Pecos National Historical Park, Pecos NM

At the height of the pueblo's use probably 2,000 people lived and thrived.  Pecos was a cultural center and there was a sophisticated trade network extending far and wide.  For visitors there are a couple of rebuilt kivas that provided a special look into the architecture used by the puebloans.

When the Spaniards came they recognized the importance of the place and this is probably why they decided to settle right next to the compound.  It is astonishing that despite the vast expanse of land surrounding the pueblo how close to the pueblo the mission was built.

Unfortunately, like many missionaries before and after the religious settlers did not believe in cultural relativism and instead insisted that the puebloans adopt a Christian view of the world.  This caused a great deal of conflict and eventually the puebloan people rebelled and burnt down the mission and drove the Spaniards away for a period of around 8 years.  Ultimately the Spaniard missionaries returned (probably with force) and rebuilt the mission over the ruins of the previous one.  To this day the ancestors of the place include adherents of both Christian and traditional faiths and they hold festivals and ceremonies at the site.

The legacy of powerful forces imposing their will upon native people would be a curiosity of the past if it were not continuing today.  I kept thinking of Standing Rock and the Lakota Tribe's efforts to stop a pipeline through their land in order to preserve the natural resources.  Their efforts failed and their worries about oil spills were not unfounded.  We like to think imperialism is a thing of the past, but the facts clearly point to the fact that the Empire building is the business of America.

These sites tell an important story and they are a warning to us.  There are other ways of living and thriving in nature, but these ways and understandings continue to be relegated to the past in favor of  an approach that favors force, technology, and dogmatic understandings.  Climate change is the result of our current approach and we need to uncover the methods and understandings of the past in order to bring balance to our world on fire.  Perhaps there is a middle road, but we can't act like the knowledge of the past is worthless.  Civilizations were built and thrived before Europeans destroyed them.  I hope we can learn some lessons from the past instead of continually repeating mistakes.