Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico; Report on the Ruins of the Pueblo of Pecos: Papers Of The Archæological Institute Of America, American Series, Vol. IBandelier, Adolph Francis Alphonse
History
Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico; Report on the Ruins of the Pueblo of Pecos: Papers Of The Archæological Institute Of America, American Series, Vol. I
Bandelier, Adolph Francis Alphonse
New Mexico -- Antiquities; Pecos National Monument (N.M.); Pueblo Indians
This entire wing (forming a rectangle of 62 m. × 8.38 m.--203 ft. × 27
ft., if we add to the spaces given the thicknesses of the transverse
partitions, this time not included in the measures) has given me more
trouble than the rest of _A_ and _B_ combined. Nowhere are the walls so
twisted and out of range as here. Besides, there is an unfinished air
about it that is almost bewildering. The height of the stories does not
agree with that of the other sections,--the western wing would be one
story lower. Furthermore, it contains in several places squared beams of
wood inserted in the stone-work lengthwise. These beams (of which there
is also one in the opposite wing similarly embedded) are identical and
apparently of the same age with the (not sculptured) beams still found
in and about the old church. Entire walls of chambers, or rather sides,
appear to be new; the mud or adobe is fresh, whereas almost everywhere
else it has disappeared, out of the crevices even; the stones are almost
laid in courses. As I shall hereafter relate, there are at several
places adobe walls, the adobe containing wheat-straw! And all this right
among chambers showing sides as uncouth and old as any of the pueblo,
though still as high as their more recent and better preserved
neighbors. Here there is evidently patchwork of later date, and
patchwork executed with material unknown to the Indians previous to the
advent of the Spaniards. I am even convinced that it was done after
1680; for the beams evidently came from the church or the convent, which
buildings we know were sacked and fired by the Indians in the month of
August of that year. If this conclusion be correct, the south-western
part of _A_, its entire westerly wall, was somehow destroyed after 1680,
and partly rebuilt with materials unknown to the Indians at the time
when Pecos was first erected.
I say partly, because there is evidence that the western wing, from _H_
to _N_, was originally much broader. As it now appears, the wall _m h_
presents itself as the western line of the structure. But there are,
still further out, although distinctly connected with it, remains of
buildings which were at least attached to it. These are the ruined
enclosures designated on the ground-plan by _I_, _K_, and _L_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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