Ancient Rock Art At Risk Of Vandalism And Destruction

LONE PINE, CALIFORNIA - MAY 14: A petroglyph panel in an ancient lava flow depicts three bighorn sheep, believed to be represented by the three stars of Orion's Belt during a hunt, above two bighorn rams that appear to be facing off in a challenge for dominance during the rut season, on May 14, 2024 near Lone Pine, California. Sacred indigenous rock art sites in the region have been increasingly subject to chiseling, graffiti, target shooting, theft using stone cutting saws, and outright site destruction. The petroglyphs range from 3,000 to as old as 12,000 years old, near the end of the Pleistocene, or Ice Age, when glaciers and volcanoes dominated much of the landscape and many animals in the region, such as mammoths, mastodons, giant ground sloths, saber-toothed cats, American lions, dire wolfs, camels, and giant armadillos, were becoming extinct. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)