hillside, only three miles from the modern capital. we have the capital of west quarter. this was established for the usual protection. there was a need in saint augustine for food. saint augustine relied upon exported food. it was ordered and -- it was sandy. they needed a reliable source of food. there were croplands around the site is far efficiency. this is the bread basket of the early: neil effort. it was important from that standpoint and also it was a fortified outpost halfway between one end of the area.

it pray that security link as well in the feeling effort of the spanish to secure their order land. with the establishment of this site in this village, they continued on until it was burned down in july of 17 -- 1704. there was anticipation it might be attacked by a column of native american allies of the ingush and a few english militia. in order to prevent the site from falling into the hands of the english is [inaudible] others burnt this mission to the ground.

the circular plaza here is the center. all the buildings around this plaza. there is -- the three main ingredients of the life of the village. across the plaza is the catholic church and the religious complex. the reason this pot was organized. here they are facing off each other, door-to-door. at the same time to me, there positions had mutual risk act. each honored the traditions of

the other. the council houses so impressive. this was the center of life. they met to consider various complaints against villagers. the law was pretty much intact although . it was a place of celebration. it was a community center. there were celebrations that followed the seasonal cycle. they would be celebrated here among the entire village. it is all inspiring to walk into

that space and look up at the blue sky, the occasional hawk, and just speculate. it was the heart of this community. the charge would have religious pictures of saints and scenes. these are not literate people. they cannot read. they don't have access to printed religious books. they educated them. the priest would tell the stories of the gospel to them. there was probably a somewhat elaborate altar, but we have not been able to identify that well. we know that it was sumptuous. there was an inventory of what the priests collected. one of the things is the mission bell. we know that they buried it. we have not been able to find it. it is somewhere here.

the ancient mission bell as yet to be found. mission san luis is now consolidated with the state of florida archaeology collections. they can see the archaeological representations that represent this colonial period of florida. we have a modern archaeology lab. the archaeologist are now analyzing a dozen years of material that has been excavated on the site. we want to make a coherent picture of the past three days things to learn how rich the heritage is here, how it evolves over time.

history is largely written by the victors. american history is portrayed to english eyes. yet, spain and hispanic culture are so much an integral part of the borderlands. that part of history is a great mystery to people. our population, the pendulum is swinging back. there are many more people in a population who are of hispanic origin. this is their heritage in the western hemisphere. >> c-span's american history tour visited the petroglyph national monument.

therk ranger showed us 24,000 drawings left by the pueblo people. >> we are at petroglyph national monument. we are located within albuquerque, new mexico. the area provides trails 25 five volcanoes. the volcanoes are important to petroglyph national monument because they begin to tell the geologic story. 200,000 years ago, a crack in the earth's crust, hot molten lava poured out in volcanic corruption's. -- in a series of six of volcanic eruptions. some spreading a couple of miles to the east. --these irruption's

took place, they flowed out over layers of soil in the rio grande valley. as they hardened, they hardened into what we have here. an escarpment of black, both salt boulders. the story of petroglyph national monument is not about petroglyphs. it is also including the volcanic cones and mesa top that spreads out towards albuquerque. they would come up. we have evidence of them carrying water and farming. sometimes, they would send their children up here to get the rabbits away. we see many ancient trails. this is part of a larger, spiritual landscape to the web look equal. -- the pueblo people.

we are going to be walking on a trail. we see a volcanic expert -- escarpment. these black boulders came from several flows from the volcano. this is the easiest place to see petroglyphs. most of our hundred 50,000 bidders -- 150,000 visitors stop here. it is a carving on the rock. pueblo people use stone chisels and hammers to carve out the dark, black patina, exposing the rock. some people ask us how these petroglyphs were discovered. for the pueblo indians, they are

as old as time. they have known about them since their creation stories. modern-day archaeologists date these images from 1200 to 1650. in the 1970's, archaeologists came out to the west mesa and begin to inventory these images. interest in these group. eventually, they became a national monument. to the pueblo people, they believed that the petroglyphs choose when and to whom to reveal themselves. sometimes it is the shadow. sometimes it is just the attitude and sensitivity with which we look at these petroglyphs images. sometimes telling people not to touch the petroglyphs is not enough. we know that nobody should touch the petroglyphs.