Protest Graffiti at the Historic Nevada Peace Camp

Summary

The Peace Camp, near the Nevada National Security Site, is the location where protesters have gathered for several decades to voice their opposition to nuclear testing and environmental issues. This National Register eligible property contains an abundance of archaeological features, such as rock cairns, tent pads, sweat lodges, and geoglyphs. Associated with these features are two concrete highway drainage tunnels that served as a passageway and a place of respite from the desert conditions. In addition to these transient uses, their concrete walls provided a canvas where protesters could express their feelings in a setting much more private and enduring than a group protest activity. The tunnel interiors are covered with colorful graffiti: literary quotes, pictures, abstract designs, and personal sentiments. This remote and concealed locale contrasts with the urban displays where the drawings are created to be seen by and shared with others. A detailed analysis of this artistic legacy has defined hundreds of diverse panels of texts and images with most expressing the activists’ goals of peace and saving the Earth by stopping nuclear testing.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage