US Border Wall Construction Damages 1,000-Year-Old Indigenous Land Art in Arizona
ARTnews reports that US border wall construction in Arizona damaged a 200-foot-long fish-shaped land etching (an intaglio) believed to be about 1,000 years old, with a 60-to-70-foot section destroyed. The Washington Post cited volunteer surveyor and retired archaeologist Richard Martynec, who said satellite imagery from April showed disturbance across the Las Playas Intaglio area, and later imagery showed bulldozer marks cutting through about a third of the formation; US Customs and Border Protection confirmed the damage after the report. CBP spokesperson John Mennell said a contractor “inadvertently disturbed” the site on April 23, 2026, west of Ajo, Arizona, and that the remaining portion has been secured and will be protected in place. The damage occurred amid President Donald Trump’s $46.5 billion border-wall project, and Hia-ced O’odham elder Lorraine Marquez Eiler compared the destruction to vandalizing revered sites in Washington and called for accountability.
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This story was covered in Biennale Uprisings, Looted Legacies Unravel