Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
Seems like everytime I turn around I am hearing about petroglyphs being vandalized - usually by graffiti. This time the culprit is some moron, or morons, who decided the petroglyphs needed to be shot up:
The rock panels were damaged last month by gunfire -- as many as 35 shots destroyed the ancient art located southwest of Fillmore, the Bureau of Land Management reported. "It's a shame that people do this," Sherry Hirst, field manager for the BLM's Fillmore office, said Friday. The petroglyph vandalism was discovered earlier this week by a group of contractors taking inventory of archaeological sites in the area. The rock art is believed to be thousands of years old and had been untouched until May 2007, the BLM said.
The result:
Apparently, the damage can't be repaired. If you live in Utah and have any information about the damage please note:
The BLM is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandals. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-722-3998 or 435-743-3100.
On an editorial note, petroglyphs have no nutritional value whatsoever, nor do they make good trophies, so if you are out with your gun and see one, please don't shoot at it, otherwise people will think, justifiably, that you are an obnoxious asshole with a brain the size of a walnut...
Comments
I often carry a pistol with me when backpacking on BLM land for self-defense. There are some kooks out there.
I hope that they catch the morans that did this. Destruction of mankind's archeological heritage is unconscionable.
Posted by: jlbraun | June 6, 2007 8:38 PM
First of all, I'm shocked at the language used in this article. I applaud the very accurate usage of the normally offensive terms. I propose an IQ test be required along with a psych exam to obtain a gun. If there is a way to test level of asshole behavioral tendencies, that should also be added.
I seriously doubt most gun owners are so stupid, irresponsible, or possibly drunk as whomever did this.
Posted by: Chelle | June 6, 2007 9:31 PM
"I propose an IQ test be required along with a psych exam to obtain a gun."
Substitution fallacy. There is no indication that the petroglyphs would not have been vandalized had the vandals not possessed firearms.
Posted by: jlbraun | June 6, 2007 10:01 PM
Sadly, true. But at least they'd have to get out of their pickups and walk. The effort might have dissuaded them. Or even better, they might have died from it.
Posted by: decrepitoldfool | June 6, 2007 10:19 PM
I can all too easily imagine the NRA saying something like "it's the fault of the darwinistas, who have a history of vandalizing rocks with obviously fake pre-flood so-called 'artwork' in a desperate attempt to support their godless so-called 'theory'. Responsible gun-and-bible-carrying christian citizens have a duty to stop the vandals and restore the pristine rock."
Posted by: blf | June 7, 2007 3:12 AM
I live in the rural West. Here, meatheads with guns routinely shoot road signs without caring what's downrange, like, for instance houses. The woods are full of shot-up cars, appliances, TVs, bottles, etc., etc. Unfortunately, unless the reward amounts to something like a million bucks after taxes these second-amendment heros/marksmen will never be found.
Posted by: cfrost | June 7, 2007 7:19 AM
Chelle,
Your assumption that most gun users are not that stupid needs some serious re-evaluation.
Cfrost has said in a comment above that this trigger happy behavior is very frequent of gun users. I too have seen signs, trees, etc. shot up by gun users. It is people with guns that are using petroglyphs as target practice and destroying them -- so how does that make gun users not stupid to be doing this?
You shouldn't be taking offense to this. It seems like you are trying to make a gun-rights issue out of some stupid things people did. If people destroyed petroglyphs with rock hammers rather than guns, I'm sure Afarensis and I, would take both the same tone that stupid, moronic rock hammer users are destroying petroglyphs.
Bottom line is that there are some gun users who are moronic. Either they are the ones shooting up ancient rock art or artifacts, or they are incompotent in keeping their guns from the even more idiotic people who are shooting it up.
Kambiz
Posted by: Kambiz Kamrani | June 7, 2007 11:43 AM
Rock hammer lovers are not known to break out the rock hammers for a good rock pounding the way gun afficionados fire off their favored possessions. Part of it is even rifles can do a lot of damage to rock and stone with very little effort required of the shooter.
Posted by: Flying Fox | June 7, 2007 5:28 PM
To follow up on what Kambiz said, I have written a number of posts, with the exact same tone concerning vandalism at archaeological sites...Since Seed Magazine has given me the opportunity to reach a much larger audience than I could reach at my old site I feel I have a certain responsibility to cover these kinds of stories. The danger posed to science by vandalizing and/or looting archaeological sites is every bit as real as that posed by creationism.
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | June 8, 2007 12:00 AM