KANAB, Utah — Archeologists say acts of vandalism on Utah's ancient history may be more widespread than the public might realize.
On Nov. 23, a woman was caught on camera damaging rock etchings made thousands of years ago by native Americans where the Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch trails meet near Kanab.
Daniela Ericksen, 48, of Ivins faces up to two years in prison and a $20,000 fine if convicted.
According to Bureau of Land Management archaeologist Joey LaValley, the defacing of petroglyphs and other artifacts more often happens away from cameras.
“Vandalism is happening often,” said LaValley. “There are oils on your hands and from food and everything, and that can damage the petroglyphs."
“If you come in and you scratch on the petroglyphs or you paint over them. That's part of the puzzle that's just gone, and so you can never know the full story," he said.
It's believed the damaged petroglyph was left by ancestors of either the Paiute or Hopi tribes 1,000-5,000 years ago.
“It is the history of the people that lived here. It's the history of the indigenous groups that still live here today,” LaValley said. “Everybody has a history and everybody has a family history. You would want your history preserved."
LaValley believes that with the current laws, there is only so much protection for artifacts on remote areas of public land.
“You see just how many people are upset when they see something like that happen and for the most part, things like that probably are happening and they don't know it, but this got attention,” LaValley said. “People talk about it and they tell others 'hey don't do this' like you know and so it is that that goes a long way to educating people.”
