The Roosevelt Community Development Study, Number 14, Volume 3: Paleobiological and Osteological Analyses

The Roosevelt Community Development Study (RCD) involved the testing and excavation of 27 sites in the Lower Tonto Basin of central Arizona. This is one of three related data recovery projects undertaken in the Tonto Basin for the Bureau of Reclamation prior to the raising of the Roosevelt Lake dam. The results of the RCD project are presented in four Anthropological Papers of the Center for Desert Archaeology: Anthropological Papers No. 12 is the research design; Anthropological Papers No. 13 (two volumes) contains background information and the site descriptions; Anthropological Papers No. 14 (three volumes) includes the artifact and environmental analyses; and Anthropological Papers No. 15 presents the synthesis and conclusions. The project was situated within the Tonto National Forest and covered a four-mile, continuous area along the north bank of the Salt River. Sites within the project area exhibited a great range of functional, temporal, and, possibly, cultural diversity. These included two sites with platform mounds (the Meddler Point and Pyramid Point sites); a 10Q-room masonry pueblo (the Griffin Wash site); smaller masonry compounds (e.g., the Porcupine site); and pithouse hamlets and farmsteads (e.g., the Hedge Apple and Eagle Ridge sites). Temporal components ranged from the Early Ceramic period (A.D. 100-600), at Locus B of the Eagle Ridge site, through the Roosevelt phase (A.D. 1250-1350) of the Classic period. The Early Ceramic component of the Eagle Ridge site is now the earliest documented ceramic period site in the Tonto Basin and provides definitive evidence for an indigenous ceramic-using population. The project area was inhabited most intensively during the Roosevelt phase, when platform mounds, pueblo room blocks, and small masonry compounds were occupied. Architectural and artifact variability suggest the presence of several different cultural groups co-residing in the Tonto Basin at this time, and migration is believed to have been a significant process in Tonto Basin prehistory. The RCD project area was largely abandoned by A.D. 1325, prior to the large-scale aggregation that occurred during the Gila phase; very few Gila Polychrome sherds were recovered from project area sites. The mandate of the RCD project, as spedfied by the Bureau of Reclamation, was to investigate the temporal and developmental sequence of the prehistoric populations within this area. To meet these goals, six sites were intensively examined through full-scale excavation, and an extensive data set was gathered from the remaining 21 sites. The three volumes in Anthropological Papers No. 14 contain the artifact and environmental analyses. More than 150,000 artifacts were recovered from the RCD excavations. This volume (Volume 3) presents the paleobotanical and osteological data. Included are analyses of the pollen (Chapter 18), flotation (Chapter 19), faunal (Chapter 20), and mortuary (Chapter 21) assemblages. Data from the subsistence analyses are combined and synthesized in Chapter 22. Volume 1 of Anthropological Papers No. 14 presents the analyses of the chipped stone, ground stone, jewelry and personal ornament, and shell assemblages. The ceramic artifact assemblage is examined in Volume 2 More spedfic information on the individual sites and the project background can be found in Anthropological Papers No. 13. Anthropological Papers No. 15 integrates and synthesizes these data to provide a more inclusive view of the prehistoric occupation of the RCD project area and the Tonto Basin.