Paintballs vs Petroglyphs

Some people have no interest in history or archaeology, that's just fine. But when people have no respect for ancient remains, that can be a dangerous thing with serious consequences. For one David R. Smith, he found out the hard way via the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Grapevine Canyon defaced petroglyphs

Back in March of last year, 21 year old Smith and two others took their fully automatic paintball guns out to the site of the petroglyphs, showering Grapevine Canyon with hundreds of oil-based red and green paint bullets. 38 of the bullets seriously defaced the petroglyphs, and while the paint has been removed, an oily residue still remains.

Grapevine Canyon is a sacred place to the Colorado River Indian tribes and home to 700 petroglyphs that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Yesterday, Smith pleaded guilty to the crime and was sentenced to 15 months in prison and an order to pay nearly $10,000 in restitution.

Source: here.

Global warming reveals more archaeology

Not really a silver lining to the possible destruction of the earth...but new archaeology discoveries in any case...sigh...

Melting ice patches in Colorado have revealed archaeological remains that have been preserved for thousands of years. 10,000 year old weapons have been discovered by archaeologist Craig Lee of the University of Colorado.

Researchers have little choice but to collect all of the finds as they find them as, otherwise, the items will very quickly degrade due to their fragile condition.

You can read a bit more about the weapons here.