Rock Art Heritage Conservation and Management

Summary

The Gila River Indian Community is actively engaged in the inventory and documentation of petroglyphs located within the Community. These recording efforts also include oral history interviews with tribal members who have knowledge of the areas where the art occurs. Rock art sites include prehistoric and historic period figures, and they are found throughout the buttes and mountains surrounding the Middle Gila River. This art often occurs along trails, and in prominent locations such as mountain ridges or passes. Petroglyphs are associated with many areas that are sacred to the modern members of the Community, and most rock art sites are considered to be Traditional Cultural Properties (TCPs). Other goals of our work are to prevent rock art site damage, as well as to mitigate and restore damaged sites. Public outreach within the Community maintains and strengthens ties to the landscape. These efforts are also designed to facilitate access to sacred sites for elders as well as young people learning O’odham traditions. Heritage awareness fosters preservation and protection of these important locations. The Community is committed to a holistic approach for the appropriate sharing of knowledge, while also safeguarding sacred and important places on the landscape.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Tribal Heritage Management Programs in Action at the Gila River Indian Community, Arizona   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage