This day we drove 25 miles from Santa Fe to the Pecos National Historic Park, which contains the remnants of the once mighty Pecos Pueblo. In the 15th century, more than 2,000 people lived here in a multi-story, multi-building community built in a quadrangle surrounding a central plaza. Agriculture flourished with a sophisticated irrigation system, and farming techniques that had been perfected over hundreds of years. The Pueblo was four to five stories tall, and had hundreds of rooms. Construction was of stone with mud mortar. Several circular kivas (religious meeting places) were dug into the ground. Despite its 6,000 foot altitude, the Pueblo residents were able to store several years of grain to sustain them in the event of drought and crop failure.
All went well until the Spanish arrived. You know the rest of the story. Forced religious conversion, enslavement, and the construction of an imposing mission church took place here. The Indians eventually rebelled 55 years later when they effectively forced the Spanish out of their territory. The church was burned, and the priests were killed. Fifteen years later, the Spanish came back and retook the Indian Pueblo nations and a new church was constructed at Pecos. By this time, Apache Indian raids had curtailed agriculture, and much of the population had perished due to starvation, and white man's diseases. The Pueblo slowly declined until it lost all of its population by 1838 when those remaining left to join relatives at another pueblo.
The ruins of the Pecos Pueblo are mainly hills of rubble. There are some excavated areas in which a honeycomb of foundations in the form of low rock walls was uncovered. The site is dominated by the towering ruin of the adobe second mission church, and the adjoining convento, which included a kitchen, sleeping quarters, and store rooms.
The site is located on a hill with a commanding view of the surrounding valleys.
Tomorrow, we will explore the historical district of Santa Fe.
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