Chaco Canyon

The Chaco Canyon project aimed to document and test strategies for protecting standing architectural remains from the erosive effects of water—a pervasive problem highly destructive to archaeological resources. Water from winter snows and summer thunderstorms enters or rises in walls, then evaporates on the exposed side. Soluble salts come out of the soil and eat away at the walls, resulting in badly corroding stone.

• Partial reburial of the ruins at Chetro Ketl in Chaco Culture National Historical Park
• Two experimental strategies to deal with the difficulties created by partially reburying a site with soil, known as partial backfilling
• Two strategies focused on seasonal protection of the site’s walls from snow melt
• Each of these four strategies has applicability to other sites with standing archaeological remains

The Getty Conservation Institute collaborated with the United States National Park Service (NPS) to investigate, develop, and field test, on a limited scale, protective strategies for preserving archaeological sites with standing architectural remains. Field work took place at the one-thousand-year-old Ancestral Puebloan site at Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico.

The project was based on the use of backfilling as a protective measure that is flexible and easily reversible, one that reduces maintenance while permitting visitation and interpretation of the site. The team developed experimental strategies to protect walls from snow melt and to confront problems posed by partial backfilling. Using the lessons learned from the backfilling and testing programs, the team implemented a backfilling procedure for partial reburial of the ruins at Chetro Ketl in Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

United States National Park Service (NPS)