Preservation of information is the goal of the Snaketown Artistic Heritage Project. The Center for Desert Archaeology is working in cooperation with the Arizona State Museum to scientifically document the Snaketown Collection, a large collection of Hohokam artifacts previously curated by the Arizona State Museum in Tucson.

This collection of prehistoric artifacts was excavated in the 1930s and 1960s by the preeminent southwestern archaeologist, Emil Haury, at a site called Snaketown, one of the largest prehistoric Hohokam villages known. It is the largest scientifically excavated collection of whole artifacts from the Hohokam Culture area, and includes over 1,000 elaborately decorated whole pots, stone bowls, and bone artifacts, plus boxes of pottery sherds, lithic tools, and other items. The Hohokam were a sedentary agricultural society residing in central and southern Arizona from about A.D. 500 to 1450. They are famous for their massive irrigation systems, large settlements, public earthworks, and beautiful crafts.

Snaketown is located in south-central Arizona south of Phoenix on the Gila River Indian Community. The Snaketown Collection is being transferred to the Huhugam Heritage Center. With the Gila River Indian Community's permission, the Center for Desert Archaeology is supplementing the Arizona State Museum's efforts to document this collection prior to its return by creating detailed line drawings and measurements of all the whole or restorable decorated pots and specialized ceramic artifacts, stone vessels, and decorated bone artifacts in the collection. This documentation work will preserve irretrievable and critical information for future archaeologists and other researchers.