FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) The people who set a bonfire inside a room in the ruins of the Frances Canyon pueblito near Gobernador in northwestern New Mexico are gone, but the damage they caused remains. The Daily Times reports that soot from the fire stains the stones and mortar of the room. Fortunately, the fire didn't burn hot enough to compromise the structural components of the ruin.
Bureau of Land Management officials believe the fire was set Oct. 31 during a Halloween party. Those responsible blocked a doorway with a log, filled in a hatch with rocks and used a 300-year-old beam as a ladder to reach the roof.
It's a federal crime punishable by jail time and fines to vandalize, damage, unlawfully excavate or loot archaeological sites.
