People have inhabited the area that today makes up Big Bend National Park in southwestern Texas for at least 13,000 years. At some point during what archaeologists refer to as the Archaic Period, which stretches back 8,500 years, people began carving abstract shapes into a massive boulder. That boulder remains long after the original inhabitants left, and their art has kept silent vigil over the desert landscape since.
But sometime last month, “Isaac, Ariel, Norma, and Adrian” decided to scratch their names over the millennia-old panel of petroglyphs, obscuring and destroying the ancient art beneath. The National Park Service tried to restore the panel, but the damage is irreparable.
How the rock now looks. Photo: NPS
“The surface scratches and discoloration are permanent,” said Tom VandenBerg, an archaeologist who works with the park. “Ancient rock art is protected, and links humanity to our past. Every site damaged is a loss to the history and heritage that national parks protect.”
The park has documented fifty such vandalizations of rock art and other cultural sites since 2015.
Authorities are adamant that if you encounter defacement of rock art, leave it be and alert park officials, who can bring the resources of trained personnel to mitigate the damage.
As for this most recent bit of vandalism, the park is asking for tips about the persons involved. Please contact the Big Bend National Park Communication Center at 432-477-1187 if you have information about the incident.
Top photo: Gary Nored/Flickr
Search social media for idiots with those names around that date. If they’re dumb enough to etch names into a rock they are dumb enough to do it for the gram.
Hope they are caught.
It is such a shame that people would do this. While I haven’t seen this at a national park, I have seen graffiti, trash, campfires, and dog poop bags at the local trails. Should be able to find them on social media. I am sure there was a picture at some point posted when they visited the park.
I don’t understand! People have been carving into the rock in the past what is wrong with people carving into the rock at present?
You don’t understand why it’s not a good idea to carve over rock art that is thousands of years old?
Is your real name Isaac, Ariel, Norma, or Adrian?
Really! I agree. Could you send me your address so I can paint graffiti on your car and house. People have been defacing property forever why not deface yours.
Sshhhhhhh. Grownups are talking.
Duh!
This is ancient art.
At the very illegal least, pick a blank place? Don’t scratch it in?
Those who hang onto the past will always be disappointed. Change is a constant.
We tried to protect the area, we’ll try to find the perpetrators, etc., etc. But at the same time try to relax into what is……..and what will most likely be. Please continue to work to protect, but at the same time work NOT to carry upset, anxiety and resentment in your soul. Believe it or not, there will be a time when all antiquities are erased and those who are upset will only be upset because they want to be.
And yes, I am a conservationist, outdoorsperson and sorry at this loss. At the same time I don’t want to waste my emotional energy fighting the inevitable.
If you paint a beautiful mural for the city, would you want some jerk to spray paint their tag over your art?
I wouldn’t want it, but that won’t keep it from happening.
Unwanted things WILL happen, my point is that we need to control our emotional energy around these occurrences, precisely because we know that they will happen.
Working to protect is one thing, blowing a gasket when the inevitable happens if another……..
What were they thinking? How out of touch they must have been to the natural world around them. Such a shame. We must be better.
Hopefully they’ll get to carve their names in jail cells.
Love!!!
A big fat fine and community service might be a good start for the attention these people obviously seek, especially considering how many rocks there are outside of the national park to write their blasé names
Not too far from El Paso is Hueco Tanks, known for pictographs and climbing. Modern visitor damage (paint). Result: irreparable damage to pictographs, required registration, restricted access, and limited numbers allowed in.
El Morro in New Mexico has historical “modern” damage. Park Service tried removing carvings, then decided to leave them. Registration and wooden rail fence, to prevent further damage.
Enforcement? Good luck.
How far would I/you go if we came upon someone doing this?
I’m a little afraid of that answer, based on how I feel just reading this…
What IS a fair consequence for such disrespect and intentional damage to priceless history?
Another example of total disregard for anything and everybody (except their own sorry asses). Those are probably the only words the little pricks could spell anyway.
This happens frequently in SE Utah along with grave-robbing. These people are close to the top of my list of folks whose necks I’d like to wring. I like to imagine that there are a few untouched ruins and rock art panels out there, not waiting to be discovered or documented, just existing unmolested.
It may be a little too late (perhaps they don’t read news and won’t have removed the records) but this has motivated me to hire a small research team to search social media for these people in that location that day. Hopefully to get *some* justice.