Concerns Over Border Wall Construction
The commencement of border infrastructure projects has sparked outrage, particularly due to the devastation of pristine desert landscapes within Big Bend National Park. However, a quieter battle is unfolding on private lands in Texas, where the proposed border wall threatens to disrupt some of North America’s most significant archaeological sites, unearthing ancient Indigenous artefacts and damaging millennia-old rock art in the process.
This year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have awarded contracts worth billions for the construction of a wall and additional barriers in West Texas. This infrastructure spans over 800 kilometres (500 miles) along the riverbanks at the US-Mexico border, encompassing Big Bend National Park and other idyllic locations.
The bipartisan backlash against the border wall construction was swift, prompting the DHS to abandon plans for a 30-foot steel bollard wall. Instead, they opted for several kilometres of vehicle barriers along the riverbanks and the construction of over 322 kilometres (200 miles) of roads. On August 6, earthmovers began clearing land along the Rio Grande corridor near the Santa Elena Canyon.
However, construction has been halted due to ongoing legal challenges.
Archaeological Heritage at Risk
Despite this, the agency still plans to build the wall and a network of roads through mountains and canyons outside the national park, including private properties that ranchers and other landowners claim host archaeological sites that require protection. They express concerns that the wall’s construction will divide their lands and harm these sites, many of which have yet to be thoroughly studied.
Archaeologist Bryon Schroeder has been excavating on rancher Jeff Fort’s property for the past two years. He currently directs the Big Bend Studies Centre at Sul Ross University, a research programme dedicated to exploring the cultural, historical, and archaeological legacy of the region. During each excavation, he carefully removes 10 centimetres of sediment, uncovering pottery and adobe fragments dating back to around 800 AD.
Schroeder has also discovered turquoise and seashells, both indicators of trade with areas beyond the region. Evidence suggests that the site is connected to Paquimé, a UNESCO World Heritage site located 200 miles away in Mexico.
Schroeder’s site, known as Canta Recio, falls directly within the proposed wall’s path. Portions are set to be destroyed by machinery, and if the wall is constructed, other sections of the site will become inaccessible.
Shared History Under Threat
Schroeder likens Canta Recio to how the Egyptians established settlements along the Nile, suggesting that the site was inhabited four to five times between 800 and 1400 by groups likely attracted by the fertile lands provided by periodic flooding. These floods necessitated the departure of groups when the Rio Grande overflowed, only for new settlers to arrive once the sediment had consolidated. This cycle of settlement, flooding, and departure is a recurring pattern.
“There are larger and more fascinating sites upstream that are truly extraordinary. They contain vast amounts of pottery, Mesoamerican copper bells, turquoise… all sorts of amazing artefacts,” said Schroeder.
The paradox faced by Schroeder and other archaeologists is that they cannot fully assess what is at risk, as many sites lie on private land and have never been studied. This means that construction could erase history before it is documented. A spokesperson for the CBP stated that the agency is conducting environmental and cultural assessments to mitigate impacts and balance operational needs with responsible land management.
Impending Destruction of Valuable Sites
However, previous studies have not prevented historically significant sites from being condemned to destruction. A wall is set to traverse the Polvo site in Redford, Texas, which houses a prehistoric village with a cemetery dating back to the 14th century. This same location also contains remnants of a Spanish mission built in the 17th century. Eagle Nest Canyon in Langtry, one of the most important and intensively studied archaeological sites in Texas, is also slated for some form of barrier construction. This site includes the southernmost bison hunting ground in the US, where Native Americans hunted the animals by driving them off a cliff.
Patrick Zuberbueler, a rancher living 350 miles downstream in Comstock, Texas, recalls spending his youth picnicking under a 6,000-year-old rock painting, featuring images as tall as 50 feet and stretching hundreds of metres across his family’s property. In the 1960s and 70s, the government expropriated part of this land for public utility purposes to create the Friendship Press and Seminole Canyon State Park, but he and his family still retain thousands of acres.
Protecting Cultural Legacy
As a child, Zuberbueler often fished in a creek that fed into Painted Shelter, a limestone rock shelter on his family’s property. To him, it was merely a picnic spot. However, for archaeologist and rock art expert Carolyn Boyd, it represents one of the region’s most significant archaeological sites.
Painted Shelter features three distinct styles of art, created between 1,000 and 6,000 years ago. These rock paintings encapsulate stories and cosmologies, serving as “libraries of human knowledge,” according to Boyd, a research professor at Texas State University in San Marcos and founder of the Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Centre in 1998.
Painted Shelter is also located directly in the path of the border construction works. “A vehicle barrier built directly over it will destroy the creek and could potentially damage the paintings themselves,” Boyd explains, noting that vibrations from construction could cause the limestone to flake off, leaving the rock canvas in ruins. She is aware of another twelve rock art sites in the region that are also at risk due to the construction, while an additional 79 will become inaccessible.
Legislation and Local Resistance
The area surrounding the Zuberbueler ranch, known as the Lower Pecos Canyonlands Archaeological District, was designated a National Historic Landmark on January 13, 2021, during Trump’s first term. Federal legislation mandates that agencies “to the greatest extent possible, take planning and measures necessary to minimise damage” to National Historic Landmarks. However, since the National Historic Preservation Act is one of the many laws waived by the DHS in its efforts to build a border wall, those requirements for minimising damage have been disregarded.
For Zuberbueler, opposing the border wall is not simply about the archaeology on his land. It concerns the legacy of his great-grandfather, who began farming the land in 1898. “The ranch keeps shrinking, and you can’t effectively run a cattle operation like that. They are harming our livelihood as producers,” he shared.
Boyd, who has spent four decades unraveling the history behind the region’s rock art, expresses that she feels as if she is living a nightmare. “It may be an illusion,” she admits, but she hopes to convince the government of the importance of the archaeology in the region, rather than proceed with physical infrastructure.
Community Solidarity Against the Wall
Yet, it seems time is running out for such advocacy. Several kilometres of steel bollards are piled in staging areas, and temporary “worker camps” have sprung up in newly cleared land across the region. Locals report that contractors for the wall have already cleared private properties before being legally permitted to do so, damaging irrigation systems and uprooting vegetation.
Nevertheless, some residents refuse to back down. Signs of resistance to construction on private lands have emerged elsewhere, including lawsuits filed earlier this month by residents of San Ygnacio, located about 275 miles south of the Big Bend region. “It’s inconceivable to even consider the various ways this could harm us. We will not give up without a fight,” concludes Zuberbueler regarding the border wall construction.