Wyoming is house to lots of of Indigenous rock artwork websites, spanning petroglyphs and pictographs courting again centuries unfold throughout the state. However roughly 1 / 4 of those websites have been focused by vandalism and defacement, in accordance with a brand new report.
On Might 1, Wyoming State Archaeologist Spencer Pelton introduced these findings to the Choose Committee on Tribal Relations in Fort Washakie. This yr, legislators are prioritizing points such because the safety and preservation of Indigenous rock artwork websites — drawings, engravings, carvings, and stencils on rock shelters, formations, boulders, and caves thought of to be sacred cultural heritage to their creators and communities. The World Heritage Conference has characterised rock artwork websites as “among the many most weak on the World Heritage Checklist” attributable to their susceptibility to local weather change and vandalism.
The Wyoming Cultural Information Workplace created an inventory of 666 websites throughout the state to offer a preliminary evaluation of injury to rock artwork. Out of this record, 157 websites — 24% — had been indicated as both vandalized or defaced. A complete of 88 websites are positioned on federal land, whereas 15 are located on state land and 47 on non-public properties.
In a case examine performed at Pine Canyon, positioned in Wyoming’s southwest area, state officers famous 4 varieties of vandalism consisting of inscribed names, initials, and dates; portray; or firearm harm. The initials, names, and dates had been virtually at all times carved into the rock face, whereas firearm destruction was normally current the place “a logical goal” was discovered, as within the case of a bison petroglyph that was riddled with bullet holes.
“A further type of vandalism is elimination of rock artwork pictures from panels via chisels and explosives for business sale or assortment,” Pelton advised Hyperallergic, noting that this destruction is usually unusual, however “in all probability essentially the most extreme type of vandalism that may happen.”
Pelton famous that the subsequent step might be strengthening rock artwork authorized protections via state statutes.
“That’s a protracted course of, however I’m inspired that we’ve lawmakers fascinated about pursuing it,” Peloton mentioned.
At present, protections for rock artwork are depending on the Antiquities Act of 1906, the Archaeological Assets Safety Act of 1979, and the 1966 Nationwide Historic Preservation Act, which established the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations and the State Historic Preservation Workplace program. In 1935, state legislators additionally handed the Wyoming Prehistoric Ruins Act, which offers protections for prehistoric pure options within the state. It additionally requires permits for any excavation of prehistoric ruins and historic markings on any state or federal land.
“As soon as we’ve some stronger statutes, I may foresee a big collaborative effort between State, Federal, and Tribal governments to doc rock artwork vandalism and develop some site-specific measures for long-term preservation,” Pelton mentioned, including that whereas there are not any definitive plans for this mission but, he believes “there’s sufficient momentum behind the trouble to see it occur within the subsequent a number of years.”