Construction tied to the Trump administration’s U.S.-Mexico border wall damages an ancient ground carving in Arizona, according to newly publicized research and reporting. Contractors scraped a roughly 50-foot swath through the Las Playas Intaglio, a giant fish geoglyph carved into the Sonoran Desert near the Las Playas area.
Researchers estimate the carving is at least about 2,000 years old, placing it older than Stonehenge and Egypt’s oldest pyramids, including the first Egyptian pyramid. Sources describe the intaglio as one of the oldest known examples of its type in the Americas.
Across outlets, the core facts are consistent: the wall construction activity damages the geoglyph; the damaged feature is the Las Playas Intaglio; and the recent dating places its creation well before major ancient landmarks. Differences mainly reflect how broadly outlets characterize the significance and the specific phrasing of the age estimate rather than the underlying event or location.
