Painted Rock Petroglyph Site & Campground

The Painted Rock Petroglyph Site is located on the eastern edge of the Painted Rock Mountains and about 18 miles west by northwest of Gila Bend, Arizona.  This area is mostly flat and sandy with May -Oct daytime temperatures in the 100's. The annual rainfall here is only about six inches and the nearest irrigational water is the Gila River. In prehistoric times the Gila flowed west out of the Mountains of western New Mexico, made a big dogleg turn at the town of Gila Bend and continued west to empty into the Colorado River. The Hohokam people once lived and farmed here. Ruins of their late Pioneer Period (AD 350-AD 550) and Early Colonial Period (AD 550-AD 700) villages are found to the north and west, and ruins of their Sedentary - Classic Period (AD 900-AD 1400) villages are found to the south and east.Over 40 petroglyph sites have been recorded in this area, however; most of these sites are small with only a few dozen petroglyphs. The Painted Rock Site is the largest known site with about 800 images. The petroglyphs are pecked onto weathered basalt boulders overlaying a granite outcrop. The outcrop is in the form of an east to west orientated oval about 400' long, and about 20' tall with two small knob tops . Most of the petroglyphs are concentrated on the boulders along the eastern edge, but the petroglyphs face in all directions from that edge.