Thick slabs of stone are set at a 30-degree angle into the side of a hill, cloaked in a tangle of undergrowth. Known as El Porvenir, this pre-Columbian indigenous site in a remote part of western Venezuela has never been truly examined by archaeologists. And now it looks like it may never be. The government plans to flood the valley in which El Porvenir lies to create a hydroelectric dam, wiping out the stones and leaving archaeologists unable to determine whether the site was built by a local indigenous tribe. True examination of the site has been limited due to the remote location and difficult working conditions — the area is know for its particularly aggressive lancehead vipers. Archaeologist Reina Duran, director of the Tachira Museum in the state capital San Cristobal, said she first visited El Porvenir in 1979 and worked on it each dry season for 10 years. “During those years when we came and went it was overgrown and full of mud again,” she said. “Every time we arrived at the site we had to begin the work again.” [...]