Tag: ruin

I recently posted photo sets of petrographs at the Honanki Heritage Site in Yavapai County, Arizona, and noted in my caption that some of the rock art had been defaced by visitors to the site.

A commenter chided me for being too polite, suggesting that I should have called the perpetrators of the damage vandals. My erstwhile editor added, “Over the last two decades, children have been raised and schooled to have no responsibility and to receive no disappointment. They have not learned empathy and what you are seeing now is the result!”

The plain fact is, almost no ancestral American Indian sites are untouched. Most of the archaeological and rock art sites I visit show devastating signs of looting by artifact hunters, or defacement by visitors intent on leaving “I was here” graffiti on ancient rock paintings or carvings.

But another fact that becomes unmistakably clear when visiting Indian heritage sites is that the modern destruction is not confined to any particular generation or age group. It is fatuous to suggest that the damage is the work of irresponsible young people, from a failure of training or discipline. Some of the worst  damage I see is from a discredited Indiana Jones style of unscientific archaeology – little more than treasure hunting – that was practiced (and abandoned) decades ago. Much of the worst graffiti is from visitors of my own generation, or even from visitors from the 19th century. 

In a perverse way, some of the oldest graffiti at heritage sites becomes historically significant. As these photos illustrate, graffiti from the 1870s at the Montezuma Well cliff dwellings have become part of the historical context of the place, as disturbing as it might be by contemporary standards for preserving antiquities.

I don’t condone the damage, of course. It results from a disregard of culture; it arises from ignorance, or greed, or even racial animus. It is insensitive, disrespectful, unappreciative. It is despicable.

But I also refuse to condemn the current generation or hold them particularly responsible for the sad state of our archaeological treasures in the southwest. I actually suspect that young people are more culturally attuned than my own boomer cohort. I’m saddened that my post prompted the slander.

I recently posted photo sets of petrographs at the Honanki Heritage Site in Yavapai County, Arizona, and noted in my caption that some of the rock art had been defaced by visitors to the site.

A commenter chided me for being too polite, suggesting that I should have called the perpetrators of the damage vandals. My erstwhile editor added, “Over the last two decades, children have been raised and schooled to have no responsibility and to receive no disappointment. They have not learned empathy and what you are seeing now is the result!”

The plain fact is, almost no ancestral American Indian sites are untouched. Most of the archaeological and rock art sites I visit show devastating signs of looting by artifact hunters, or defacement by visitors intent on leaving “I was here” graffiti on ancient rock paintings or carvings.

But another fact that becomes unmistakably clear when visiting Indian heritage sites is that the modern destruction is not confined to any particular generation or age group. It is fatuous to suggest that the damage is the work of irresponsible young people, from a failure of training or discipline. Some of the worst  damage I see is from a discredited Indiana Jones style of unscientific archaeology – little more than treasure hunting – that was practiced (and abandoned) decades ago. Much of the worst graffiti is from visitors of my own generation, or even from visitors from the 19th century. 

In a perverse way, some of the oldest graffiti at heritage sites becomes historically significant. As these photos illustrate, graffiti from the 1870s at the Montezuma Well cliff dwellings have become part of the historical context of the place, as disturbing as it might be by contemporary standards for preserving antiquities.

I don’t condone the damage, of course. It results from a disregard of culture; it arises from ignorance, or greed, or even racial animus. It is insensitive, disrespectful, unappreciative. It is despicable.

But I also refuse to condemn the current generation or hold them particularly responsible for the sad state of our archaeological treasures in the southwest. I actually suspect that young people are more culturally attuned than my own boomer cohort. I’m saddened that my post prompted the slander.

Cliff dwellings at Palatki Heritage Site, Coconino National Forest, Arizona.

Please click any photo in the set for full views.

The cliff dwellings here were built by Sinaguan people between 1,100 and 1,400 AD, and probably served two kin groups. In the top photo, the shield-like petrographs painted on the cliff wall are possibly clan emblems. 

If you look closely at the bottom photo you can see streaks in the mortar – the imprints of the builders’ fingers preserved for centuries in the clay.

Cliff dwellings at Palatki Heritage Site, Coconino National Forest, Arizona.

Please click any photo in the set for full views.

The cliff dwellings here were built by Sinaguan people between 1,100 and 1,400 AD, and probably served two kin groups. In the top photo, the shield-like petrographs painted on the cliff wall are possibly clan emblems. 

If you look closely at the bottom photo you can see streaks in the mortar – the imprints of the builders’ fingers preserved for centuries in the clay.