The Gate Through the Mountains

Yesterday Kadizzle and The Commander visited Pecos Pueblo.  When you think you have see just about every major western Indian site you find another one.  The Pecos site is easily accessible by car.  It sits close to Interstate 25 and we have driven by many times.  It has two qualities that struck Kadizzle.  First it is the only major gap in the Rocky mountains for many hundred miles.  This means just about everyone and every animal that wanted to cross the rockies would go right by the Pecos Pueblo.  It is the Panama Canal of the rocky mountains.  The size of the place is mind boggling.  The original buildings were up to five stories high, and there were two thousand people living in the one huge building complex.  This was the choke point and the Indians that built right in the middle were sitting pretty good.

Like all Indians of the southwest they were struck by the plague of the Spanish and their religion. The Spanish forced them to build a huge church.  The size of the church was staggering. Because there were so many people available no doubt the Spanish thought they had to take advantage.

What Kadizzle found most amazing was the amount of pottery shards everywhere.  If you like finding pottery shards, which Kadizzle loves searching out, this is the mother of all spots.  You cannot look anywhere without finding pottery shards.  The real amazing fact is so many of them are colored.  Usually in the wild all you find is the typical reddish shard.  At Pecos you will see decorated white on black, black on red, and an amazing variety.  The people in the visitor center were very knowledgeable and fun to interact with.  If you are driving in the Sante Fe or Albuquerque area stopping at the site is worth the effort. It is right off the interstate and easy to get to .