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Jemez State Monument consists
of the ruins of an ancient pueblo of the Jemez people known as Giusewa
and the ruins of a 17th Century Spanish Mission known as San Jose
de los Jemez. The mission had a unique octagonal-shaped bell tower.
The pueblo was first built in the AD 1500s
by ancestors of the modern residents of Jemez Pueblo.The Jemez people
built a small pueblo at first, and then gradually enlarged it to
a few hundred rooms. As many as a hundred families may have lived
there at one time.
In 1598 a Spanish colonizing party under
Don Juan de Onate came to New Mexico to establish a colony. By 1609,
a priest had been assigned to the Jemez, and a few years later work
began on a mission building at Giusewa. The building was complete
by 1621 and was known as San Jose de los Jemez. A convento, or convent,
was also built to house the priests and other religious figures.The
Jemez people living at Giusewa had a spiritual crisis when they
were asked to convert to Catholicism. San Jose de los Jemez was
burned and the pueblo was abandoned for some time. It was later
re-occupied, but was abandoned for good by the Jemez by 1700. |
In 1680, all the Pueblo peoples of New Mexico united
and drove the Spaniards completely out of New Mexico. In 1692, the Spaniards
came back and easily reconquered the Natives because of their lack of
unity. In 1706 the Jemez people rebuilt an old village of theirs further
down Jemez Canyon, which became the village known today as Jemez Pueblo.
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Reported
activity includes the apparitions of priests, native residents
and spanish settlers.The most common reported occurrence is the
sound of footsteps that follow you as you move about the ruins.
There
are are several reports of "ghost" lights that have
been seen coming from the ruins of the mission late at night.
The people who told us of this believe that the lights are the
spirits of their ancestors and are attached to the many kivas
of the site.
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We
arrive around noon and after looking around the museum, we headed off
to the ruins to gather EM data. Three interesting fields were found. The
first was near the entrance and was a D/C source of 37 HZ with a 3 nanotesla
reading.
The
second was inside the Priest's quarters. This EM field was 4 nt but no
determination of frequency could be made before the field vanished and
could not be relocated.
The
third suspect EM field we found was on the trail, heading back towards
the museum. It had a power level of 2 nanotesla, but no determination
could be made on this one either for the same reason.
Photographs
Click
on the thumbnails to view the larger image
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