You will need a Navajo guide to visit rock art sites in the canyon and  they are available to accompany you in your own 4WD vehicle. Contact the  Tsegi Guide Association at (520) 674-5500 for more information. 

Deer Valley Rock Art Center
Despite close calls with development and thanks to the efforts of many dedicated people, about 1,500 petroglyphs are  now protected at Deer Valley Rock Art Center near Phoenix. The rock art was created over a very long period of time  from 5000 BC to AD 1400. The 47-acre center features a quarter-mile paved trail for petroglyph viewing. The center is       operated by Arizona State University in consultation with the Hopi, Yavapai, and Gila River Indian tribes. Contact the  Center @ (602) 582-8997 for more information.

Homolovi Ruins State  Park

West of Petrified Forest National Park on the east bank of the Little Colorado River, the ruins of Homolovi Ruins State  Park were occupied during the 13th and 14th centuries. The Hopi say Homolovi was a stopping place for their ancestors as they migrated north toward their present home on Black Mesa and this place is sacred to the Hopi people. Homolovi,      "the Place of the Little Hills," contains several hundred sites and four major pueblos. Rock art–mostly petroglyphs–can  be found here. Call the park at (520) 289-4106 for additional information.

Palatki-Red Cliffs
Palatki-Red Cliffs, a cliff dwelling and rock art site, is located near Sedona. It is an amazing place. The well-preserved  Palatki ruin is one of the largest Sinagua villages in the area. Although Palatki was inhabited by the Sinagua about 800 years ago, the rock art indicates that archaic cultures used this place some 3,000 to 5,000 years earlier.  

The rock art site is remarkable and represents a chronology of human occupation in the Verde Valley from the Archaic Period (3,000 to 6,000 years ago), to the Southern Sinagua (AD 650-1300), through the Yavapai and possibly Apache (AD 1400 through the 1800s), and the earliest Euro-American settlers in the late 1800s. Rakes, squiggles, and dots are  typical of the Archaic period; animal and human representations were made by the Sinagua; figures of humans and  animals drawn in charcoal were made by the Yavapai and possibly the Apache.

Near the end of the rock art trail is the Roasting Pit Alcove where the hearts of agave plants - an important source of food and fiber for mats and sandals - were roasted. This alcove contains rock art from all of the periods which are represented at Palatki and includes a Hopi flute player in black. The ghost-like Barrier Canyon figures and a large Sinagua shield painting are especially memorable.

Helpful and friendly interpreter guides are on-site much of the time to walk you through the cliff dwelling and provide information about the rock art panels. Honanki is nearby with more ruins and rock art and staff at Palatki's small visitor center can point the way. Call (520) 282-4119 for more information.

Petrified  Forest National Park
Millions of years ago fallen trees from far away mountains were carried to Petrified  Forest National Park by rivers and deposited in swamps. Over time, water-borne  minerals replaced wood cells and eventually turned the wood to stone in many colors. Perhaps the finest collection of petrified wood in the world is preserved here. Famous for its petrified wood, fossils and the Painted Desert, this remarkable park also contains more than 550       archaeological sites. Two of these sites are easily reached by the 28-mile park road: Puerco Ruin and Agate House. Petroglyphs cover the boulders of Puerco Ruin Mesa and include a summer solstice marker. Additional petroglyphs can  be found at Newspaper Rock. Contact the park @ (520) 524-6228.

 Rock Art Canyon Ranch        

 Privately-owned Rock Art Canyon Ranch offers tours of a spectacular rock art site in Chevelon Canyon considered by some to be the finest rock art site in Arizona. The ranch is owned by the Baird family and, in addition to running a  working cattle ranch, chuck wagon dinners and family entertainment are offered. The people who lived here long ago (AD 1100 to 1450) left thousands of petroglyphs carved on cliff walls and nearby boulders along a bend in Chevelon Creek between Holbrook and Winslow. The tours are available year-round except Sundays. Write or call in advance for detailed directions on how to get there. Contact Brantley Baird, Box 224, Joseph City, AZ 86032, or call (928) 288-3260.