Rock Art Vandalism in
Cedar City, UT
Right Behind this house there
is a large petroglyph panel. fortunately it has been spared
from vandals. This house is located on south
end of Le Hill, which has suffered from significant development and has been
covered with houses. This part of the hill was once untouched. There are petroglyphs
on the south end. They
are not being only being disrupted by development; they are
being destroyed by vandals
and a few of these precious sites have disappeared.
In this photo here is the
area where some of the Le Hill petroglyphs are located.
Notice the street running
past them so close.
The dirt you see rolling past
the lava flow was put there by construction machinery, and
luckily they didn't remove or bury the rocks that revealed
any type of rock art. Still though, it is very disappointing
that the town of Cedar City is not trying harder to protect
these site, even if they are on private property
Here are some examples of
some rock art vandalism that has happened in the past
despite development in the surrounding area that has
also destroyed places that were unaffected by development..
Notice the gun blast marks
that partially destroyed this panel here located at the
south end of Le Hill.
Despite the person named Reed
Walker who put his graffiti here in 1924, look at the
desecrated of this panel by vandals. This was done by
careless criminals without any regard to the original
inhabitants of the area. It is disheartening.
These Photos above are proof
of the destruction. This type of crime is being committed
everywhere here in Southern Utah. No one seems to care, and
no one wants to listen. I even tried getting the local
newspaper to do a story about these problems, but they did
not see it as important enough to merit a story.
Rock Art Vandalism in
Cedar City, UT
This makes me real angry, and
is also a slap in the face to Indian people, about what is
going on here in my own home town!
A lot of people in Southern Utah have no respect for
ruins, or rock art sites because they do not understand their
importance or sacredness. The authorities do nothing to protect
these sites at all, maybe because they do not know what is
happening? Maybe there is too much of it going on
that they do not have time to investigate every case. That
is how much out of hand it really is!
Within the city limits of Cedar City, there is a place
called Le Hill that has suffered from a lot of development.
On this hill there is three rock art sites.
I have tried to spread awareness in the past about these
few sites. Many people in Cedar do not know they
even exist! Three years ago I photographed them in hopes to
preserve them in some way, and index them. I've gone back to some of these sites
and am shocked. Panels have been defaced beyond
recognition. it is very sad and a disgrace..
One of the sites had etched human figurines totally blown
away from the panel from what looks like a gun at close range towards
the rock surface. they were images of People.
The Hopi claim that their ancestors are from the area of
Southern Utah. This is not fact, but they looked
almost like Hopi Snake Dancers.
If only people knew what was happening around here, It would
make them mad. Like what has been proclaimed, "these are voices
from the past, and they are being ERASED!"
Nathan Cowlishaw
Pages in this section
Front Page
The
Parowan Gap
Lions
Mouth Rock Art Site
Other Rock Art in Southern Utah
Rock Art
Vandalism near my home
The Curse of Spider Woman Rock
Links
related to rock art and ruins
Rock Art Books
