Hieroglyphics Trail - 2.9 Miles Round-Trip

The Hieroglyphics Trail begins at the Lost Goldmine Trailhead on Cloudview Ave in the southwest corner of the Superstition Wilderness.

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It rises 1.45 miles through a bajada into the mouth of Hieroglyphics Canyon, where several panels of well-preserved petrogylphs are located above seasonal pools. The basalt rock etchings were mistaken by early European settlers for Egyptian hieroglyphs, hence the erroneous name.

These petroglyphs were created by the Hohokam People, a civilization that thrived in central and southern Arizona from 500 - 1450 AD. Hohokam translates to those who have gone or all used up in native dialect.

The Hohokam were master canal builders, which enabled them to exploit water from the Gila, Salt and Verde river basins for centuries. These canal networks are considered the largest gravity-fed irrigation systems built in the prehistoric New World.

Hundreds of miles of canals fed an agricultural system centered on corn, squash, beans and cotton. An estimated 20,000 - 40,000 acres were irrigated and cultivated during the height of this civilization.

Canals were perfectly pitched to maximize water flow while reducing silt build up. The canals were dug largely by hand with rudimentary tools, an effort on par with the engineering feat.

The Hohokam disappeared from archeological records around 1500 AD, the cause of which is still being studied.

Most archeologists don't believe that a single, catastrophic event was the impetus, but rather a series of circumstances related to water, drought, shifts in societal hierarchies and possibly war.

Some hypothesize that land was over-irrigated, infusing high levels of salt that killed crops and collapsed the agricultural economy. This theory has been largely dismissed, however, because evidence in the soil would still be detected today.

War with neighboring Apache tribes may have contributed to the decline, but it's thought not powerful enough to erase the entire civilization.

Extended drought in the late 1400s is a stronger possibility, and supported by tree ring evidence. It's likely that a dearth of water and subsequent strife quietly disbanded the society over time.