The transition from pit-houses (a primitive dwelling dug into the ground and roofed over) to pit-rooms and the introduction of spherical spindle whorls may have added to the relatively sudden and widespread abandonment or relocation of many Hohokam villages and a short-lived population decline.

The entrance to the area is reached from Phoenix, Arizona by travelling north on the I-17 highway and exiting at Table Mesa Road.

The hike consists of a total of six miles round trip on a rocky terrain which is made up of a blend of desert and semi-desert ecosystems.

The climb to the top of the mesa, whose height is approximately 400 feet, is reached through a steep and narrow path that has a dangerous hundred foot drop.

[3][4][9][10] On January 11, 2000, President Bill Clinton declared the area in which Indian Mesa is located the "Agua Fria National Monument" under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management.

The act is a bill (16 USC 431–433) passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906, which strictly forbids the removal of artifacts from Indian Mesa.

[11][12] According to the law "Any person who shall appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any historic or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity, situated on lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States, without the permission of the Secretary of the Department of the Government having jurisdiction over the lands on which said antiquities are situated, shall, upon conviction, be fined or be imprisoned for a period of not more than ninety days, or shall suffer both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.