The fires endanger the Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos, UNESCO heritage sites
Rock art in Vallegrande in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Source: Linda De Volder, Flickr
Raging Amazon wildfires have destroyed prehistoric works of rock art in the Santa Cruz department in eastern Bolivia, according to Artguide.
The Bolivian Rock Art Research Society SIARB (Sociedad de Investigacion del Arte Rupestre de Bolivia), founded in 1987 to research and document petroglyphs and rock art, also raises its concern.
According to Bolivia’s Ministry of Culture, the fires endanger the UNESCO World Heritage site at the Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos in Santa Cruz.
The region’s chief archeologist Danilo Drakic says the damage is “significant”: all paintings are covered by a dark layer of soot, some of the stones broke and collapsed.
The full extent of the damage can be assessed only after the fires are extinguished. As the wildfires are raging, the risk to Bolivian national heritage continues to grow.
In May 2017, the Bolivian government declared the town of Robore in the east, where prehistoric engravings were discovered, the “departmental capital of rock art”.
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