By Christine Hauser, The New York Times
An ancient site of carved boulders and rock formations in a Georgia forest that has long been sacred to Native Americans has been vandalized with paint and deep scratches, the United StatesForest Service said.
The boulders are part of the Track Rock Gap site in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests, a protected area of more than 800,000 acres where more than 100 figure carvings known as petroglyphs were made on soapstone boulders by Native Americans in pre-colonial times, the service said.
Five boulders had scratches and two had paint on them, said Steven Bekkerus, a spokesman for the Forest Service.
“It’s one of the most significant rock art sites in the Southeastern United States and the only such site located on public land in Georgia,” the service said on Facebook on Monday.