"TRENT"

Apparently, a 29-year-old man on a guided fishing trip down the Colorado River thought the ancient petroglyph known as the "Descending Sheep Panel" (1st image) at Glen Canyon in Arizona would be improved by etching his name on it. Trenton Ganey was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Neil Wake to 60 months supervised probation, $10,000 restitution, and 100 hours of community service. My sentiments upon hearing this news have already been summed up by avocational archaeologist Donald R. Austin:

"I never fail to be flabbergasted each time I come upon a rock art panel that has been vandalized, and unfortunately I come upon this situation more and more often. I use the word flabbergasted because I simply cannot fathom a mental process that would allow a person to commit an act of such senseless destruction against an inanimate work of prehistoric importance....[I]t can be accurately described as an irrational act of violence against our collective past..."

Austin points out the motivations for the vandalism of these ancient markings, ranging from ignorance to deliberate defiance. And a Google search shows that this is not an isolated incident. Here are just a few recent examples:

• In March 2010, four petroglyph panels and numerous rock faces at Grapevine Canyon in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area of Nevada were damaged by a 20-year-old playing paintball with a teenager (2nd image).
• Also in March 2010, it was reported that repeated vandalism - including defacing the petroglyphs and chipping at the rock - had occured at a site near the Redemptorist Renewal Center in Tucson, Arizona (3rd image).
• In August 2010, officials learned that the main rock art panel at Keyhole Sink on the Kaibab National Forest in Arizona had been defaced with spraypaint.
• In Nov. 2010, it was reported that ancient artwork carved into the stones at Red Rock Canyon in Nevada had been vandalized.

Unfortunately, municipalities and the U.S. Forest Service face an uphill battle in preserving these exposed petroglyphs. Their accessibility makes them hard to protect and their delicacy makes them difficult to restore once they have been vandalized. In addition, conservator Claire Dean points out, "graffiti tends to attract more graffiti."

Dislodged

1st image) Vintage postcard of Balance Rock in Devil's Lake, Wisconsin, 2nd image) Stereoscopic view of Balance Rock in Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 3rd image) Vintage postcard of Balanced Rock near Buhl, Idaho, 4th image) Photograph taken in 1922 of the Balancing Rock in Creston, California, which is no longer perching on the cliff.

They take eons to form, by the action of the wind or glaciers long since gone, but only a few minutes - in the case of a balancing rock in Creston, California - to pry loose. Ever since the invention of photography, people have posed beneath, next to, astride, or "propping up" these natural wonders, but that opportunity is gone in this case. Unlike the natural arch in Utah that crumbled from its own weight, this landscape feature was given a deliberate heave-ho by teenage vandals. It happened last March after teenagers got their 4-wheel drive vehicle stuck in the mud while they were trespassing on Mike Willer's 3,000-acre ranch. His neighbor noticed the landmark missing 3 days later. Tire tracks showed that the teens used the truck to dislodge the estimated 25-ton boulder from the granite ridge on the property and send it 50 yds. downhill. “They got up there with tire irons and shears and a 4-by-4 and levered and pried that thing. It could have come down on them; it was a miracle they weren’t killed,” said Willer, who filed a report with the Sheriff's Department. But because no property had been damaged by the boulder on the way down, the kids were not charged with vandalism, although they were given a "stern talking-to" about trespassing and the rights of others. As California journalist Bill Morem reports with consternation, "Case closed."