Who We Are
Our Mission
The mission of the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve is to protect and preserve the Hedgpeth Hills site for future generations through:
Education
Research
Conservation & Preservation
Exhibits
Our Values
We strive to treat every visitor who comes through our doors with kindness and honesty.
We seek to honor Indigenous voices and stories in caring for the Preserve and the petroglyphs.
We recognize the diverse backgrounds of our guests and seek to foster a space that welcomes all, ensuring they are seen and heard.
Through creative programming and educational content, we enhance the experiences at the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve. We endeavor to foster a greater understanding of Indigenous histories and cultures today.
We envision the Preserve as a community space where all are welcome by collaborating with Indigenous communities and engaging with our visitors.
Guests and community relationships are built on the foundation of openness and empathy. We embody this value through compassionate customer service and honest communication.
We are well-versed in the research that was conducted here by J. Simon Bruder and stay up-to-date with the most accurate and ever-changing information.
We are connected with archaeological professionals in the field of southwest archaeology and continue to build relationships outside of ASU.
Our History
People first left their mark in Deer Valley as early as 5,000 years ago, during the Western Archaic period. The Ancestral Sonoran Desert People etched most of the petroglyphs into the Hedgpeth Hills roughly 1,200–1,300 years ago, and the Patayan added their own around 500 years ago.
In the 1970s, as Phoenix expanded into the Deer Valley flood plain, Maricopa County Flood Control, the City of Phoenix, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began building the Adobe Dam along Skunk Creek. When petroglyphs were discovered during survey work, the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act of 1974 required an investigation before construction could continue. In 1980, Dr. J. Simon Bruder of the Museum of Northern Arizona led a team that spent three months documenting 1,500 petroglyphs across 579 boulders, along with a pit house, a trash deposit, and seven fire pits — findings that identified the site as a stone tool quarry. In 1984, the Hedgpeth Hills site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Soon after the archaeological research and construction of the Adobe Dam was completed, it was decided that an educational center should be built to not only teach the public about the petroglyphs, but also to protect them from human intervention. Arizona State University was selected to steward the site's findings through a public museum.
Designed by Phoenix architect Will Bruder, the building opened in 1994 as the Deer Valley Rock Art Center. In 2014, our name changed to the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve to more accurately reflect that petroglyphs are not always thought of as "art" by descendent Indigenous communities. Today, the Preserve is staffed and operated by ASU's School of Human Evolution and Social Change.
