据最近公布的研究，一幅遭本届政府修建边境围墙严重破坏的古代地画，其创作时间早于巨石阵和埃及最古老的金字塔。位于亚利桑那州索诺兰沙漠、刻画出一条巨型鱼的“拉斯普拉亚斯地刻”，如今被认为是美洲现存最古老的地画实例。地画是一种刻入地面或绘制于地面的古代艺术形式。据记录这处破坏的生物多样性中心称，今年4月，特朗普政府雇用的承包商为在亚利桑那州与墨西哥边境修建第二道围墙而施工时，“刮”出了一道宽50英尺的破坏带，横穿这幅古代雕刻。
cient ground carving that was severely damaged by the administration’s border wall construction was created before Stonehenge and Egypt’s oldest pyramid, according to recently publicized research. The Las Playas Intaglio, a giant fish carved into the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, is now considered the oldest example in the Americas of a geoglyphic, the ancient art form that is carved into or drawn on the ground. In April, contractors hired by the Trump administration to make way for a second wall along the Arizona-Mexico border “scraped” a 50-foot swath through the ancient carving, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, which documented the damage.
研究人员发现，这幅位于托霍诺奥奥达姆族及其他原住部族祖居地面的地刻，据估计比埃及第一座金字塔早约2000年，比巨石阵最初的建造早约1500年，比秘鲁的纳斯卡线条早约4000年。这幅长272英尺的雕刻此前被认为约有1000年历史。但最新研究将这幅作品的创作时间追溯至至少6500年前，甚至可能早至7500年前。
The intaglio on the ground of the ancestral homeland of the Tohono O’odham and other Indigenous tribes is estimated to be about 2,000 years older than Egypt’s first pyramid and to have been created about 1,500 years before the first construction of Stonehenge and 4,000 years before Peru’s Nazca Lines, researchers have found. The formerly 272-foot carving had originally been thought to be about 1,000 years old. But the latest research dates the art’s creation to at least 6,500 years ago, and possibly as much as 7,500 years ago.
研究人员在美国考古学会《考古学记录》发表的文章中表示，这一年代凸显了“该遗址的重要性，以及其受损所造成的同等严重的不幸”。生物多样性中心西南部保护事务倡导者拉斯·麦斯帕登在一份声明中说：“这一发现使一项本已令人痛心的损失变得更加严重。这是一桩文化和历史暴行。”美国海关与边境保护局发言人在发给全国广播公司新闻部的一封电子邮件中表示，承包商“无意间扰动了”该遗址，海关与边境保护局局长罗德尼·斯科特“已直接与部落领导层沟通，以确定适当的后续措施”。 “遗址剩余部分已得到保护，并将原地加以保护。
That age emphasizes “the significance of this site and the parallel great misfortune resulting from its damage,” the researchers said in an article published in The SAA Archaeological Record. “This discovery makes an already devastating loss even more profound. It’s a cultural and historical atrocity,” Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said in an email to NBC News that the contractor “inadvertently disturbed” the site and that CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott has been “engaged directly with tribal leadership to determine appropriate next steps.”“The remaining portion of the site has been secured and will be protected in place. CBP is conducting a thorough review of construction protocols and strengthening communication procedures to ensure this does not happen again,” the spokesperson stated, adding that the agency is “committed to respecting and safeguarding cultural heritage throughout all border infrastructure projects.”
美国海关与边境保护局正在对施工规程进行彻底审查，并加强沟通程序，以确保此类事件不再发生。该局发言人表示，该局“致力于在所有边境基础设施项目中尊重和保护文化遗产”。该遗址遭到破坏，以及在托霍诺·奥奥德姆族其他土地和原住民神圣区域开展施工，使该部落民族与政府之间本就脆弱的关系更加紧张。该部落正在对联邦法官拒绝阻止政府在其保留地内修建边境墙的裁决提出上诉。
The damage to that site and construction on other parts of Tohono O’odham land and sacred Indigenous areas has strained the tenuous relationship between the tribal nation and the government. The tribe is appealing a federal judge’s decision refusing to block the administration’s border wall construction through its reservation.
尽管阴刻图案所在遗址已遭到不可修复的破坏，但托霍诺·奥奥德姆人正试图阻止政府破坏基普瓦基托泉。该泉是管道仙人掌国家纪念区内的一处沙漠水源，也被视为圣地，并有濒危物种栖息。为了修建边境墙和屏障，美国国土安全部援引《2006年安全围栏法》授予的权力，豁免遵守多项保护环境、水资源、文化遗产、历史遗址和宗教场所的法律。
While the intaglio’s site is irreparably damaged, the Tohono O’odham people are trying to stop the government from plowing through Quitobaquito Springs, a desert water source in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument that is also considered a sacred site and holds endangered species. In order to build the border wall and barriers, the Department of Homeland Security invoked authority granted in the Secure Fence Act of 2006 to waive numerous laws protecting the environment, water, cultural, historical and religious sites.
长期以来，托霍诺·奥奥德姆民族一直与隶属于美国国土安全部的美国海关与边境保护局合作开展边境安全事务，帮助阻止毒品贩运人员和其他犯罪分子利用其土地从事犯罪活动。该部落的保留地横跨美墨边境，其成员经身份核验后获准在两国之间往来。据该部落民族称，目前约有3000名成员身在墨西哥。生物多样性中心在一份新闻公报中表示，保护倡导者和各部落民族长期以来一直警告，边境墙和第二道边境屏障的规划可能横穿该地区的敏感栖息地和文化遗址。
The Tohono O’odham Nation has long worked with Customs and Border Protection, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, on border security, helping to keep drug traffickers and others from using its land for criminal activity. The tribe’s reservation straddles the U.S.-Mexico border, and its members have permission to move between the two countries with ID checks. About 3,000 of its members are in Mexico, according to the tribal nation. The Center for Biological Diversity stated in a news release that conservation advocates and tribal nations have long warned that border wall and secondary border barrier plans could cut through sensitive habitat and cultural sites across the region.
边境其他地区的围墙建设已引发更多诉讼，也遭到土地所有者、美洲原住部落、地方政府、自然保护团体、企业主等人的反对。在得克萨斯州，一个利潘阿帕奇部落非营利组织和一家户外休闲企业反对边境围墙建设，称国土安全部无权违反《宗教自由恢复法》，并表示摧毁圣地或切断通往圣地的通道将构成违法。联邦法官针对这起诉讼，下令暂停大本德国家公园内的施工，但在这片崎岖、未开发且地处偏远地区的州有及联邦公园土地之外，其他区域的施工仍在继续。
Wall construction in other parts of the border has sparked other lawsuits and opposition from landowners, Native American tribes, local governments, conservation groups, business owners and others. In Texas, a tribal nonprofit for the Lipan Apache and an outdoor recreation business have opposed the border wall construction, alleging DHS is not authorized to violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which they say it would do by destroying or cutting off access to sacred sites. A federal judge ordered a temporary halt to construction in Big Bend National Park in response to the lawsuit, but construction continues on other parts of the rugged, undeveloped and remote region outside state and federal parkland.