Collections

archaeology in our own backyard

The petroglyph site is one of five prehistoric archaeological sites found in this immediate area. In 1980, J. Simon Bruder and a team from the Museum of Northern Arizona conducted fieldwork. In the area, they discovered:

• 1,571 petroglyphs on 579 boulders

• a ground stone quarry

• a chipped stone quarry

• cobble hammerstones

• shell and bone artifacts

• a single pithouse with 2 trash deposits and 10 cooking pits

• an agricultural site

• a possible canal segment

• an earthen check dam

• and several small, stone masonry rooms

This site is a natural collection. Photographs of selected artifacts and petroglyphs, and videos can be found on the Arizona Memory Project.

Original excavation reports, maps and photographs can be found at Digital Antiquity, on the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR).

A collection of approximately 205 native Sonoran Desert plant species can be found on this 47-acre nature preserve. Most of these plants can be seen along the trail and in the Center's ethnobotanical garden.

A total of 114 animal species have been tallied over the years as both permanent and migratory residents of the Deer Valley Rock Art Center. There are approximately 18 reptiles, 28 mammals, 65 birds and 3 amphibians that live here.

To learn more about the plants and animals native to the area, check out resources made available by the Arizona Game and Fish Department.