I’ve been enjoying Desert Drifter’s videos of cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, pictographs, and artifacts in the SW, often in undisclosed locations to keep the scavengers from stealing artifacts.
I’m always afraid for their lives!
Why has that mud between the log and the rock not fallen off?
I see little rocks in the mud, I’m guessing they used river clay, and what else?
This is an outside wall and while sheltered, the wind hits it and I’m sure it gets wet during rain storms. This looks like recent work.
Did someone date the wood? There are no termites? It looks exactly like my fence posts.
Spring is always super busy here, but I’ll try to research these ancient building techniques, somebody must have analyzed the mud.
The historic preservation folks definitely repoint masonry cliff dwellings all across the west. usually they take a sample of the existing mortar and send it to a lab, then try to replicate it exactly. I’ve heard that at some sites the fingerprints from the masons indicated that women were building the structures while it is thought men hauled the material to site. It’s really impressive to see the stone structures in the canyon. The most common building stones in grand canyon are sandstone and limestone, as those cliff forming rock formations are where you tend to find the sheltered alcoves and overhangs that are good to build structures under.
Thanks, you seem to know something about that.
I’m aware they restored Montezuma castle and other famous structures open to tourists. So now I have more questions:
When did they start repointing?
How often?
Did they also rebuild collapsed walls?
Where do we find the lab analysis?
Don’t they keep RECORDS with pictures of before and after?
Who are “they?”
I should try more searches, or maybe contact NPS. It can’t be a state secret how these structures were built.
Hello, randomly back to reply. hopefully you’ve found some good information and have a better understanding. I have worked on some historic structures but never ancestral puebloan masonry structures. it is part of the process to thoroughly document the structure with photos, and drawings, numbering each stone, and carefully disassembling them before rebuilding as close to original as possible. in some places historic structures are buried or repeatedly coated with adobe until they sort of bury themselves. the idea being to preserve the stones, which can otherwise crack and fall apart. they people working on these projects are part of the cultural resources branch, and historic preservation crews. In the past the park service would rebuild collapsed structures, but since there wasn’t an understanding of native building practices, unfortunately some structures were re assembled incorrectly, like agate house in petrified forest, or the “ruins” near the black bridge in Grand canyon. I definitely recommend reaching out to someone on staff with NPS, or visit a historic site where they may be very knowledgeable about the process.
Hello Christine,
I have enjoyed reading your articles. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I live in a very different harsh climate, and find similar skills apply. I would love to chat one day. Cheers!
When Andrew Cross, the Desert Drifter left it was far too early. He is truly missed!
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/grand-junction-co/andrew-cross-12272595
OBITUARY
Andrew Martin Cross
NOVEMBER 9, 1988 – MARCH 4, 2025