Painted Rocks Petroglyph Site, Set No. 1. Please click any photo for enlarged views.
Despite the name, none of the ancient rock images at Painted Rocks are painted. They are genuine petroglyphs, meaning the figures were made by chipping off accumulated layers of desert varnish to reveal lighter rock below. Some of the petroglyphs here are attributed to very early inhabitants of the Sonoran Desert, who occupied the region between 7500 BCE and 1 AD. These glyphs are usually geometric or highly abstract designs in the Western Archaic Style. Later Gila Style petroglyphs were made at the site by the Hohokam people between 300 AD and 1450, and typically depict recognizable animals or human forms.
There are an astonishing number of lizard, snake, and scorpion figures here. The Bureau of Land Management operates this site, and they have posted numerous signs around the rocks warning visitors of rattlesnakes and other biting and stinging threats. I’m not sure if there are unusual numbers of snakes in the vicinity or if this is just a BLM ruse to keep people from climbing on the rocks. I, for one, stayed on the path.
Painted Rocks
Petroglyph Site
is about 20 miles (32 km) west of Gila Bend, Arizona, in Maricopa County.
Dithyramb 