Deni Seymour
Dr. Deni Seymour is known as the Sherlock Holmes of history [Chris Zimmerman, B Troop Commander, 4th US Cavalry Rgmt , Ft Huachuca] (also called the Perry Mason of archaeology [Dr. R. Henderson]). She is an internationally recognized scholar who focuses on indigenous connections with their past and on protohistoric and historic Native American and Spanish colonial and Spanish expeditionary archaeology and ethnohistory. For 35 years she has passionately studied the ancestral Apache, Sobaipuri-O’odham, and lesser-known mobile groups (Jano, Jocome, Manso, Suma, and Jumano) who were present at the same time in the American Southwest. She has excavated two Spanish-period presidios (Santa Cruz de Terrenate and Tubac), numerous Kino-period mission sites, and several indigenous sites of the period. She works with local indigenous groups in reconnecting with their heritage. Among these are the O'odham, Lipan, Chihene, Manso, Piro, and Jumano. Her current work is also focused on Vazquez de Coronado and Marcos de Niza expeditionary archaeology. By these means and these diverse foci she is rewriting the history of the pre-Spanish, expeditionary/exploration, and colonial period southern Southwest. She is an award-winning author and has published extensively on these groups and this period, with more than 100 publications in refereed journals, edited volumes, and popular venues, and has served as guest editor for several journals. She has also authored seven books, with four more in the works.
She received her doctorate and MA degrees in Anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1990 and her BAs with honors in both Anthropology and Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1980. She has taught, was employed by a number of state and federal agencies, and has worked for a number of cultural resource management firms, including one she founded and directed. Now she is a full-time research archaeologist tangentially affiliated with two academic institutions and the nonprofit research group Jornada Research Institute and she serves on the boards of non-profit organizations.
She received her doctorate and MA degrees in Anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1990 and her BAs with honors in both Anthropology and Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1980. She has taught, was employed by a number of state and federal agencies, and has worked for a number of cultural resource management firms, including one she founded and directed. Now she is a full-time research archaeologist tangentially affiliated with two academic institutions and the nonprofit research group Jornada Research Institute and she serves on the boards of non-profit organizations.
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Books by Deni Seymour
Table of Contents
1. “Fierce, Barbarous, and Untamed”: Ending Archaeological Silence on Southwestern Mobile Peoples
Deni J. Seymour
2. Terminal Puebloan Occupation: An Example from South- Central New Mexico
Meade F. Kemrer
3. Bison, Trade, and Warfare in Late Prehistoric Southeastern New Mexico: The Perspective from Roswell
John D. Speth
4. Conceptualizing Mobility in the Eastern Frontier Pueblo Area: Evidence in Images
Deni J. Seymour
5. Eastern Extension of Lehmer's Jornada Mogollon Ancestors to the Jumano/Suma
Patrick H. Beckett
6. Embracing a Mobile Heritage: Federal Recognition and Lipan Apache Enclavement
Oscar Rodriguez and Deni J. Seymour
7. Excavations in the Carrizalillo Hills of Southwestern New Mexico Reveal Protohistoric Mobile Group Camps
Alexander Kurota
8. From Economic Necessity to Cultural Tradition: Spanish Chipped Stone Technology in New Mexico
James L. Moore
9. Protohistoric Arrowhead Variability in the Greater Southwest
Mark E. Harlan
10. Akimel O’odham and Apache Projectile Point Design
Chris Loendorf
11. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Study of the Ceramics of Protohistoric Hunter-Gatherers
David V. Hill
12. Architectural Visibility and Population Dynamics in Late Hohokam Prehistory
Douglas B. Craig
13. Sobaipuri -O’odham and Mobile Group Relevance to Late Prehistoric Social Networks in the San Pedro Valley
Mark E. Harlan and Deni J. Seymour
14. Needzííii': Diné Game Traps on the Colorado Plateau
James Copeland
15. The Colorado Wickiup Project: Investigations into the Early Historic Ute Occupation of Western Colorado
Curtis Martin
16. A Numic and Ancestral Pueblo Ceramic Assemblage at 42UN5406 in the Uintah Basin
James A. Truesdale, David V. Hill, and Christopher James (CJ) Truesdale
17. Three Sisters Site: An Ancestral Chokonen Apache Encampment in the Dragoon Mountains
Deni J. Seymour
18. A Protohistoric to Historic Yavapai Persistent Place on the Landscape of Central Arizona: An Example from the Lake Pleasant Rockshelter Site
Robert J. Stokes and Joanne C. Tactikos
19. “Now You See ‘Em., . . . Now You Don’t”: In Search of Yavapai Structures in the Verde Valley
Peter J. Pilles, Jr.
20. It’s Complicated: Discerning the Post-Puebloan Period in Southern Nevada’s Archaeological Record
Heidi Roberts
21. Tweaking the Conventional Wisdom in Southwestern Archaeology
David Hurst Thomas
http://content.lib.utah.edu/…/collection/upcat/id/2028/rec/1
Papers by Deni Seymour
Table of Contents
1. “Fierce, Barbarous, and Untamed”: Ending Archaeological Silence on Southwestern Mobile Peoples
Deni J. Seymour
2. Terminal Puebloan Occupation: An Example from South- Central New Mexico
Meade F. Kemrer
3. Bison, Trade, and Warfare in Late Prehistoric Southeastern New Mexico: The Perspective from Roswell
John D. Speth
4. Conceptualizing Mobility in the Eastern Frontier Pueblo Area: Evidence in Images
Deni J. Seymour
5. Eastern Extension of Lehmer's Jornada Mogollon Ancestors to the Jumano/Suma
Patrick H. Beckett
6. Embracing a Mobile Heritage: Federal Recognition and Lipan Apache Enclavement
Oscar Rodriguez and Deni J. Seymour
7. Excavations in the Carrizalillo Hills of Southwestern New Mexico Reveal Protohistoric Mobile Group Camps
Alexander Kurota
8. From Economic Necessity to Cultural Tradition: Spanish Chipped Stone Technology in New Mexico
James L. Moore
9. Protohistoric Arrowhead Variability in the Greater Southwest
Mark E. Harlan
10. Akimel O’odham and Apache Projectile Point Design
Chris Loendorf
11. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Study of the Ceramics of Protohistoric Hunter-Gatherers
David V. Hill
12. Architectural Visibility and Population Dynamics in Late Hohokam Prehistory
Douglas B. Craig
13. Sobaipuri -O’odham and Mobile Group Relevance to Late Prehistoric Social Networks in the San Pedro Valley
Mark E. Harlan and Deni J. Seymour
14. Needzííii': Diné Game Traps on the Colorado Plateau
James Copeland
15. The Colorado Wickiup Project: Investigations into the Early Historic Ute Occupation of Western Colorado
Curtis Martin
16. A Numic and Ancestral Pueblo Ceramic Assemblage at 42UN5406 in the Uintah Basin
James A. Truesdale, David V. Hill, and Christopher James (CJ) Truesdale
17. Three Sisters Site: An Ancestral Chokonen Apache Encampment in the Dragoon Mountains
Deni J. Seymour
18. A Protohistoric to Historic Yavapai Persistent Place on the Landscape of Central Arizona: An Example from the Lake Pleasant Rockshelter Site
Robert J. Stokes and Joanne C. Tactikos
19. “Now You See ‘Em., . . . Now You Don’t”: In Search of Yavapai Structures in the Verde Valley
Peter J. Pilles, Jr.
20. It’s Complicated: Discerning the Post-Puebloan Period in Southern Nevada’s Archaeological Record
Heidi Roberts
21. Tweaking the Conventional Wisdom in Southwestern Archaeology
David Hurst Thomas
http://content.lib.utah.edu/…/collection/upcat/id/2028/rec/1
A bronze cannon has been uncovered in the Santa Cruz Valley of southern Arizona that is associated with the 1540-1542 Francisco Vázquez de Coronado expedition. This is the only Coronado-expedition-associated firearm known, and as such, answers long-standing questions about the nature of the artillery used. It is the only known surviving example of a weapon of war, an actual gun used in the conquest of North America, and specifically the American Southwest. It was covered in adobe, resting on the floor of a Spanish structure. This structure was situated at the center of what expedition chroniclers referred to as, and we are inferring is, the town of San Geronimo III in the Suya Valley, making it the first European colony in the region. The structure was burned and destroyed during a late 1541 or early 1542 attack by the Sobaipuri O’odham. These Natives prevailed and the Spanish fled, making this the first successful Native American uprising in the continental United States. Europeans did not return for 140 years to what would become southern Arizona. The radiocarbon analysis from this structure is consistent with the Coronado period and firmly establishes provenance for the gun, as do the crossbow bolt heads and other artifacts that have been definitively associated with this expedition and this narrow period of history.
Deni J. Seymour and William P. Mapoles
one of five of the first verifiable Coronado expedition sites found in
the state. Paraje del Malpais (AZ FF:12:69, ASM) is adjacent to a spring
and catchment pool that likely once provided reliable surface water. Earlier
and later petroglyphs include water-related symbols suggesting this trail
was used since time immemorial. A spatially separated boulder shows
images that are consistent with sixteenth-century dress, footwear, and headgear.
A related inscription seemingly reads “Tobar” -a member of the
expedition who led a detachment and escorted residents of San Geronimo
north to Tiguex in 1541. Clearings in the rocky terraces represent tent or sleeping
circles and an iron mule shoe is diagnostic of this period. Another Coronado
period artifact is present along this drainage five miles away. Both
suggest this was a route taken by the Coronado expedition.
A series of new cultural and environmental understandings have heightened our ability to both find Coronado expedition sites and to effectively interpret them. Historically accurate considerations of river flow and vegetative characteristics provided a basis for route expectations which resulted in the discovery of 12 Coronado expedition sites. Among these is a substantial townsite on the Santa Cruz River which is the first European colony in the American Southwest. From there the route has been charted through the heart of the Sobaipuri O'odham homeland. These new data reposition the ancestors of the modern-day O'odham, plucking them from obscurity and placing them front and center in history-changing events, including two early battles. At the same time, several personalities are emerging from the data that provide a more personal look into members of the expedition, including Arizona’s first resident ecclesiastic, and the provocation of the resident Sobaipuri.
Third Thursday Food For Thought
Zoom presentation
Here’s the Zoom link where people can register to attend your December 19 presentation:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nWEHLwkKQgmgIYD-YhnjKw
Chichilticale has been the most sought-after Coronado Expedition site in Arizona. One reason for this is because it was a named place that was expected to be in Arizona. It was also an important way station along the route, a place stopped at more than once and for several days, before moving through the final wilderness. Importantly, and less known, Diaz stayed for two months in the winter of 1539-1540. This site has been identified and represents a substantial camp site with hundreds of metal Coronado expedition artifacts, including diagnostic nails, crossbow bolt heads, copper bells, lace aglets, and more.
College of Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences,
School of Earth and Sustainability,
SOUTHWEST ENVIRONMENTS THROUGH TIME,
Field Course – Summer 2024
Kiki Rodriguez is Board Treasurer of Pimeria Alta Historical Society Museum (PAHS), and was born in Santa Cruz, Sonora. Kiki will share his vast knowledge of our destination, a place he knows intimately and where some of his relatives still reside. Dr. Deni Seymour, Archaeologist and Ethnohistorian, is the author of many books and articles. Deni is the first to produce incontrovertible evidence of the real route followed by Coronado on his bumbling search for the fabled Cíbola, the seven cities of gold.
We will walk into Mexico at the DeConcini Port of Entry, board the bus, and follow some of the same trails Padre Kino traveled. We will visit San Lazaro, a farming and ranching locale, and a crossroads for Kino on visits to nearby missions and villages. Santa Cruz, Sonora - our destination and lunch stop - is a village of less than 1000 souls. It is ancient - as is the previous site of Santa Cruz de Terrenate - and is in close proximity to a prehistoric native site! A delicious typical Mexican meal will be served to us in the home of a local Santa Cruz resident.
This authentic adventure will excite and educate you!
Please be sure to bring your passport, water bottle, and any snacks you might need for the journey!
Lunch will be provided.
A series of new cultural and environmental understandings have heightened our ability to both find Coronado expedition sites and to effectively interpret them. Historically accurate considerations of river flow and vegetative characteristics provided a basis for route expectations which resulted in the discovery of 10 Coronado expedition sites. Among these is a substantial townsite on the Santa Cruz River which is the first European colony in the American Southwest. From there the route has been charted through the heart of the Sobaipuri O'odham homeland. These new data reposition the ancestors of the modern-day O'odham, plucking them from obscurity and placing them front and center in history-changing events, including two early battles. At the same time, several personalities are emerging from the data that provide a more personal look into members of the expedition, including Arizona’s first resident ecclesiastic, and the provocation of the resident Sobaipuri.
https://sonoraninstitute.org/events/scrrd-24/#:~:text=April%2024%2C%202024%20%2D%20April%2026%2C%202024&text=This%20FREE%20event%20is%20a,Stories%20of%20a%20Multinational%20River.
Rio Rico Historical Society
6 pm
https://bca.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/bca/eventRegistration.jsp?event=2958&fbclid=IwAR3uFGjr_BoifTNQL8cZ5XjtCYZN5hrbYxGMmU9vluMMXwZHC6Tqr55Y3JA
Deni and Frances will take questions afterwards. The screening is sponsored by Pimería Alta Museum, Rio Rico Historical Society, Border Community Alliance and the Tubac Presidio State Historic Park and Museum.
All proceeds go to benefit the film maker's (Frances Causey) company: Coronado Films LLC.
One time showing is at:
Oasis Theater
240 West East Roper Road, Nogales, AZ 85621
Saturday December 9 at 10:00 AM
Admission $20.
Loft Film Festival in Tucson
Saturday, October 14, 1:45 PM
Buy your tickets now before they are sold out.
https://loftcinema.org/film/coronado-the-new-evidence/
Q&A after the film with Frances Causey (film maker), Deni Seymour, Tony Burrell, moderated by Allen Dart.
This is the world premiere of the new documentary film that has shadowed the archaeology work in Arizona related to the Coronado expedition route and the first townsite in the American Southwest. The film highlights the implications of this research for the O'odham, whose ancestors (we now know from this project) were instrumental in the earliest recorded history of the American Southwest, the United States, and the continent.
There is also clear evidence of the battle that is described in documents that annihilated the region's first townsite and contributed to the termination of the expedition as a whole.
To register for the Zoom program go to:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wwC9iKfWROOXPQM6e-OWYg
For more information contact Old Pueblo at 520-798-1201 or info@oldpueblo.org.
Recent discoveries of sites relating to the Francisco Vázquez de Coronado expedition of 1539/1540-1542 significantly alter perceptions of where the expedition went and which native populations were encountered. Five new sites represent the first from this expedition in Arizona and the implications for the O’odham are substantial, especially those relating to the occupation and attack of an expedition townsite. Provided are ethnographic details relating to first contact, information on the earliest successful Native American rebellion in the continental US, and ways in which these findings are becoming relevant to descendant populations whose ancestors received and then repelled these first Europeans.
Coronado Discoveries talk along with a Medals of Honor plaque unveiling
A Medals of Honor plaque unveiling event is going to take place on Saturday, December 17 at 11:00 am at the Veteran's Cemetery, Fort Huachuca. It's located on S. Buffalo Soldier Trail. The unveiling itself will take place at a special garden area of the cemetery that contains the memorials and plaques (no graves). Admission is free.
Dr. Deni Seymour’s Coronado talk is going to take place immediately after the unveiling, estimated to be around 11:30. The talk will take place indoors, in the chapel, which seats 100. Presentation will be about 45 minutes. RSVP required. Admission is free.
Email Cindy at: larussa.cindy@gmail.com
Time: Event starts at 11:00 am
Place: Veteran’s Cemetery, Sierra Vista, AZ
Coronado Power point presentation will be indoors, in a building at the cemetery near where the plaque-unveiling ceremony will be held
Events:
--Emcee and welcome: Bill Cavaliere, President, Cochise County Historical Society
--Guest speaker: Colonel John Ives, Garrison Commander, Fort Huachuca
--Guest speaker: Michael Eberhardt, Life Member, Cochise County Historical Society and member, US Medal of Honor Society
--Comments: Craig McEwan, Vice President, Cochise County Historical Society
--Unveiling of plaque
11:30/11:45 or so: Power point presentation: “Men of Iron, Gods of Thunder and Lightning: Coronado in Arizona” by Dr. Deni Seymour
Luncheon: La Casita restaurant, Fry Blvd., Sierra Vista. $22/person.
Saturday, April 23rd - 9:00 AM
led by Deni Seymour
AAHS@HOME - VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP AND THE RETURN OF IN PERSON FIELD TRIPS!
We are excited to announce the return of in-person field trips come
April 23rd!
Santa Cruz de Terrenate
Saturday, April 23rd - 9:00 AM
Screen%20Shot%202022-03-27%20at%207_38_12%20PM.png
Dr. Deni Seymour will lead us on a tour of Santa Cruz de Terrenate, the best-preserved example of three presidios established by the Spanish colonial government in what is now southern Arizona. The objective was to provide the missions, settlers, and Christianized Native Americans of New Spain military protection from Apaches and other mobile Natives by forming a line of presidios along the frontier, so as to enclose the area under Spanish control. Santa Cruz presidio was founded on a steep bluff overlooking the San Pedro River on December 10, 1775 and was abandoned in March of 1780. The only other settlement on the river at the time was a Sobaipuri O’odham village called Quiburi that had moved far to the north from its Kino-period placement near where the presidio was later built. The presidio housed soldiers, civilians, Ópata scouts, O’odham laborers, and domestic servants of a variety of origins. Originally excavated by Charles Di Peso, more recently Dr. Seymour carried out a multi-year field research program including excavations there revealing quite a bit of new information about the Spanish occupation, the earlier Sobaipuri O’odham village, and the nature of life at this remote outpost. As usual, with the addition of new data, her findings build on and revise many of the established truths of this frontier region.
This tour is limited to 20 people and you must be an AAHS member to participate. Attendees will be responsible for their own transportation to the site which is approximately 70 miles south of Tucson. The tour will be completely outdoors so masks are optional and social distancing is encouraged. Access to the site is an easy one mile walk each way. There is no handicap access. To register contact Chris Sugnet, sugnetc@yahoo.com
Historical documents provide valuable insights into the character of southern Arizona’s rivers that sometimes differ from those conveyed in the environmental literature. Understanding the long-term character of the Santa Cruz River allows us to comprehend how the Sobaipuri O’odham residents used the river and where they settled. Sobaipuri landscape use is best understood through places mentioned in historical accounts and archaeological sites documented along the rivers throughout this region, including in the Canoa area.
Lecture Series to Commemorated the 200th Anniversary of the San Ignacio de la Canoa Land Grant.
Register here:
https://apm.activecommunities.com/nrpr/Activity_Search/historical-reconstruction-santa-cruz-river-sobaipuri_lecture/6226
Featured on the August 15th, 2024 edition of ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT with host Mark McLemore:
Learn about some fascinating discoveries made in the Sonoran desert by Dr. Deni Seymour that shed new light on the history of first European settlement in North America. It’s the subject of a new documentary film called “Coronado: The New Evidence”. Mark talks with Dr. Seymour, Tony Burrell, an elder from the Tohono O’odham Nation and descendent of the Sobaipuri O'odham, and filmmaker Frances Causey about this collaboration.
Here's the link:
https://news.azpm.org/p/news-topical-sci/2024/8/14/221409-spotlight-0815/
Published April 9, 2024
Here is the link
https://theshow.kjzz.org/content/1876560/arizona-archaeologist-hot-trail-coronado-expedition
O’ODHAM VS APACHE, 5/9/20
Live stream over the website, voicesofthewest.net, Saturday at 4pm MST.
https://voicesofthewest.net/voices-of-the-west-oodham-vs-apache-5-9-20/
Featured on the August 15th, 2024 edition of ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT with host Mark McLemore:
Learn about some fascinating discoveries made in the Sonoran desert by Dr. Deni Seymour that shed new light on the history of first European settlement in North America. It’s the subject of a new documentary film called “Coronado: The New Evidence”. Mark talks with Dr. Seymour, Tony Burrell, an elder from the Tohono O’odham Nation and descendent of the Sobaipuri O'odham, and filmmaker Frances Causey about this collaboration.
Here's the link:
https://news.azpm.org/p/news-topical-sci/2024/8/14/221409-spotlight-0815/
Published April 9, 2024
Here is the link:
https://theshow.kjzz.org/content/1876560/arizona-archaeologist-hot-trail-coronado-expedition
Tucson-based archeologist Deni Seymour has spent around four decades doing research in southern Arizona. A few years back, she found herself browsing a collection at the Tubac Historical Society when she stumbled upon a nail and horseshoe. Something about the objects piqued her interest. It turns out those artifacts may help answer a 500-year-old mystery: What happened to the 16th century Coronado expedition in Arizona and Sonora?
For example, how do we know when we have a Vazquez de Coronado site rather than a site related to someone else?
How can we be sure that the artifacts said to be indicative of 1540, are, in fact so?
An effective way to explain this is to compare what we're finding to a modern example. Most people are aware of the change in can tops/ pop tops, and by looking at the changes through recent history in the character of pop tops it is possible to see the progression through time that allows us to know precisely the date span during which that can or pop-top was manufactured.
The same kind of distinction can be easily made between 1970 and 1870 in the types of clothing that people wore. No one would confuse the 1970s leisure suit or go-go boots and hot pants with the more conservative attire of the Victorian age in the 1870s. This is how we see change in archaeological terms. Trends leave physical and material residues, or evidence.
The same type of changes occurred in and since the Early Modern period when Coronado passed through our region. For example, in 1540, the beginning of the Renaissance period, crossbows were on their way out. They were being replaced with more efficient and modern weapons. While crossbows were used on the Coronado expedition, experts have noted that they were obsolete by the time the expedition ended. People may have used them for a while after, but not after the turn of the century for sure, which is the next time anyone of note entered southern Arizona.
We know crossbows were used on the Coronado expedition because we see crossbows listed on the muster roll. Moreover, the distinctive arrow or bolt heads have been found on every verified Coronado site in New Mexico and Texas. But after this expedition they were no longer in widespread use and were not used after the turn of the century; therefore, we should not find crossbow bolt heads in later sites.
No other official large-scale expeditions are known to have come through Arizona, before Coronado or after, that is, until 1692 when Spanish soldiers and Father Kino, began entering the area. In neighboring New Mexico this clarity of the issue is confused by the fact that shortly after Coronado and before the turn of the 17th century several expeditions traveled along the Rio Grande which makes it sometimes difficult to distinguish Coronado from other later 16th-century Spaniards. In southern Arizona we do not have that issue, because no other official expeditions occurred here.
Only official expeditions were allowed by the king of Spain. Evidence from this site indicates that this was a huge group people passing through, consistent with documentary sources. Judging from what has been found it was also a well-funded expedition, and so there is no doubt it was an official expedition.
As noted, this is the only large expedition of the time in this area. Three notable smaller trips are considered scouting parties by historians, and thus earlier extensions of Coronado’s expedition. Fray Marcos de Niza the year before was part of a much smaller group, and without the weapons, horses, and pack animals of the 1540 expedition. Melchior Diaz was sent north through this area to verify the findings of Fray Marcos, but his party was also small, as was his journey to the Colorado River. Each of these would have left a much lighter imprint, with fewer artifacts covering a much smaller area.
In this video I have discussed how the physical traces a group leaves behind will reflect a specific period of time. A fair degree of precision can result from the careful study of artifacts from a site and matching them to the period in which they were made and used. For the Coronado Expedition, there were a number of items that were specific to the time of the journey and that do not occur later in time. One of these is the copper crossbow bolt head. Finding these bolt heads, and other equally diagnostic or characteristic artifacts, in considerable quantities, is proof that the 1540 expedition was at this site, for a significant encounter. These cannot be accounted for by any other identifiable process. The sheer preponderance and consistency of the artifact assemblage and the spatial array of the evidence at this sizable archaeological site is solid evidence of a substantial mid-16th century presence, and that would be Coronado.
There is a long period of Spanish presence in the area during the Colonial period. It is critical to distinguish this later Spanish Colonial material from that associated with the earliest expeditions. There are a few items that are so diagnostic, so characteristic of the Coronado expedition that, when found, it is possible to confirm the presence of this 1540 expedition. Others are indicative of the Spanish in general. Because the Spanish period covers such a long period of time, they are not especially informative. That is, these types of artifacts are not of value for pinpointing Coronado because they were used for an excessively long period of time and therefore could indicate that a place was used or visited by Spaniards at any time between 1539 and the 1800s.
The need to distinguish Coronado-specific artifacts from those of the later Spanish period is exemplified by a previous claim to discovery of a key Coronado site in southern Arizona. Artifacts relating to the general Spanish period are those Brasher uncovered at the Kuykundall site in the early 2000s. While Brasher claimed their Coronado association, they are Spanish period, but not Coronado. This is why not a single archaeologist familiar with the site, the artifacts, and Coronado, has confirmed that Kuykundall is Chichilticali, as Brasher claims. The Spanish period artifacts likely relate to the 1795 José de Zúñiga expedition where Zúñiga blazed a new Spanish trail between Tucson and Santa Fe. Records indicate that Zúñiga was not following a known Spanish trail, but instead, found a new Spanish route to through the mountains.
A handful of artifacts that indicate Coronado are widely recognized by archaeologists familiar with Coronado sites. Among these are the bolt head or arrow head for a crossbow. All of those recognized as crossbow arrow heads, are made of copper, some of which have been traced to West Mexican sources. Both copper and unequivocal iron bolt heads have now been identified with our Coronado site in southern Arizona. Several styles are present, indicating different sources, makers, also probably different uses. Also considered diagnostic is the caret-head nails or bi-faceted nail, facet-headed nails, “clavos con dos golpes" - "nails with two blows" These are distinctive nails. it is not the shank, but rather, the head, that is diagnostic. The shank is not sufficiently distinct by itself to indicate that Coronado was present, but in contrast, the head by itself, is, in fact, distinctive of Coronado. Brasher had only shanks.
Other items considered diagnostic include: The Clarksdale bell, Venetian beads, green obsidian blades from Native swords, chain mail, plate and scale armor, various helmets, breast plates, and the like. Copper lace aglets. Even portions of the scabbards for daggers and swords are seemingly diagnostic.
There are also some new artifacts to add to the list for southern Arizona, given the limited early Spanish activity in this area. Because known Spanish activity did not occur again until the fourth quarter of the 1600s, we can include a number of artifacts that did not go out of use immediately after the expedition but that were no longer manufactured or in use after the turn of the 17th century, that is about AD 1600. We can be relatively certain that they represent Coronado. If nothing else, they summons the need for more intensive investigation of an area.
One of these is the Late Medieval and Post-Medieval horseshoe. This style of early Spanish horseshoe was no longer made after 1600 or so. This horseshoe style has not been seen as diagnostic of the Coronado expedition because scholars have assumed its continued use into the presidio period, but it only continued in use until about 1600, and here in Arizona that continued use is not a relevant issue, because there was no official presence after Coronado until the late 1600s. Some suggest that perhaps metal horseshoes and nails were too expensive to use but would have been needed for expeditions. The Spanish barb introduced into the colonial period Southwest had tough hooves that did not require expensive metal horseshoes. Horseshoe styles had changed when horseshoes were in vogue again, as metal decreased in price and became more widely available. There are other items as well, but this gives a sense of how archaeologists identify Coronado-period sites.
One of the reasons we know so much about this trail is that some of the participants left journals of this historic journey; even a map has been preserved. Nonetheless, to date, historians and history buffs have only been able to reconstruct the broad outlines of the route. Despite discussions of people and places encountered, and league distances provided, the actual route remains vague. This is because there are discrepancies between accounts and the number of leagues they were said to have traveled. There are differences in the length of leagues used. There are problems with the few longitude and latitude readings they provided. Even the map scale is such that only the excessively broad corridor can be discerned.
Even though some specific reference points have been proclaimed by historians and descendants, no evidence of the trail itself or the specific camping sites have been identified. The exceptions are those that were established at known locations, such as Tubac presidio. Some place names have survived such as Canoa, Las Lagunas, and so on, that allow us to peg the general confines of the route, but not specifically where they walked, rode, and slept. No on-the-ground archaeological evidence has been identified, so one suggestion is as good as any other until actual physical evidence can be connected to the journals and maps. My goal is to remedy this by taking into account what people think they know and by examining existing evidence, such as road segments at Tubac Presidio, and finding new archaeological, physical, and geographic evidence of the actual trail and campsites, whatever character that evidence may entail. This is the first of many planned videos on the Anza route and the archaeological evidence of the actual trail route and camp sites. This video covers what I have been able to discern so far based on limited work undertaken during the first few months of Covid.
For the longer version (on this channel), see:
First Flow: The Santa Cruz River at Wa:k
https://youtu.be/B2xGGfLSDWQ
This video shows the "first flow" of the Santa Cruz River in decades in the channel near San Xavier del Wa:k. The video was prepared in fall of 2018 about 6 months after the first evidence of a new perennial flow was identified. Drone footage and comments by Wa:k O'odham community members provide a sense of the importance of the revival of river flow here. Historically, the river used to flow on the surface perennially in this area (until the river was essentially killed as a result of groundwater pumping, channel modification, and wood cutting, after which the river would only flow after up-stream rains). Surface flow was facilitated by the near surface bedrock that pushed the flow to the surface. The spring was to the south/upstream from the community. The flow formed an expansive marsh south of Martinez Hill, where this flow began, and then it flowed as a stream to the north or downstream from that hill where the Sobaipuri used its flow for irrigation agriculture. They had fields and canals so extensive that Kino and his religious companions were impressed. Reasons for the new flow are provided.
Another excuse to relax a bit.
The footage was shot impromptu with a smart phone and sound is their sound system. One teacher (Nicolas Alfonso Lizarraga Rivas) and his students performed for our group that was to benefit the Patagonia Museum.
The moon rises in the southeast above a hill in the Tucson Mountains. Its extra large size and clarity of surface features make this moon a special sight, as does its coal-like glow as it breaches the ridge line. The moon's movement is real time. The night creatures comprise the sound track.
In this short video, watch the rate of the earth's rotation as the moon sinks below the western horizon. In this case, the horizon is a saguaro-covered hill on the eastern slopes of the Tucson Mountains.