Border wall expansion threatens 4,000-year-old rock-art murals in West Texas

Customs and Border Protection plans to install a 165-mile “smart wall” of steel bollards, vehicle barriers and surveillance equipment across the last unwalled stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in west Texas. The alignment runs directly through Seminole Canyon State Park, which contains 27 prehistoric rock-art murals, including the Fate Bell Shelter where archaeologist Carolyn Boyd works. Boyd and other scholars argue the murals, created up to 4,000 years ago with mineral pigments and complex scaffolding, are world-class cultural treasures that could be damaged by the blasting and heavy machinery required for construction.

The project, financed by a $46.5 billion border-wall bill, proceeds under waivers that bypass standard environmental and historic-preservation reviews, despite protests from Indigenous elders, local ranchers such as Patrick Zuberbueler, and conservationists. Fisher Sand and Gravel Co has been awarded a $2.7 billion contract to build the barrier, offering landowners modest payments to avoid eminent-domain battles. CBP says it will conduct its own reviews, but critics fear at least 80 murals will end up on the U.S. side of the fence, limiting access for researchers and Indigenous peoples.