Border Wall Construction Threatens 6,000 Years of History on Private Lands

Archeologists are confronting an "unfathomable" loss as the US border wall is set to cut across ranches that are home to unique historical sites in Texas, many of which haven't been fully studied. Outrage has exploded over border infrastructure that recently began tearing up pristine desert landscapes in Big Bend National Park. But there's a quieter battle taking place on private lands in Texas, where the US border wall is set to cut across some of North America's richest archaeological sites, digging up ancient indigenous artifacts and fracturing millennia-old rock art in its path. The US Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection awarded billions of dollars in contracts this year toward the construction of a wall and other barriers in West Texas along a remote 500-plus-mile (800-plus-kilometer) riverfront expanse of the US-Mexico border that includes Big Bend National Park and other idyllic parklands. Bipartisan backlash against border wall construction in the national park was swift, ultimately prompting DHS to scuttle plans for a 30-foot steel bollard wall, instead replacing it with miles of riverside vehicle barriers and 200-plus miles of road construction.