In mid-September 2025, an image circulated online purportedly showing an Ancestral Puebloan mural that a hiker discovered in New Mexico's Chaco Culture National Historical Park in October 2009.
The image appeared in a Facebook post alongside text claiming a woman named Sarah Johnson discovered "a rare Ancestral Puebloan kiva mural and pottery sherds dating to around 1100 AD" while hiking in the park (archived). According to the post, archaeologists determined the mural to be "priceless" and Johnson received a "citizen's commendation" for her find.
Another Facebook page also posted the photo and story (archived) on Sept. 14, while Snopes readers contacted us to ask if the photo was real.
However, several details about the image and the accompanying copy indicated that the photo was fake and the story was false. Sightengine and Hive Moderation, two online artificial intelligence detectors, found the image highly likely to have been generated using AI. Additionally, search engine results produced no credible reports about Johnson and the alleged mural discovery in October 2009 (archived, archived, archived, archived), which would have been newsworthy if true, given Johnson's reported "citizen's commendation."
According to Colin Purdy, an interpretive park ranger at Chaco Culture National Historical Park, the mural in the image did not "look a whole lot" like existing imagery at the park. Additionally, Purdy pointed out that the cactus in the upper left corner of the image, that appeared to be of the Saguaro species, did not grow in the New Mexico park. Saguaro cacti grow only in "a specific area within" the Sonoran Desert that stretches across the Mexican state of Sonora and parts of California and Arizona, according to the U.S. National Park Service.
Purdy also questioned how the mural could have survived repeated flooding if it were actually located on the side of a canyon with water flowing through.
Similarly, Steve Carr, director of communications at the University of New Mexico, which the Facebook posts claimed valued the "priceless" mural, said via email that the chair of the university's department that studied the Chaco Canyon "indicated that the story and photos are fake."
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is the site of "a thriving regional center for the ancestral Pueblo people from 850 to 1250 CE," according to the NPS. Visitors can see authentic Chacoan houses and artifacts on a variety of hiking trails through the park.
Snopes has previously fact checked other AI-generated images, such as one that claimed to show a mountain lion raising wolf cubs and another of Black cowgirls.