Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Pecos: The Archaeological Record

Mission remains

From the New Mexico Office of the State Historian, quoted from an article, Cicuique (Pecos Pueblo), by Richard Flint, and Shirley Cushing Flint:

Archaeologist Alfred V. Kidder, working during the years 1915-1929, uncovered the general plan of the north and south pueblos, their construction techniques, their pottery and other daily artifacts. Kidder determined that, in fact, the north pueblo had a rectangular configuration and that "excavation has so far fully confirmed" Castañeda de Nájera's description from the Coronado expedition.

Mission monastery remains

His excavations ascertained the existence of 660 rooms housing approximately 110 families, staggered passageways, seventeen subterranean round kivas, and four above-ground square kivas he called "guardhouse kivas." He determined that the pueblo had as many as four stories, with some flimsy superstructures accounting for some five-story units. In several rooms he uncovered remains of the covered walkways and subterranean connecting passageways...

2 comments:

Judy said...

These things never cease to amaze me that back then people accomplished so much with so little. Very interesting.

WasSoggyInSeattle said...

One of my favorite places in NM...