RSSVandalism takes a heavy toll on sacred rock art
Yakima Herald-Republic
"Prehistoric" is a bit of a stretch. I remember visiting the Painted Rocks as a child and there weren't any paintings, just a lot of disappointed people looking real hard at a few smudges of red color, trying to imagine what was once there.
I went back years later and lo and behold there were nice, pretty "pictographs" everywhere. I suspect a well meaning person "recreated" the pictures, or a prankster just to mess with people.
I talked about the rocks with a friend who lived at Ramblers Park in the early 1960's and he said the pictures were long gone by then. He knew the area well and said that if there were any pictures, he would have seen them.
So, whatever pictograph there were, they are long gone. I'm not even so positive ( and neither is anyone else) that they were made by Indians to begin with. It's possible they were the work of pranksters - including those mentioned west of the Oak Creek feeding station.
It would be nice if somebody did some research. I suspect they already have - that's why the archaeologists hem and haw when asked where the pictures came from - who made them.
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Typical. If we didn't have gangs of hoodlums running around with paint cans disrespecting everything in their paths, (why should they respect anything, they are mostly foreigners?), we would still be able to enjoy these valuable works of art. Scratching initials into the Washington Monument doesn't even come close to vandalizing these pre-historic paintings. At least they could repair the monument. Instead of protecting the paintings with some kind of cover, they just shut the place down. By doing that, we succumb to the vandals and let them spoil it for everyone. That is wrong too. Do they think that closing the path will make any difference to those who will climb up anyway and do further damage- because now they know we care? The county needs to step up and restore those paintings some way and then cover them up so that they will last and can be enjoyed by all. However, THAT might take creative thinking and is something I wonder if the Commissioners are capable of in their current "tear-down Historically significant places" mind-set.
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