Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport: Hohokam Farming on the Salt River Floodplain
1999-2003
The Federal Aviation Agency was the lead agency in the Section
106 compliance process for this project. The City of Phoenix provided technical review
and coordination. The project involved extending the length of the north runway, which
was already the longest of the Sky Harbor runways.
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Sky Harbor is located in the historic floodplain of the Salt River. Despite intensive
surface activity throughout the twentieth century, substantial evidence of prehistoric
agricultural activity was preserved below ground. The Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport project
resulted in a major reassessment of how the Salt River floodplain was used by the
prehistoric Hohokam. It also contributed significant revisions to Hohokam buff ware
chronology, as well as to the understanding of sand resources in the Phoenix area,
which are an important tool for determining where prehistoric pottery was produced.
Local media coverage occurred during fieldwork. However, due to the high security
within airports, no public access was allowed.
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