San Miguel de Guevavi: The Archeology of an Eighteenth Century Jesuit Mission on the Rim of Christendom

I n the eighteenth century, Jesuits pioneered Spain's attempts to colonize and missionize the northern Pimeria Alta. Guevavi, first established by Father Eusebio Kino at a populous Piman village in 1691, was to be the first and principal mission of Spain's northern frontier in what is now Arizona. Beginning in 1701 tenacious Jesuit and later Franciscan missionaries attempted to establish permanent residency at the village. But the cumulative effects of Apache raids, food shortages, Piman revolts, and epidemics eventually forced the complete abandonment of Guevavi in 1773. Remnants of the final mission church (San Miguel de Guevavi), built in 1751, still stand in spite of two centuries of both benign neglect and extensive vandalism. The site is in the process of being acquired by the National Park Service as a part of Tumacacori National Historical Park. Prior to stabilization of the church walls, limited excavations were conducted during May and June of 1991 by archeologists from the Western Archeological and Conservation Center. These excavations exposed details of the massive adobe architecture and measured the extent of disturbance at the church. Analysis of the material remains recovered provide a glimpse of life on the frontier of New Spain.18世纪，耶稣会士（Jesuits）率先推动西班牙对北皮梅里亚阿尔塔（Pimeria Alta）开展殖民与传教活动。格瓦维（Guevavi）于1691年由尤西比奥·基诺神父（Eusebio Kino）在一处人口稠密的皮曼（Piman）村落建立，此后成为西班牙在今亚利桑那州境内北部边境的首个核心传教据点。自1701年起，执着的耶稣会士及后续的方济各会（Franciscan）传教士试图在该村落建立永久定居点，但阿帕奇（Apache）劫掠、粮食短缺、皮曼人起义与流行病的叠加影响，最终迫使人们于1773年彻底弃守格瓦维。1751年修建的最后一座传教教堂圣米格尔·德·格瓦维（San Miguel de Guevavi）的遗迹，在历经两个世纪的无心疏于管护与肆意破坏后仍屹立至今。该遗址目前正被美国国家公园管理局（National Park Service）纳入图马科科里国家历史公园（Tumacacori National Historical Park）的管辖范围。在对教堂墙体进行加固修复之前，1991年5月至6月期间，西部考古与保护中心（Western Archeological and Conservation Center）的考古学家在此开展了有限考古发掘。此次发掘揭示了这座大型土坯建筑的构造细节，并探明了教堂区域受人为扰动的范围。对出土的物质遗存开展的分析，让人们得以一窥新西班牙（New Spain）边境地区的日常风貌。