BLM LIBRARY 88022060 ND MANAGEMENT ARIZONA Deceptive Desolation: Prehistory of the Sonoran Desert in West Central Arizona Connie L. Stone CULTURAL RESOURCE SERIES No. 1 1986 BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT ARIZONA CULTURAL RESOURCE SERIES No. 1 Deceptive Desolation: Prehistory of the Sonoran Desert in West Central Arizona . Connie L. Stone (1986) No. 2 The Archaeology of Southeast Arizona: A Class I Cultural Resource Inventory . Gordon Bronitsky and James D. Merritt (1986) No. 3 A Ground Stone Implement Quarry on the Lover Colorado River , Northwestern Arizona. Bruce B. Huckell (1986) Bureau of Land Management Arizona State Office Post Office Box 16365 3707 North 7th Street Phoenix, Arizona 85011 fr e< Deceptive Desolation: Prehistory of the Sonoran Desert in West Central Arizona by Connie L. Stone Cultural Resource Series Monograph No. 1 Published by the Arizona State Office of the Bureau of Land Management 3707 N. 7th Street Phoenix, Arizona 85014 October 1986 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In a sense, this volume represents the combined effort of all initiated the Cultural Resource Series of publications and archaeologists who have worked in the west central desert. provided overall support and labor in editing and paste-up. Informal conversations with many of these individuals The editing skills and assistance of Jane Closson, State have enhanced the final product. Special thanks go to Office Writer/Editor, were an important contribution. Mary Barger, Phoenix District Archaeologist for the Karen Daniels of the Phoenix District Office assisted in the Bureau of Land Management, who painstakingly reviewed final production. District employees Wanda Johnson and the voluminous draft. Todd Bostwick commented on por- LucieAnn Gliosci typed tables. Amos Sloan took great care tions of the draft, and John Rampe provided valuable input in drafting the final maps. The expertise of many BLM on the environmental chapters. Dr. Pat Mariella offered archaeologists and natural resource specialists contrib- ethnographic information and copies of historical docu- uted to a broad ecological perspective. ments. Reed Hawkes drafted a dandy little symbol of Finally, I thank the Mohave people for their hospitality important desert food sources. offered when I was a teen-ager on a field trip to the Colo- Many BLM personnel contributed to the production of the rado River community. That visit prompted an abiding overview. Marlyn Jones, Phoenix District Manager, sup- appreciation of the western Arizona desert and its people. I ported the in-house production of an overview document. hope that this volume will help others to appreciate our Gary Stumpf, the Arizona State Office Archaeologist, national treasure, the public lands of the West. in TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Page No. No. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 7: RESEARCH DOMAINS Deceptive Desolation 1 Culture History 75 A Brief Review of Overviews 4 Cultural Ecology 77 Organization of the Overview 5 Social Interaction 78 Lithic Resource Use 84 CHAPTER 2: THE ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES OF Environmental Change 85 THE DESERT ZONE Conclusion 86 Physiography and Geology 7 CHAPTER 8: HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL Hydrology 13 RESEARCH IN THE Climate 15 PRESCOTT REGION 87 Vegetation 16 CHAPTER 9: A SUMMARY PREHISTORY OF Wildlife 19 THE PRESCOTT REGION The Prehistoric Environment and Research Issues 94 Historic Changes 20 CHAPTER 10: SITE CHARACTERISTICS: CHAPTER 3: THE ENVIRONMENT AND TYPES, VALUES, AND NATURAL RESOURCES OF MANAGEMENT THE SKULL VALLEY ZONE RECOMMENDATIONS Physiography and Geology 25 Desert Site Types 99 Hydrology 27 A General Discussion of the Site Types 101 Climate 27 CHAPTER 11: VALUES AND USE CATEGORIES Vegetation 27 OF CULTURAL RESOURCES Wildlife 30 Current Scientific Use 117 The Prehistoric Environment and Potential Scientific Use 118 Historic Changes 30 Conservation for Future Use 119 CHAPTER 4: A REGIONAL ETHNOGRAPHIC Management Use 119 REVIEW Socio-Cultural Use 120 The River Yumans 33 Public Use 121 The Upland Yumans 39 Discharged Use 123 Intertribal Relations 43 CHAPTER 12: THE DETERIORATION OF THE The Historic Disruption of Native Groups 47 RESOURCE BASE: MODERN CHAPTER 5: HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL LAND USE AND NATURAL RESEARCH IN THE PROCESSES DESERT ZONE The Nature of Impacts in the Study Area 125 Early Explorations 51 Strategies for the Protection of Early Archaeological Surveys 51 Cultural Resources 129 The Post-War and Pre-Contract Years 54 CHAPTER 13: SITE CHARACTERISTICS Contract Archaeology and Federal Management ... 54 AND MANAGEMENT CHAPTER 6: A SUMMARY PREHISTORY CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE OF THE NORTHERN SKULL VALLEY ZONE SONORAN DESERT Site Types 135 The Antiquity of Desert Occupation 59 The State of the Resource Base 136 The Paleoindian Period 60 CHAPTER 14: INVENTORY Archaic Occupations 61 RECOMMENDATIONS The Ceramic Period: Patayan, Hakataya, Survey Methodology 138 and Hohokam 66 Planning for Future Inventories in West Central Arizona 143 REFERENCES 155 TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) LIST OF TABLES LIST OF MAPS Table Page Map Page No. No. No. No. 4-1 Annual Subsistence Schedule for 1-1 Cultural Resource Overview Units in Arizona ... 2 Colorado River Yumans 36 1-2 Administrative Areas in Southwestern 4-2 Annual Subsistence Schedule for Arizona 3 Gila River Yumans 40 2-1 The Sonoran Desert 8 4-3 Annual Subsistence Schedule for Northeastern 2-2a West of Phoenix: The Arizona Outback 10 and Western Yavapai 42 2-2b The Desert Zone 11 4-4 Western Arizona Yumans: Intertribal Trade .... 45 2-3 Major Vegetation Zones 18 6-1 Archaic Phase Designations for 3-1 The Skull Valley Zone 26 Southwestern Arizona 64 3-2 Skull Valley Area Vegetation Zones 28 6-2 Summary of Culture History of the 4-1 19th Century Tribal Locations and Modern Northern Sonoran Desert 70 Reservations 34 7-1 Edible Plant Locations and Seasonal 4-2 Yavapai Regional Bands 44 Availability in the Sonoran Desert 80 4-3 Historic Tribal Alliances 46 12-1 Land Use Practices and Natural Processes 5-1 Location of Archaeological Projects 52 That Can Contribute to the Deterioration 6-1 Selected Archaic Site Locations in the of Cultural Resources 126 Southwest and Great Basin 63 12-2 Expected Impacts and Relative Threats to 6-2 Kroeber's Reconstruction of Camp Location Different Site Types 130 in the West Central Desert 72 12-3 Strategies for the Protection of 7-1 The Granite Reef Model: Predicted Areas of Cultural Resources 131 High Natural Resource Potential 79 14-1 Considerations for Planning Future Surveys . 144 7-2 The Granite Reef Model: Predicted River-Desert 14-2 Outline for Assigning Priorities Frontier Zones 82 for Inventory 145 8-1 Archaeological Sites in the Prescott Region 88 14-3 The Harcuvar-Vulture Sampling Design 146 14-la Recommended Areas for Inventory: Federal 14-4 Summary of Class II Survey Results Lands in the Desert Zone 151 Within Strata 147 14-lb Recommended Areas for Inventory: Federal 14-5 Summary of Class II Survey Results Land in the Skull Valley Zone 152 Comparing Strata 147 14-6 Inventory Recommendations for the Desert Zone 149 14-7 Inventory Recommendations for the Skull Valley Zone 150 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This document is a "Class I overview" of prehistoric cultu- Arizona. Within districts, activities and personnel are ral resources within the Lower Gila North planning area organized by resource areas. The Lower Gila Resource defined by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an Area of the Phoenix District encompasses much of south- agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Regional western Arizona (Map 1-2). The Lower Gila North planning Class I overview preparation is an important phase of the area is part of the Lower Gila Resource Area containing cultural resource inventory process outlined in BLM Man- portions of La Paz, Maricopa, and Yavapai counties. Its ual 8111, Release 8-3 (1978). All lands within the bound- eastern border extends roughly due north from the out- aries of a study area, not just federally administered lands, skirts of Buckeye to Iron Springs just west of Prescott. are taken into consideration. Based on a compilation and Following the Southern Pacific railroad line west from assessment of existing data, the overview provides guid- Buckeye, the southern border meets Centennial Wash and ance for future planning and management decisions follows it northward to its intersection with Interstate regarding cultural resources. It incorporates background Highway 10. The border follows the highway, then shifts information on the natural environment, ethnographic northward along Bouse Wash to the town of Bouse. After occupation, and history of archaeological research; a an abrupt eastward jog, it extends north to the Bill Wil- review of culture history and anthropological research liams River. The northern border consists roughly of the issues; a discussion of site types; and a comprehensive Bill Williams and Santa Maria rivers and the Prescott bibliography. The synthesis of this information is used to National Forest border. Within Lower Gila North, there are generate recommendations for inventory, research, and three planning units bounded partially by major high- management priorities. As stated in Manual 8111, Class I ways: the Vulture unit in the southeast, the Harcuvar unit overviews provide "the basis and foundation for all future in the northwest, and the Skull Valley unit in the north- management actions in the area" as well as "critical eval- east. In 1982, when a draft environmental impact state- uations oriented towards the unique problems and con- ment for a grazing management program was completed, cerns encountered in an active management program". Lower Gila North encompassed 1,393,000 acres of public This information can also provide the basis for incorporat- (BLM) land, 847,000 acres of state land, and 442,000 acres ing cultural resources into multiple use planning. of private land (Bureau of Land Management 1982:1). Fed- eral lands were blocked in large, contiguous portions of the Beginning in the late 1970s, regional Class I overviews Harcuvar and Vulture units, while the Skull Valley unit were completed or initiated in most western regions man- incorporated predominantly state and private lands.