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
Its length from N. to S. is 25 m.--82 ft.,--and its width about 10
m.--33 ft. From its form I suspect it to have been a Christian chapel,
erected, or perhaps only in process of erection, before 1680. Not only
is it completely razed, but even the material of the superstructure
seems to have been carried off. Stones are scattered about the premises,
but I found neither obsidian nor pottery. It stands protected from the
north by the extremely rocky ledge terminating the _mesilla_ towards the
east, and appears without the least connection with the Indian pueblo
proper.
It is the almost circular bottom on the west of the _mesilla_,
encompassed by the north rock of _A_ to the north, by the whole length
of the _mesilla_ to the east, by the gradual expanse below the church on
the south, and by the Arroyo de Pecos on the west, that contains the
aboriginal remains. Much better than a description, a diagram will
illustrate their extent and shape. Pl. I., Fig. 5.
The distances are not very correctly given, and the shape of _F_ is
slightly exaggerated in irregularity.
_A_ and _B_ being the respective large buildings, _C_ the church, _D_
the great gate of the circumvallation; _E_ is a stone or rubble wall of
undeterminable length running along the foot of the mesilla in a slight
curve till near the "wash-out" sallying from the gate, and _F_ is an
irregular lozenge, or trapeze, enclosed by a heavy low stone or rubble
wall which might in some places be called an embankment. The corner _l_
is 50 m.--165 ft.--from the border of the creek-bottom, which there is
cut off abruptly from 1 m. to 3 m.--3 ft. 3 in. to 10 ft.,--presenting a
section of red clay and gravel with pottery fragments. The line _l r m_
runs W.N.W. to E.S.E., and is 138 m.--452 ft.--long; the line _m s n_
measures 121 m.--398 ft.,--_n o p_ 146 m.--480 ft., and _p l_ 100
m.--330 ft. From _r_ to _s_ an embankment of earth and stone runs almost
in a circle, and the whole triangle _r m s_ forms a slightly elevated
platform, in the centre of which is a pond (_estanque_) _t_, which, even
at the present time, is filled with water. Viewed through the gate from
above, this pond appears, with a part of the enclosure, as seen in Pl.
IX. Several gullies (_barrancas_) have cut through the western and
southern parts of the enclosure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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