"Restored" petroglyph

Juano

I shot this pic some time ago and I can't stand that some idiot in 1892 decided to vandalize it...

So I decided to try to restore it, is this acceptable or a definite no, no...

black mamba

I don't know about legal, moral, or ethical considerations but I sure choose your " adjusted " image over the other. Good work.

David_S85

If there was only a way to go back to 1892 and stop them. The restored version looks much better.

Stumblebum

Definitely the restored version! Brilliant!

Juano

Thanks guys, I feel better... I think it's a beautiful petroglyph and it is shame that it got vandalized.

Cornflake

A lot of petroglyphs here have been vandalized and quite a bit of it happened in the nineteenth century. The early settlers didn't place much value on ruins and petroglyphs.

I've though about your question. Obviously, there's no "right" answer. I sometimes take great liberties with photos that aren't meant to be representational. I usually don't do that with photos of ruins and petroglyphs because they're almost inherently representational. But I don't know anything and there's no reason you should reach the same answer I do.

pathfinder

Cristobal, I "restore" my petroglyphs images frequently, for the reasons you gave. I prefer to see them as I envision them when they were first created before the scratch marks and bullet holes which offer nothing to the image in my mind.

Now, if I was recording the images for a textbook or Wikipedia page, as an accurate representation of their present appearance, then no, I would not edit them ; but I am usually simply creating them for my own enjoyment.

Interesting, your images seem to include people on horseback maybe, so these would date after the Spanish entrance into North America. They look older than that to me, but horses were not here before the Spanish brought them.

I like to think of enjoying petroglyphs or pictographs late at night, by moonlight, after the long days hunt is over, by a campfire and after a full meal. Like they were seen by the artists who created them.

Juano

Thanks for the comments. I agree with pathfinder on both arguments. Since I want this image for me and I am not documenting the site, I like the more idyllic view. I hadn't thought about the horses, this is part of the petroglyphs in the newspaper rock area, the earlier carvings are around 2000 years old, but people kept adding on to it, including the guy in 1892...