EASTMAN, Wis. - Archaeologists are expressing concern about vandalism to ancient American Indian cave art in Wisconsin following damage found northeast of Prairie du Chien.

Archaeologist Kathy Stevenson last week discovered letters scratched atop a thunderbird and the image of an outstretched arm at Larsen Cave, above the Lower Kickapoo Valley. A 5-foot pit was dug nearby, possibly in search of artifacts.

"It was awful," said Stevenson, of the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Similar paintings of canoes and birds' feet were defaced with spray paint less than three years ago at Roche-A-Cri State Park in Adams County.