Signal Hill

The sign said that I was “the latest in a long line of people to pass through this special area. For more than 10,000 years the Tucson Basin has been visited by many people."  It looks small from the parking lot but actually it was a nice little climb.

The rock art (petroglyphs) found here was created by the prehistoric Hohokam people but it is not known what they mean.

Here at Signal Hill there are more abstract designs than life forms which are typical of the Hohokam.  I found one of a man and these three running annimals.

I read that spirals and designs with circles, like these, are quite common and sometimes appear on Hohokam pottery.

 

Hohokam “the people who have gone”, lived in central and southern Arizona from A.D. 200 until 1450. The present day Pima and Tohono O’Odham people may be their descents. They were farmers of corn, beans, squash and cotton and practiced canal irrigation in the Phoenix area.

I’m sure this is the first of many petroglyphs I will see on my journey. It will be interesting to compare them.  In some ways theses looked like they were just carved yesterday but I have to trust the National Park Service that they are authentic.  The one below is my favorite.