Local and public heritage at a World Heritage site

The World Heritage Rock Art of the Sierra de San Francisco site in Mexico maintains some of the oldest and largest prehistoric murals in North America. The local ranching community is the custodian of a double heritage, the UNESCO-sanctioned rock art and their own ranching heritage. The rock art heritage is both tangible and public, known to and authenticated by professional archaeologists, while the ranching heritage is largely intangible and private, a lived and remembered experience known within families. As economic conditions deteriorate, the ranchers seek to expand their tourism activities to include their ranching heritage. Understanding their double heritage along tangible/intangible and public/private axes clarifies the challenges they face.