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A rare archaeological<\/span> site in the Sonoran Desert was bulldozed by a Department of Homeland Security contractor involved in building the latest sections of Donald Trump\u2019s border wall, according to multiple sources briefed on the incident.<\/p>\n The area, in a remote corner of Arizona\u2019s Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, is a roughly 280-by-50-foot etching in the desert sand known as an intaglio.<\/p>\n Last Thursday, 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI liken it to destroying the Nazca lines \u2014 something that culturally we should have been relishing and promoting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Cabeza Prieta, one of the largest wilderness areas outside of Alaska, also encompasses lands sacred to the Tohono O\u2019odham Nation<\/a>, which borders the refuge to the east. The O\u2019odham have fought to prevent border wall construction<\/a> across their reservation<\/a> and during Trump\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI liken it to destroying the Nazca lines \u2014 something that culturally we should have been relishing and promoting. Not destroying,\u201d Rick Martynec, an archaeologist, said in a phone interview, referring to the hundreds of figures<\/a> drawn into the deserts of southern Peru.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed the destruction in a statement to The Intercept and said the agency was coordinating with tribal authorities to figure out its next steps.<\/p>\n \u201cOn April 23, 2026, a border wall contractor inadvertently disturbed a cultural site known as Las Playas Intaglio, located west of Ajo, Arizona along the border,\u201d said the spokesperson, John Mennell, who is working on the construction of the second barrier in Arizona. \u201cThe remaining portion of the site has been secured and will be protected in place.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Well known to government officials, including the Interior Department\u2019s Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the refuge, the intaglio lies just 10 or 15 feet from the massive steel wall that now runs along the U.S.\u2013Mexico border. The destruction to the ancient site was first reported by the Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rick and Sandy Martynec, his wife, also an archaeologist who has studied the site for more than two decades, said the refuge was in talks with DHS and the contractor to make sure the site was protected as the Trump administration moves forward with a second set of barriers in the ecologically sensitive region<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Martynecs even visited the intaglio in mid-April and observed stakes that had been put in place by an engineer to mark its boundaries.<\/p>\n The Martynecs were first notified by FWS staff on Monday when they called the refuge to see about visiting the site and to check on its status. According to the archaeologists, Rijk Morawe, the refuge manager, had already been out to survey the damage and told them what had happened.<\/p>\n The news took the Martynecs and others by surprise, since the agency had been in dialogue with DHS and the contractor to come up with an alternative route that would avoid the intaglio, similar to the negotiations that had taken place during Trump\u2019s first term. (DHS\u2019s Customs and Border Protection in Arizona did not comment by press time. FWS declined to comment, referring all border inquiries to CBP.)<\/p>\n \u201cThe refuge was pushing as hard as they possibly could to come to a resolution,\u201d Martynec said.<\/p>\n Members of the O\u2019odham Nation had also been keeping a close eye on border wall development. On the day before the site was bulldozed, a group of O\u2019odham runners observed construction getting dangerously close to the protected area. That morning they called Lorraine Eiler, an O\u2019odham elder and co-founder of the International Sonoran Desert Alliance, who lives in the town of Ajo where the Cabeza Prieta Refuge office is located.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n