Very little physical evidence

Even though the Salt River Valley was relatively heavily populated during hundreds of years, by the late 1400s the ancient inhabitants had disappeared almost entirely. The vast agricultural community that built hundreds of miles of canals, vanished, almost without a trace, leaving endless speculation for generations of scientists and historians. The remains of the inhabitants' material culture are almost completely obscured by time and subsequent occupation by the modern inhabitants. A remarkably few of the villages and towns remain, preserved in a very small number of parks and monuments. Almost without exception, the canals, the major achievement of their culture, have also vanished, to be replaced by modern cement lined watercourses.

Here and there, if you are really observant, you can still see evidence of the ancient ones. The hills around the Salt River Valley are full of petroglyphs. In the photo above, you can see another almost permanent reminder of the people who lived in the desert before the night sky was full of light. The holes in the rock are places where the Indians ground seeds, plants and corn. Imagine how long it took with a stone pestle to grind those holes into the solid rock!

There is nothing particularly special about the location of the rock that makes it any different than millions of others in the general vicinity. How did the ancients chose just this rock? Why here and not a few feet further up the canyon or down?

This rock is located in Hieroglyphic Canyon in the Superstition Wilderness Area, just at the eastern edge of the huge Salt River Valley.