Pecos National Monument

 

Pecos National Monument

One day in December, we decided to do a day trip up to a place we’d been curious about for a while – Pecos National Historic Park.  It seemed like it would be a nice day, although a bit chilly, and a good day to take our pup, Max, for a nice stroll around the site where ancient pueblo people lived…. 

This is the site of a village where at one time, up to 2,000 people lived.  Early villages were made up of Apache, Comanche and Navajo people.  At one time, there were teepees that were set on this land in front of us.  Then, in 1540, a Spanish expedition arrived, and their lives changed forever. 

The Mission Church that’s now standing there is the last of four adobe churches built over the course of about 100 years.  In 1598, Spanish settlers arrived, along with the Franciscan priests who built missions like this.  This fourth church was built around 1717, on the site where the second church (built in 1625) had stood. 

This is the remains of a boundary wall which serves to identify the “city limits” of the village.  Visiting traders would set up outside the boundary and brisk trade was said to occur. 

This view looks out onto what is called the South Pueblo.  Most of the buildings, etc., from this pueblo are buried and are unexcavated in order to protect them.  It is believed that the people who lived here were more aligned with the Spanish than those who lived in the North Pueblo.  Although it isn’t obvious to us, this pueblo was once a multistory structure, with families living on the upper floors.  Exterior facing rooms were considered the living areas, with interior rooms used for sleeping and storage. 

This shows the top of a kiva, a ceremonial room, in the pueblo.  We couldn’t climb down into it, but if we were able to, we would have seen a small, round room.  Kivas are where ritual ceremonies were held that the people felt would enhance their well-being.  These ceremonies might have been held before hunts or harvests, to hopefully ensure success in these endeavors or to help heal the sick. 

The trash mounds found in pueblos are a rich source of information about how the people who resided here over the years, lived.  The current image of the trash mound (left, above) doesn’t look like much of anything, but the photo on the lower right shows what the excavation looked like back in 1924.  The trash mounds were over 20 feet high and drew the attention of archeologist, A. V. Kidder, to the site. Kidder called the trash mound that was here “the greatest rubbish heap and cemetery that had ever been found in the Pueblo region”.

 

At this spot, I’m standing in the center of what was once a thriving village.  In this spot, once stood a large, 4-5 story pueblo built of stacked, mortared, and plastered stones.  Although it’s not visible now, when this pueblo was excavated and a map drawn of the findings, it was found that this village had been constructed in a symmetrical way, which caused archeologists to believe that the village was actually planned in advance, and then constructed to plan.  And, although there were kivas throughout the village, the one in the upper left (above), was in the very center of this village and was believed to have been used for over 200 years. 

This view is of what was considered the North Pueblo.  Most of the ruins have been covered to protect them, but what is evident in this image is the wide expanse that the Pueblo people had that was available to them for growing.  Although it’s not seen from this vantage point, the Glorietta Creek is just out of sight, below, and provided ample water for growing crops and for household use. 

When the Franciscan priests arrived, their primary goal was to teach the pueblo people to become Catholic and subjects of the Spanish empire.  To accomplish this, the priest oversaw the building of and centered his life around “the mission”, the remains of what is here. 

This is the last stop of our current visit.  This large mission church is called the Second Church and is the largest of all the churches (missions) that was built at this pueblo.  It was completed in 1625 and is estimated to have used 300,000 40 lb. adobe bricks to complete it.  There is more to the tour of this incredible pueblo, and this church, but the weather seemed to be turning at this point, so we decided to stop our tour for this visit and pick it up to see the area in the immediate vicinity of this building on a trip in the spring when the weather is warmer.  Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed this part of the pueblo!  PS – Max enjoyed the tour and even got a “bark ranger” tag from the ranger at the visitors’ center!!

 

Enjoy!!