Four Nations Symposium on Sonoran Rock Imagery Concludes

Proceedings will be shared in a forthcoming volume

Tucson, Ariz. (September 30, 2025)—Last week, Preservation Anthropologist Aaron Wright, of Tucson-based nonprofit Archaeology Southwest, convened a three-day seminar at Amerind, a museum, art gallery, and research center in Dragoon, Arizona. Entitled “Picturing Perseverance: Rock Imagery and Indigenous Cultural Resilience across the Sonoran Desert,” the gathering brought together preeminent scholars and researchers from the US and Mexico as well as Tribal knowledge holders from the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Campo Band of Kumeyaay Indians. The first-of-its-kind meeting was made possible by a workshop grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation.

Participants were tasked with taking a big-picture view of rock imagery in the Sonoran Desert, which stretches from southern Arizona west into southern California and south to the Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. Presenters also discussed timely issues around conservation and protection, as well as cultural affiliation.

Wright is proud that the “seminar transcended political, cultural, and linguistic barriers.” He went on to say, “This passionate and robust group was able to examine the history, diversity, and cultural affinity of rock paintings and carvings across the entirety of the world’s most biodiverse desert.”

“The different regions presented contributed to a better understanding of the possible relationships that existed between the human groups that inhabited this vast area when the current borders did not exist,” added Dra. Beatriz Menéndez Iglesias, postdoctoral researcher with the Secretaría de Ciencia, Humanidades, Tecnología e Innovación. “The comparison between the Sonoran mainland and Baja California peninsula provided a very interesting contrast, as it showed how rock imagery can vary significantly within the Sonoran Desert.” She also appreciated the depth and perspectives brought by the Indigenous knowledge holders.

Dra. Silvina Vigliani, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, said that the discussions “highlighted the high degree of mobility and interaction that existed among past groups, as well as their great versatility in terms of identity and symbolism,” noting, “This is a legacy that remains relevant among contemporary communities, and one that still holds many secrets yet to be revealed.”

Participants will now revise their presentations for inclusion in a scholarly volume that promises to be the most comprehensive and humanistic work on the subject. Wright underscored the acute relevance of the proceedings in this moment: “Despite the ever-rising border wall, Indigenous heritage within the Sonoran Desert persists. As these ancestral markings attest, this legacy will endure as long as communities continue to care for place and past.”

About Archaeology Southwest

Founded in 1989, Archaeology Southwest is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Tucson, Arizona, on the homelands of the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. We are privileged to work across the US Southwest and into northwestern Mexico on the Lands and Territories of many Indigenous Tribes and descendant communities.

We practice Preservation Archaeology, a holistic and conservation-based approach to understanding and protecting sites and landscapes for the histories they hold and the people they serve. We are committed to real and ongoing collaboration with Tribes in all areas of our work.

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