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Great Bend of the Gila? GreatWhat Is the Bend of the Gila? The Great Bend of the Gila is a fragile stretch of river valley and surrounding lands in the Sonoran Desert of southwestern Arizona. This rural landscape is nestled between the cities of Phoenix and Yuma. The Gila River flows through a series of pronounced “bends” here, past jagged mountains and extinct lava flows. It joins the Colorado River just north of the Sea of Cortez. For millennia, communities flourished along the Great Bend. People from many different walks of life created a cultural landscape that merges archaeo- logical and historical wonders in a remarkable natural setting. What Is Special about the Great Bend of the Gila? The Great Bend has long been a The valley later served as an over- crossroads where people of different land route between Spanish settle- backgrounds came together in inter- ments in Sonora and missions along esting and inspiring ways. This legacy the California coast. Father Eusebio of cultural diversity is literally written Kino blazed this trail in 1699, and on the landscape in the form of tens Juan Bautista de Anza formalized it of thousands of petroglyphs authored in 1775. It served as the foundation by Native Americans, with later for many subsequent transconti- additions by Spaniards, Mexicans, and nental trails and roads, including Euro-Americans. Kearny’s trail for the Army of the For more than 1,000 years, fam- West, Cooke's Wagon Road for the ilies lived in villages along the lower Mormon Battalion, and the Butterfield Gila River and cultivated ancestral Overland Stage Line. Stage stations lands. They left a variety of architec- and pioneer communities sprang Top: Petroglyph panel in the Great Bend of the Gila. tural signatures, including pithouses, up along these routes. One of these, Middle: People created geoglyphs on the ground by adobe and stone buildings, ballcourts, Stanwix Ranch, was the site of the removing gravels to expose lighter sediments, or by aligning rocks to form designs. These enigmatic fea- and irrigation canals. westernmost skirmish of the Civil War. tures are usually abstract, but sometimes they seem to portray humans or animals. Bottom: Hummingbird Point petrolgyph. IMAGES: PAUL VANDERVEEN Whose Ancestors Lived along the Great Bend of the Gila? Most of the region’s archaeology ing ways of life that overlapped in the In the 1860s, pioneers began to set- attests to agricultural Patayan and Great Bend area. Over time, those tle along the lower Gila River, bring- Hohokam cultural traditions. These customs merged and diversified, ing ranching, commercial farming, and were contemporaneous yet contrast- ultimately becoming the Indigenous mining. Many families in the towns traditions that continue today. At of Buckeye, Arlington, and Gila Bend least 13 federally recognized Tribes are their descendants. These commu- have cultural, historical, and ancestral nities also have traditional connections ties to the Great Bend of the Gila. to the Great Bend of the Gila. How Can We Protect the Great Bend of the Gila? Signs of the Great Bend’s deep and cultural landscape. We re- and meaningful history—petroglyphs, main committed to working with geoglyphs, trails—lay bare for all to other organizations, associated see. But this visibility is also a vulner- Tribes, and local communities to ability, and these places are constantly ensure this significant threatened with vandalism, deface- landscape ment, and outright destruction. persists Communities tied to the Great for future Left: Pottery sherd found within the Great Bend of the Gila landscape. IMAGE: JAYE Bend region have long been invested genera- SMITH Above: Tribal representatives and in protecting this landscape, and the tions to archaeologists met with Congressman Raúl collective successes are many. For ex- celebrate. Grijalva to voice support for protecting this ample, Sears Point, the Painted Rock special place. IMAGE: ELIAS BUTLER Petroglyph Site, and the Gillespie Dam Bridge are on the National Register of Historic Places. The Gatlin Site, owned by the town of Gila Bend, is a National Historic Land- mark. The Juan Bautista de Anza National His- toric Trail, a unit of the National Park Service, passes through the re- gion. And the Maricopa Mountains lining the Great Bend’s east side are part of the Sonoran Des- ert National Monument. Although existing protections are en- couraging, more are needed. For more than 30 years, Above: The proposed boundaries of the Great Archaeology Bend of the Gila National Conservation Area. MAP: CATHERINE GILMAN Bottom left: The Great Bend has Southwest has long been a corridor for people and goods. An extensive been actively network of ancient trails like this one crosses the landscape researching and and converges in these valleys. Bottom right: A National Conservation Area would help protect petroglyph panels like these. promoting the IMAGE: PAUL VANDERVEEN Great Bend’s history (520) 882-6946 | www.archaeologysouthwest.org .
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