I'm now an old fart, and as such I choose to fully exercise my right to reminisce and wander off point.
This thread of Indian artifacts and petroglyphs reminds me of my old friend/boss's ranch in New Mexico named Three Rivers Ranch, comprised of 60,000 deeded acres (which, as those familiar with western lands and ranches will know, is a big deal). My old friend & boss was Colin McMillan, who some of you may remember if you followed NM politics at all. Anyway, in the middle of his ranch is a petroglyph site owned by the BLM:
Three Rivers Petroglyph Site | Bureau of Land Management (blm.gov)People would go out to the site and camp for days, communing with the spirits of the Native Americans or some such nonsense. I always imagine the ghosts of those Native American teenagers rolling on the ground laughing at how modern white people were treating their graffiti.
Also, to keep this thread tied to the title of this board, the Three Rivers Ranch played a significant role in American history. It was formerly owned by Albert Fall and was the centerpiece of the Teapot Dome scandal. That is, Fall supposedly was given/borrowed $385,000 from his friend and former client Thomas Doheny which Fall used to buy the land with the springs on it from which the Three Rivers originated. As I'm sure everyone on this board knows, Doheny was also given favorable bidding rights on the Naval Oil Reserves at the Teapot Dome area in Wyoming by Fall, who was then Secretary of the Interior.
The movie
There Will be Blood was very loosely based on Doheny's life. His life was incredible and deserves more accurate and complete attention.
Earlier in his life, Fall was also heavily involved in the Lincoln County War as an attorney for many of the participants. Later, a local rancher named Fountain was going to testify in Las Cruces against one of the factions. Fountain made a terrible mistake, though. He and his 8 year old son stopped by Fall's Three Rivers Ranch on their way to Las Cruces and were never seen again. Two suspects were tried for murdering them, and, unbelievably, they were defended by Fall who got them acquitted.
Colin used to let me hunt quail on the ranch quite a lot which is a major reason I got so interested in its history.