Visiting With Respect

Past peoples left behind their homes, camps, religious spaces, and more. These places remain sacred to their descendants, and historically important to archaeologists and historians. For descendant communities, archaeological sites are places that remind them of their ancestors. They hold sacredness and knowledge that is important for their cultural survival. For researchers, these sites can tell us of life in the past and teach us about what it means to be human. 

Archaeological sites are irreplaceable. Once disturbed or destroyed, they are gone forever. When you come upon a cultural site, the artifacts you can see are like a page in a book, an important part of a larger story. When they are disturbed or removed, the story changes or disappears altogether. A changed site loses its ability to teach us about the past, and breaks the connection between living Indigenous groups and their ancestors. 

Indigenous communities, like the Mescalero Apache, trace their family lines to ancient southeast New Mexico. Their ancestors, the nomadic peoples who built these places, are still very much a part of the landscape. Visiting archaeological sites and seeing the pottery that their ancestors made, the sandals that they wove, and the tools that they carved is imperative to the cultural survival of these living communities. By stealing from or damaging these places, looters forever destroy a part of Indigenous culture. 

What can you do to help preserve and protect these places? Here are a few important steps that you can take when visiting cultural sites:

1. Do no harm. When in an historic or archaeological site be mindful to not climb, lean, or step on structures. 
2. Leave no trace. Practice the leave no trace mantra by removing any trash, not leaving food waste, and not creating campfires or other disturbing activities around the site. 
3. Take only what you brought. Instead of picking up or removing artifacts from a site, take pictures that you can share with family and friends. 

With everyone doing their part to visit cultural sites with ethics and respect, these resources can be protected, valued, and enjoyed by present and future generations.