Interior of Kiva. |
|
In 1957 an important discovery was
made while doing excavations around the adobe mission. The foundation
of another church was found. This church was much larger, and
from indications of the foundations, was the only mission in
New Mexico to have buttresses. This also matches a descriptions
of the Pecos church by Fray Alonso Benevides in 1630 which up
to this time had been thought to be an exaggeration of the size
of the church in order to impress the authorities in Mexico and
Spain to obtain more money and help for the missions. The mission
in their reports was Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de
Porciuncula, Pecos.
The light gray in the plan above
is the old mission of about 1625. The dark gray was the newer
mission. The old mission foundation can be seen next to
the newer wall. |
