#Trump Bulldozed a 1,000-Year-Old #ArcheologicalSite to Make Room for a Second Border Wall
#DHS was in talks with the #WildlifeRefuge that hosts the ancient site to make sure it was protected, a local archeologist said.
Adam Federman
April 30 2026, 7:01 p.m.
"A rare archaeological site in the #SonoranDesert was bulldozed by a Department of Homeland Security contractor involved in building the latest sections of Donald Trump’s #BorderWall, according to multiple sources briefed on the incident.
"The area, in a remote corner of Arizona’s #CabezaPrieta #NationalWildlifeRefuge, is a nearly 280-by-50-foot etching in the desert sand known as an #intaglio.
"Last Friday, without any notice, a contractor working for DHS cut a roughly 60-foot swath across the middle of the intaglio, doing irreparable damage to the 1,000-year-old artifact.
"Cabeza Prieta, one of the largest wilderness areas outside of Alaska, also encompasses lands sacred to the #TohonoOodham Nation, which borders the refuge to the east. The O’odham have fought to prevent border wall construction across their reservation and during Trump’s first term largely prevailed; they also managed to protect the intaglio and a nearby burial site that they consider to be part of their ancestral lands.
" 'I liken it to destroying the Nazca lines — something that culturally we should have been relishing and promoting. Not destroying,' Rick Martynec, an archaeologist, said in a phone interview, referring to the hundreds of figures drawn into the deserts of southern Peru.
"The destruction was confirmed by a federal employee with direct knowledge of the incident, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal."
Source:
https://theintercept.com/2026/04/30/arizona-archeological-site-bulldozed-border-wall/
#USPol #TrumpSucks #CulturalErasure #ProtectTheSacred #TohonoOodhamNation #ArchaeologicalSite #DestroyingHistory #Fascism #NativeAmericanHistory #NativeAmericanCulturalHeritage
