Cocoraque Butte

We took a picnic lunch and spent the afternoon at Cocoraque Butte in Ironwood Forest National Monument.  We had it to ourselves, as we were the only visitors.  Lauren and Taylor took wooden mallets to play the “singing rocks.”  We searched for petroglyphs and broken pottery.  It’s a fascinating place.  “The petroglyphs on Cocoraque Butte include a variety of images - geometric shapes, abstract forms, insects, animals, plants, and human figues.  The petroglyphs span a long period of time, as much as two thousand years or more.  The earliest petroglyphs, date to the Archaic Period, two to three thousand years ago.  They are followed by a profusion of petroglyphs from the Hohokam period, AD 450 to 1450.  Hohokam petroglyphs are often found near water holes and along trails, and the O’odham consider them to be sacred representations of spiritual presence embedded in the terrain.”