The Site Closed Stone Petroglyph Site is a collection of hundreds of ancient petroglyphs near the town of Theba, Arizona, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The site is operated and managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and includes campsites enhanced and informative walkways featuring petroglyphs.
Prior to 1989, the site was part of Painted Rock State Park , which included a camping facility in the nearby Rock Rock Reservoir, referred to as "Lake Unit". When the state changed park control to BLM in 1989, the Lake Unit was closed due to concerns about pollutants in the Gila River and not managed by BLM. Currently, there is no public access to Painted Rock Dam or Lake Unit.
Video Painted Rock Petroglyph Site
History
The Painted Rock Petroglyph Site is located on the eastern edge of the Painted Rock Mountains and about eighteen miles west of northwest Gila Bend, Arizona. The area is mostly flat and sandy with daytime May-October temperatures in the 100's. Annual rainfall is only about six inches and the nearest irrigation water is the Gila River. In prehistoric times, Gila flows west out of the mountains of western New Mexico, making a huge dogleg turn in the town of Gila Bend and continues west to empty the Colorado River. The Hohokam people once lived and farmed here. The ruins of the Early Pioneer Period (AD 350 - AD 550) and the Early Colonial Period (AD 550 - AD 700) were found in the north and west, and the ruins of the Settlement - Classical Period (AD 900 - AD 1400) were found in the south and east.
More than forty petroglyph sites have been recorded in the area; most of these sites are small with only a few dozen petroglyphs. The Painted Rock Site is the largest known site with about 800 images. Petroglyphs are pecked onto obsolete basalt rocks overlaying a granite outcrop. The outcrop is oval-oriented east to west with a length of about 400 ', and about 20' high with two small knobs. Most petroglyphs are concentrated in rocks along the eastern edge, but petroglyphs face in all directions from that edge.
Though considered to be a Hohokam rock art site, Painted Rock is at the western end of the cultural region of Hohokam. East of Painted Rock, petroglyphs take on the more typical characteristics of Hohokam, while far western petroglyphs take on more Patayan characteristics. Found here and in the immediate area of ​​the Gila River is the petroglyphs from Archaic. Painted Rock also bears a historic pedestrian inscription. Juan Bautista de Anza passed nearby during the 1775-1776 expedition, followed by the Mormon Battalion in the 1840s, Butterfield Overland Mail, and many pioneers. During World War II, General George Patton used this area as a base for tank training.
Maps Painted Rock Petroglyph Site
Similar petroglyph
Fifteen miles above the Gila River in the Gila Bend Mountains there are ancient petroglyphs similar to stick figures with long, wavy headrests and dense circles in the center of their bodies. This is not common in other parts of Southwest America.
See also
- Cocoraque Butte Archaeological District
- Arizona History
- Historic State Historic Monument
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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