The Prescott culture, who lived between 200 CE and the 1300 CE settled the central highlands area of Arizona and was located adjacent to Gordan Creek and east of the Agua Fria River. Their settlement was found along the ancient shell and turquoise trade routes between the Patayan to the west in south California and the Hohokam in the Mojave Desert to the southwest.

Prescott culture, however, is best known for their human and animal figurines shaped from clay and fired as pottery. This culture came to an end and disappeared completely about 1300 CE.

The mountains around Prescott, Arizona were once the home of a number of ancient people and there are still some visible remnants of this ancient civilizations. One village site uncovered at Willow Lake dates to about 1000 AD. This site is open to the public and includes various interpretive signs to help educate visitors on the visible ruins.

There are numerous petroglyph, prehistoric drawings, in public areas around Prescott including in many small town parks. One such site is at Vista Park, where an interpretative trail leads to a number of petroglyph.

The Willow Lake site in Prescott, Arizona has remains of a village that likely housed about 800 residents of the Prescott Culture. This site is unique in that it shows how much the Hohokam influenced the people of the Prescott culture. The time of occupation of this site was 900 CE to 1100 CE.

There is in Enchanted Canyon Way, the Indian Rock Petroglyph accessed by a public trail which has over 100 petroglyph.