About the ASM Logo

The graphic on the logo used by the museum for over 60 years, beginning in 1940, was a design from a Hohokam bowl. The bowl was originally excavated by the Gila Pueblo Foundation during their 1934–35 season at Snaketown, a Hohokam ruin located on lands of the Gila River Indian Community. The bowl itself has been repatriated to the Gila River Indian Community because it is a funerary object. Out of respect for the tribe and our repatriation agreements with them we started using a new logo in 2003.

The current logo uses the graphic (shown above) from our Paths of Life exhibition. The exhibition focuses on the cultural history of 10 American Indian groups of Arizona and northwest Mexico from their own perspective. The graphic was designed for the exhibition by artist Gerald Dawavendewa (Hopi) while he was a student working at the museum. The spiral with footprints leading to it is drawn from traditional migration symbols and represents the origins of the first inhabitants of this region. The 10 figures around the spiral represent the 10 groups featured in the exhibition. Their joined hands symbolize the cultural ties and challenges that these different groups share in common.

More about the Paths of Life exhibition

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