PRESCOTT, PRESCOTT VALLEY, CHINO VALLEY AZ REAL ESTATE & HOMES FOR SALE

The Petroglyphs of the Prescott Lakes Master Plan Community

When the Prescott Lakes Master Planned Recreational Community was under construction, great numbers of petroglyphs (rock art) were discovered.  Many indigenous peoples believe these images carved on boulders were “our writings that depicted their times.”  They are not graffiti, but rather visual symbols and metaphors.

Based on some of the petroglyphs found, evidence suggests that over time, many different Indian tribes visited this destination.  The oldest petroglyphs were probably created thousands of years ago during the earlier part of the Stone Age.  Some of the later images and words commemorated the early arrival of the American culture and, later, statehood.

Once discovered at Prescott Lakes, these carvings created a mood and atmosphere that cried out to be preserved.  The original developers of Prescott Lakes, The M3 Companies with the expert assistance and guidance of Pohaku Art (a rock art recording and research firm) did just that.  They developed 7 different ‘pocket-parks’ throughout Prescott Lakes where they grouped ‘families’ of rock art that were originally grouped together throughout Prescott Lakes…

In keeping with the desire to maintain this ‘spirit of place’ a petroglyph design was selected to represent each of the holes on the golf course as well as each of the six tee marker locations on each hold which was accomplished by creating replicas of each depiction.  For example, the signature hole, the 18^th, is the Snake and the best name of all is the 13^th hole; Frog Emerging!  Some of the other holes are the Father and Son, the Morning Star and The Hunter.

The following page is a representation of many of the petroglyphs found on site.  Locate the Footprints image and see if you can tell what’s odd about the right foot.  The page after that shows the location of the 7 parks with the largest being number 7 at 7 acres.  A key feature of the west end of park 7 is the petroglyphs that comprise a solstice alignment.  These petroglyphs are positioned so one can view the sun at the winter solstice setting over Thumb Butte, and during the summer solstice over Granite Mountain, thus marking the seasons.  This alignment was likely used by more than one culture during periods of time ranging from the Archaic period to the Pueblo period and into more recent times.

Please explore each park for yourself where you will find plaques identifying most of the petroglyphs in that park.  You’ll be glad you did!