Photos show name carved into 3,000-year-old petroglyphs in ‘tragic act of destruction’
An ancient petroglyph “that has stood for up to 3,000 years” was destroyed when someone carved a name into the rock in Utah, officials said.
The Bureau of Land Management’s Price Field Office is investigating the vandalism incident at the Buckhorn Draw Pictograph Panel in the San Rafael Swell, the agency said on Facebook on Feb. 3.
“The graffiti, reading ‘Silvia P.’, was etched across four ancient petroglyphs of bighorn sheep — a tragic act of destruction to a site that has stood for up to 3,000 years,” officials said. “Vandalizing archaeological sites erases our past and denies future generations the chance to experience history firsthand. Public lands belong to all of us — let’s protect them.”
Photos show the name carved over the now-faded drawings of bighorn sheep on the rock face, which is behind a wooden fence with a sign warning against destroying the rock art.
“Find them, name them and shame them,” someone commented on the post. “Sheer ignorance and disrespect.”
It appears someone defaced the petroglyphs in the same spot in 2019, according to a year etched into the rock.
A petroglyph is a carving in the surface of a rock left there by ancient Indigenous people to tell their stories, according to Visit Utah. While the art has survived thousands of years, oils from human hands can degrade the rock surface — plus carving, chiseling, scratching, engraving or marring the petroglyphs in any way is a federal crime.
In December, two people who deputies said were photographed defacing another petroglyph in Utah were identified with help from the public, McClatchy News previously reported.
Officials ask anyone with information on the incident to call the field office at 435-636-3600 or email MLMorningstar@blm.gov.
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Photos show name carved into 3,000-year-old petroglyphs in ‘tragic act of destruction’."
