A 6,500-year-old Indigenous sacred site in Arizona has been damaged by border wall construction. (Photo: Russ McSpadden / Center for Biological Diversity)
New research has revealed that the Las Playas Intaglio, a sacred Indigenous geoglyph in Arizona, is at least 6,500 years old, making it the oldest scientifically dated geoglyph in the Americas. Previously believed to be around 1,000 years old, the site has now been linked to an ancient period of Indigenous history predating Egypt’s first pyramid, Peru’s Nazca Lines and the initial construction of Stonehenge. They analysed stones collected from the intaglio in 1979, with three samples supporting a conservative age estimate of between 6,500 and 7,300 years. Its estimated age places the creation of the site roughly 2,000 years before Egypt’s first pyramid, 4,000 years before Peru’s Nazca Lines and 1,500 years before the first construction of Stonehenge. A 50-foot-wide corridor cuts through part of a 272-foot-long ancient geoglyph. (Photo: Russ McSpadden / Center for Biological Diversity) The discovery has drawn renewed attention to the damage caused to the site on April 23, when contractors working for US Customs and Border Protection drove heavy equipment through the intaglio while preparing land for a second border barrier. The construction work created a roughly 50-foot-wide scraped corridor that cut through part of the 272-foot-long figure and the surrounding wildlife refuge, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. The sacred figure predates Egypt’s first pyramid by approximately 2,000 years. (Photo: Russ McSpadden / Center for Biological Diversity) Las Playas lies within the ancestral homeland of the Tohono O’odham, Hia-Ced O’odham and other Indigenous tribes. In February 2020, blasting at Monument Hill, a burial ground sacred to the O’odham in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, drew concern over the impact of border wall construction. Construction has also affected saguaros, which the Tohono O’odham Legislative Council recognised as O’odham persons and kin in a May 2021 resolution condemning their destruction. In January 2025, the San Xavier District Council called for the protection of the sacred jaguar and its habitat and movement corridors from border barriers and other threats. UNESCO’s 2003 Declaration concerning the Intentional Destruction of Cultural Heritage recognises that such destruction harms humanity as a whole and calls for preventive measures and sanctions consistent with international law. Meanwhile, US Customs and Border Protection had been accepting public comments on 225 miles of secondary border wall construction across Arizona through October 12, according to the information provided by the agency. The deadline has now passed as of October 13, 2026.
The findings, published in the September issue of The SAA Archaeological Record, were reported by researchers David S. Construction of primary and secondary walls has also been reported in the San Rafael Valley, an important jaguar corridor between Mexico and the United States.
Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the newly established age of the site made its destruction even more significant. It’s a cultural and historical atrocity,” McSpadden said. “People deserve to know what warnings were given and why safeguards, if they existed, failed,” he said, urging Congress to seek records and testimony about who authorised and carried out the work. Such sites are important to Indigenous cultural and religious traditions, tribal identity and continuing relationships with ancestral lands, according to the researchers.
The discovery comes months after the fish-shaped earthwork was partially damaged by federal contractors working on the Trump administration’s second border wall through the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. Whitley and Ronald I. Dorn. Their study identifies the Las Playas Intaglio as the oldest scientifically dated geoglyph in the Americas. The researchers used a technique known as varnish microlamination dating, which examines microscopic layers of rock varnish and compares them with regional records of ancient climatic conditions. Since the rock varnish formed after the earthwork was created, the researchers noted that the geoglyph could be even older. “This discovery makes an already devastating loss even more profound. He added that the destruction had harmed the deep history of Indigenous communities and called for accountability over the damage. Intaglios are large figures created by removing dark stones from desert surfaces to expose the lighter ground beneath. The newly established age of the Las Playas Intaglio offers further insight into the long history of Indigenous communities in the region. McSpadden compared the destruction to the hypothetical bulldozing of part of Stonehenge to make way for a wall, arguing that Indigenous heritage deserves the same level of protection as other internationally recognised cultural sites. The damage to the Las Playas Intaglio follows other instances of destruction and threats to culturally significant places in the region. Meanwhile, plans for a second parallel wall have raised concerns about Quitobaquito Springs, a sacred O’odham oasis within Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Conservation advocates warn that bulldozing and groundwater pumping could permanently damage the water system that sustains rare aquatic wildlife. The destruction has renewed questions about how ancient and sacred sites are protected during major infrastructure projects. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples also affirms Indigenous peoples’ rights to protect their cultural heritage, traditions and religious practices. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
