Ice capped much of the world from 1.64 million to about 10,000 years ago. Arizona was "Paradise—south of the Ice." It was a land of giants in an African-like savannah: American lion, saber-toothed cat, and dire wolves contested camel, horse, mega-bison, and giant sloth. The first Americans also moved through the savannah equipped with little more than their dull teeth and puny muscles. Still, mammoth was on their menu.

It has been said that the "Clovis-First" model has caused some archeologists not to explore the pre-Clovis sediments. But what archeologist worth his or her salt would refrain from excavating below a Clovis level?

Clovis is a modern label for a Paleoindian culture that lasted about 500 years. A Clovis point ( a spear point uniquely grooved or fluted on both sides) is a technological signature for people who produced this artifact.

Sixty miles northeast of Prescott, an archeologist surveying east of the Juniper Mountains picked up a lithic remnant. A spear launched 13,000 years ago had missed, breaking the distinct point precisely at the lashing.  

At Whitewater Draw (southeastern Arizona), 136 small milling stones rested atop the bones of mammoth, horse, bison, and dire wolf—a signal of change in life's expectation.  Archaic metates had basin-shaped grinding surfaces, and manos fitted into one hand. Gathered seeds and plants were ground into meal or pulp, and tough critters (like packrats and mice) were tenderized between the stones.....

Sharlot Hall Museum holds a magnificent collection of more then 400 Native American baskets; most are over 100 years old."The Baskets Keep Talking" exhibit relates the Yavapai-Prescott Indian tribe’s history and culture through baskets and the stories they reveal.
The displayed collection features examples from 25 Arizona tribes and includes an 800-year-old Anasazi basket in excellent condition. The exhibit, however, contains more than baskets. Visitors discover ancient hunting and farming methods, family lifeways, and struggles with Anglo settlers and the military. A realistic diorama of a mother teaching a reluctant daughter the art of basket making is the room’s centerpiece. A spectacular 11-foot wide satellite image graphically depicts the Yavapai tribe’s forced movements throughout Arizona. And wary observers may spot the nine “hidden” critters quietly watching visitors pass through the room.

Pomo Indian Greg Sarris wrote:
“Baskets have stories, songs and genealogies. They have helped us on our travels and told us who we are as a people. They have healed the sick and forecast momentous events. The weaver’ hands move, and the basket takes form so that the story can be known. And the baskets keep talking.”

Arizona's First people built widespread villages: pit houses with patios and apartments sporting rooms with a view. Credit for them was a stone-throw away. Their pituresque homeland had limitations: unreliable water, saber-sharp vegetation,and fast, very fast, food. The people here were not without peculiarity. On top of the highest hills they built forts connected like cell-phone towers. Did they like to stay in touch, or was there a more menacing need to be watchful and ready?

Arizona On An Alien Planet is an adventure through an unimaginable expanse of time and space, to an Earth born from the violent death of a dying star. You will ride with Arizona as it slips and slides across a restless planet, plunges beneath a primordial sea, and then launches skyward as continents violently collide. Explore a southwest where giant dagger-toothed hunters and monstrous 55-foot beasts thunder across lush tropical forests.  And finally you will gaze in horror as life on this amazing world is extinguished . . . in an instant.  Arizona's extreme past holds many secrets and adventures . . . and the expedition begins here.

The transportation building was constructed in 1937 and served as an automotive repair shop. It holds the Museum’s vehicle collection, which includes a stagecoach used in Tombstone, Arizona (and held up at least one time); a Conestoga wagon once driven from Yuma, Arizona to Massachusetts; and Sharlot Hall’s personal Durant Star Touring car. This 1927 “convertible” still runs well and is often a featured attraction in Prescott parades.  The building’s open design accommodates occasional quilt and spinning demonstrations and other special programs.

Perhaps the best way to survey Prescott’s physical changes is from the air. Skyviews: Aerial Townscapes of Prescott, 1868 to the Present, located in the Liese and Rosenblatt Gallery, showcases relationships between Prescott’s geography and civic growth. Through the eyes of artists and photographers these bird’s eye views vividly reveal how geography and time changes a community and influences politics, culture, and society. Included are twoPerhaps the best way to survey Prescott’s physical changes is from the air. 

The exhibit features an eight-foot wide, eight foot tall photograph of Prescott and the surrounding area taken from an altitude of 20,000 feet, plus fascinating drawings of Prescott in the late 1870s and early 1880s.