First Advisor

Teresa L Bulman

Date of Publication

5-26-1993

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Geography

Department

Geography

Language

English

Subjects

Vandalism -- Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area (Or. and Wash.), Rock paintings -- Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area (Or. and Wash.), Indians of North America -- Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area (Or. and Wash.) -- Antiquities

DOI

10.15760/etd.6545

Physical Description

1 online resource (2, ix, 131 p.)

Abstract

Archaeological sites in the New World are the fragile and non-renewable remains of cultures which flourished for thousands of years prior to European contact and displacement. Sites which escape the effects of erosion and development often fall victim to vandalism. Cultural resources, including rock art and other archaeological sites, are protected by state and federal laws which prohibit the removal or disturbance of the sites, whether from development or from vandalism. Vandalism is frequently seen as a problem for law enforcement rather than a problem for cultural resource management. Management plans which include cultural resource protection provisions and guidelines often focus on threats to cultural resources from development, and omit planning which targets vandalism. The rock art sites of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area ("Scenic Area") have been affected by developments such as The Dalles Dam and by the vandalism. In this study, the nature and degree of vandalism to the rock art sites in the Scenic Area is considered in the context of public awareness of, and access to, these sites. Rock art sites which are easily located and which have been the focus of public awareness are hypothesized to be the most severely vandalized. To test this hypothesis, fifteen of the 44 rock art sites in the Scenic Area were selected for study, and were assessed for kind and degree of vandalism, and means and ease of access. The results of analysis yielded two statistically significant associations of variables which support the hypothesis: an association between vandalism and public awareness of sites, and an association between vandalism and the primary means of access. The analysis suggests that public awareness is one of the most important issues which land managers must address when designing cultural resource protection plans.

Rights

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Comments

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/27174

Included in

Geography Commons

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