Petroglyphs at Cherry Creek


A number of years ago, while roaming a very remote section of desert, far from any trails and heavily protected by Crucifixion Thorn trees and catclaw, I stumbled upon a series of cliff faces covered in petroglyphs. After contacting the University of Arizona and the Tonto National Forest, it was determined that the rock art on these walls was mostly Archaic in style and execution, particularly the deep-cut ones; that would make them at least 2,000 and possibly as much as 6-8,000 years old! I also learned that this site could be an unrecorded site, or a site that was discovered, but with no information (coordinates/photos/etc.)

So we formed a small team and returned to the site to record more photographs and the gps coordinates. This information is now being studied by the archeology experts here in Arizona.

Categories: Landscapes

4 comments

  1. Nice pics Kev (aussies always shorten names). You sure do get around.

  2. Amazing find. I believe this whole region up into Verde Canyon and Sycamore Canyon is filled with ancient pueblo finds and a culture, I believe pre-dates them…. Beautiful pics and very conscientious work reporting it.

  3. I found one of the panels (third row up from the bottom) near a creek and road with the same name. We did not have time to explore the whole cliff since we spent alot of time on the top. For some reason we wanted to get back to the vehicles quickly so we go desperate and found a short but hard way down. What! We found a panel. Your write up makes it sound like your photos are all from the same area. Doing another trip in October to find the other panels.

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