Trump’s border wall construction threatens rock art as old as the pyramids: ‘The ancestors are still here’
The president’s border wall plan could damage or destroy ‘the oldest-known books in North America’ On an overcast summer morning, Carolyn Boyd, an archeologist at Texas State University, stood at the foot of a cave in west Texas, looking up toward a series of towering murals painted on a rock wall. Three massive human-like figures soared toward an overhang that had sheltered the painting from the…
President Donald Trump's proposed border wall construction poses a grave threat to ancient rock art in west Texas, possibly damaging or destroying some of the oldest-known paintings in North America, according to archeologist Carolyn Boyd from Texas State University. On a cloudy summer morning, Boyd stood before a cave, gazing up at a series of majestic murals etched onto a stone wall.
Three towering human-like figures stretched towards an overhanging shelter, having remained untouched for over 4,000 years. As an artist herself, Boyd is well aware of the immense difficulty that the Indigenous hunter-gatherers who once inhabited this west Texas valley faced when painting these intricate lines.
To create such masterpieces, the bands of Indigenous people residing in the area, where the Pecos River flows into the Rio Grande, dedicated weeks to grinding gypsum, hematite, limonite, and manganese to craft their paints. They also collected abundant quantities of sotol stalks to transform them into scaffolding that would support their artistic endeavors.
The actual creation of these murals demanded collaboration and precision, with individuals at the base guiding the artists painting figures up to 30 feet tall. As Trump's border wall plan looms, there is a possibility that this invaluable historical treasure could be damaged or lost forever, serving as a stark reminder that "the ancestors are still here."
Written by urgent.news from The Guardian US's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
