Late last year vandals irreparably damaged a rock art petroglyph panel in Big Bend National Park. 2021 was a hard year for United States rock art with major instances of vandalism reported in Utah (here, here) and now closing the year in Texas. Anyone with information about the incident in Texas should contact the Big Bend National Park Communication Center at 432-477-1187. Detailed view of vandalism in Big Bend National Park, Texas photo via NPS The National Park Service reports that there have been over 50 instances of vandalism to rock art in Big Bend since 2015. Read more at Art News (here) and Texas Monthly (here). At the Ancient Art Archive, we believe that the only long-term solution to vandalism is education. We must build a long term and wide spread appreciation for the images our predecessors left written on the landscape. To that end we have built education...
Picture Cave Missouri, the Mississippian era ceremonial cave near St Louis, containing some of the most incredible pictographs in North America has sold at auction for $2.2 million to bidders who wish to remain anonymous. There is no word on what plans the new owners have for this cultural masterpiece. Details about the Picture Cave sale are in this NPR story here. The 43-acre parcel was sold on September 14 by Selkirk Auctions. We are of course disappointed that the cultural asset was not moved to public or tribal hands. Picture Cave relates significantly to Cahokia and the red horn story. Red Horn in the form of the Falcon Warrior makes an appearance in Devilstep Hollow cave in Tennessee (see our 360 degree VR video with narration by Dustin Mater here). For anyone who would like more information on the art and significance of Picture Cave we recommend Carol Diaz-Granados...
An article in Sapiens lists the age for the Cerne Abbas Giant geoglyph in Dorset, England. The 180 foot long image is now thought to have been made between AD 700 and AD 1100 -the early medieval period. There are 30 or more chalk geoglyphs in Southern England, no word on their age.
