TCAP burials. Nearly 1,150 whole and reconstructible ceramic vessels, 37,500 pieces of shell and ground stone jewelry, and 187 projectile points were recovered from mortuary contexts. Additionally, painted wooden objects, three clay-lined and painted baskets, and several ground stone tools were collected. This collection was thoroughly documented prior to its repatriation to the Salt River-Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in 2000. This volume contains the descriptions of mortuary features from the project area and many of the analyses related to the mortuary assemblage.