When a unique piece of Wyoming’s indigenous history was vandalized and stolen, Wyomingites rallied to ensure it wasn’t lost forever.

That's how the Great Turtle Shield, a petroglyph from the Castle Gardens Petroglyph Site south of Moneta and U.S. Route 26 in Fremont County, ended up at the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne.

While its theft from the white sandstone petroglyph site is a tragedy, it continues to give archaeologists an advantageous opportunity to study its history.

“It proved to be really interesting,” said Wyoming archaeologist and petroglyph expert Mike Bies. “It caught a lot of us by surprise, myself included.”