Skip to main content

People are key to destruction, protection of Arizona's archaeological sites


January 03, 2014

Today’s technology is helping connect people with Arizona’s rich historic and prehistoric landscape. It's also contributing to the vandalism, looting and damage of archaeological sites.

A recent article by the Arizona Republic’s editorial board highlights the problem of modern tools, such as GPS, providing access to the most remote sites, even sacred locations on tribal lands.

Increased traffic to unprotected sites means a greater impact is being felt. Whether people consciously damage a location or ignorantly and innocently leave their mark behind, the results are the same: making the site less valuable for scientific study and less authentic for future visitors and those with cultural ties to the locale.

ASU archaeology professor C. Michael Barton of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is cited in the article. He notes that while a burgeoning population increasingly stresses our natural and cultural heritage, citizen efforts can also provide preservation and protection.

The Site Steward Program is one such effort. It is a network of volunteers trained by the State Historic Preservation Office as watchdogs and educators who report problems to land managers. Though it is a step in the right direction, more land managers are needed to fully protect the state’s rock art, cliff dwellings and other physical cultural treasures.

Article source: Arizona Republic

More ASU in the news

 

Arizona State University helping prepare people for careers in growing semiconductor industry

Matthew McConaughey and ASU are helping an Arizona school district. Here's how

We need to address the generative AI literacy gap in higher education