Then and Now: Inventories of the Hedgpeth Hills Petroglyphs in 1980 and 2025
In the 1970s, the Army Corps of Engineers initiated a series of flood control measures along the northern perimeter of the expanding Phoenix metropolitan area. Archaeological surveys and mitigation associated with the planned Adobe Dam resulted in the documentation of more than 1,500 petroglyphs in the Hedgpeth Hills, which are now featured at the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve. That effort pioneered innovative techniques in petroglyph documentation for its time. In 2025, the Bureau of Indian Affairs sponsored a re-inventory of the petroglyphs using modern methods and technologies. This presentation highlights selected results of that effort and compares the methods and techniques used then (in 1980) with those used today (in 2025).
Aaron M. Wright is an archaeologist at Archaeology Southwest whose work focuses on the cultural landscapes, rock art, and settlements of the Hohokam and Patayan traditions in southwestern Arizona. He earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Washington State University and is the author of the award-winning book Religion on the Rocks. Wright leads research on the lower Gila River and collaborates on efforts to document the region’s heritage and support the proposed Great Bend of the Gila National Monument.
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