rick t
08-19-2014, 07:06 PM
Hi there,
This is Park Ranger Matt McCarthy with Zion National Park.
You are being contacted because you were in the Zion permit system for doing the canyoneering route called Spry Canyon in late May/early June.
Unfortunately, this is not good news. Sometime late May/early June somebody ruined a petroglyph panel that is located at the top of Spry Canyon.
We are, currently, trying to find any leads to find out who could be responsible for this. See attached photos.
We are trying to find who is responsible so we can at least educate them on the importance of these panels to our American culture. Petroglyphs and Pictographs are fragile, non-renewable cultural resources that, once damaged, can never be replaced. Introduction of graffiti destroys the petroglyphs & pictographs and is disrespectful to contemporary Native Americans and their ancestors as well as ruining it for the next person to enjoy.
Rock art in the vicinity of Zion National Park was once assumed to date to Anasazi times about 1000 years ago. However, people have lived in the area for as many as 7000 years. The Archaic people preceded the Ancestral Puebloan peoples formerly known as the Virgin Anasazi. The ancestors of the modern Southern Paiute occupied this area as well. Non-disruptive dating techniques are now being developed that may answer such questions as the age of rock art. To even try and understand a petroglyph or pictograph it needs to be viewed in relation to its environment: including the adjacent image(s), the entire escarpment, and the surrounding landscape.
If anyone has any information even to the dates they were there and when they saw this, please let us know. If you saw this petroglyph and did not see the graffiti, please let us know that too. See attached photos.
If you have any information regarding this graffiti, please contact me anytime at 435-619-1684 or at matthew_mccarthy@nps.gov.
Thanks for your time.
Matt McCarthy
Park Ranger
Zion National Park
Email: matthew_mccarthy@nps.gov
Ph: 435-619-1684
75835
75836
75837
75838
This is Park Ranger Matt McCarthy with Zion National Park.
You are being contacted because you were in the Zion permit system for doing the canyoneering route called Spry Canyon in late May/early June.
Unfortunately, this is not good news. Sometime late May/early June somebody ruined a petroglyph panel that is located at the top of Spry Canyon.
We are, currently, trying to find any leads to find out who could be responsible for this. See attached photos.
We are trying to find who is responsible so we can at least educate them on the importance of these panels to our American culture. Petroglyphs and Pictographs are fragile, non-renewable cultural resources that, once damaged, can never be replaced. Introduction of graffiti destroys the petroglyphs & pictographs and is disrespectful to contemporary Native Americans and their ancestors as well as ruining it for the next person to enjoy.
Rock art in the vicinity of Zion National Park was once assumed to date to Anasazi times about 1000 years ago. However, people have lived in the area for as many as 7000 years. The Archaic people preceded the Ancestral Puebloan peoples formerly known as the Virgin Anasazi. The ancestors of the modern Southern Paiute occupied this area as well. Non-disruptive dating techniques are now being developed that may answer such questions as the age of rock art. To even try and understand a petroglyph or pictograph it needs to be viewed in relation to its environment: including the adjacent image(s), the entire escarpment, and the surrounding landscape.
If anyone has any information even to the dates they were there and when they saw this, please let us know. If you saw this petroglyph and did not see the graffiti, please let us know that too. See attached photos.
If you have any information regarding this graffiti, please contact me anytime at 435-619-1684 or at matthew_mccarthy@nps.gov.
Thanks for your time.
Matt McCarthy
Park Ranger
Zion National Park
Email: matthew_mccarthy@nps.gov
Ph: 435-619-1684
75835
75836
75837
75838