Existing comment:
Construction Details:
People used materials at hand to build the pueblo. This exhibit wall replicates the methods they employed to build sound walls with what they had.
Large boulders served for foundations. From there, they laid up double walls that tapered with height, and then filled the space between with rubble. Rounded river stones and irregular blocks of limestone required large amounts of mud mortar -- up to 3 or 4 inches (7 or 10 cm) between every rock -- to be stable. Mortar accounted for half or more of a wall's volume. Their masonry was massive -- 24 to 30 inches (61 to 76 cm) thick.
Juniper logs, placed butt end up, formed support posts. For roof beams they chose cottonwood and pine. A woven matting of reeds, willow branches, juniper bark, and grasses, placed on rafters, finished the ceiling, and provided insulation. Then, they sealed the roof with mud. The ceiling in this museum is similar.
Is it rebuilt?
During the 1930s, it was common to reconstruct walls and roofs as part of an excavation. Five rooms in Tuzigoot were reconstructed; one remains today.
Reconstructions may help us visualize the past, but they alter or even destroy the original ways of building. They make it difficult for future archeologists to study construction techniques, sequences, and building materials.
Today, the National Park Service has a policy of not reconstructing but stabilizing buildings in their existing state. |