The deterioration of the Pueblo Bonito Great House in the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico, USA

Ancestral Puebloan engineers at Pueblo Bonito, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in New Mexico, faced significant structural challenges due to annual precipitation of about 220 mm. Historical photographs from 1887 to the 1920s reveal that wood decay fungi caused rot in wetted roof and ceiling timbers, lintels, and wall support beams, leading to roof and wall collapse over decades. Water action on mud mortar also destabilized stone walls, while freezing ponded water caused blowouts. These time-dependent and independent events suggest that Pueblo Bonito's rooms may have had a lifespan of only decades, resulting in multiple build-repair-abandon cycles. The study retrospectively analyzed these photographs to attribute structural damages to identifiable agents present during the site's occupancy.

Short, H. L. (2022). The deterioration of the Pueblo Bonito Great House in the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico, USA. Plos One, 17(4), e0266099. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266099