A Tucson archaeologist has revealed a discovery in Santa Cruz County that she believes could rewrite the history of the Coronado expedition. Deni Seymour said he has discovered hundreds of artifacts related to the 16th century Spanish expedition, including pieces of iron and copper crossbows, distinctive pointed head nails, a horseshoe and a medieval spur, a sword point and pieces of mesh coat of armor.
The “trophy artifact” is a bronze-walled pistol, more than 3 feet long and weighing about 40 pounds, that sits on the floor of a structure that, according to her, could be a test of the oldest European settlement in the continental United States.
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“This is a place that changes history,” said Seymour, who proclaims himself the Sherlock Holmes of history. “It’s unquestionably Coronado.”
The independent investigator revealed his finding on January 29 at a sold-out conference to more than 100 people at Tubac Presidio State Historic Park.
Seymour does not reveal the exact location of the archeological site, but its general description in the Santa Cruz Valley places it at least 40 miles west of the Coronado National Memorial, which overlooks the San Pedro River and the U.S.-Mexico border. south of Sierra Vista.
In 1540, the Spanish conqueror Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led an armed expedition of more than 2,500 Europeans and Mexican-Indian allies through what is now Mexico and the American Southwest in search of wealth.
The two-year journey took them as far north and east as present-day Kansas and brought them into contact, and often in conflict, with centuries-old Indigenous cultures along the way.
Although professional archaeologists and amateur detectives have been baffled by it for nearly 150 years, the exact route from Coronado through Arizona to the elaborate Zuni villages of northern New Mexico remains a mystery.
The consensus among scholars is that the expedition probably followed the Sonora River through northern Mexico and the San Pedro River to present-day Arizona.
Seymour believes his discovery proves once and for all that Coronado and company entered Arizona by the Santa Cruz River before finally heading east.
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This puts her at odds with most researchers.
Bill Hartmann is a consummate astronomer from Tucson, who has also been researching and writing about Coronado for over 20 years. In 2014, the University of Arizona Press published his book on the subject, “Searching for Golden Empires.”
“It sure seems like a really exciting place,” Hartmann said after attending Seymour’s first conference in Tubac. “The big question I have in my head is if you don’t agree with the previous interpretation of where the Coronado expedition went. I don’t think it undermines previous thoughts that went up to San Pedro.”
New Mexico historian Richard Flint had a similar reaction: excited about Seymour’s discovery, skeptical of his conclusions.
Flint and his wife, historian Shirley Cushing Flint, are among the world’s leading experts on the expedition. In more than 40 years of research, they have written eight books and countless academic articles on the subject.
“I think Deni’s findings are certainly fascinating and probably indicate the presence of the Coronado expedition,” Flint said. “I don’t think that means abandoning the usual reconstruction of the road that goes north. The evidence is very strong that they went up the Sonora River.”
Seymour said he once also favored the St. Peter’s route. But that was before all these artifacts appeared in a completely different river valley.
He said he first visited the site in Santa Cruz County in July 2020 and immediately found several pointed-headed nails, “which in this area definitely means you have Coronado.”
Since then, he has been discovering artifacts with the help of metal detectors and a crew of up to 18 volunteers, including several members of the Tohono O’odham tribe.
“The site keeps giving and giving,” he said.
Relics have been discovered in an area spanning more than half a mile. At least, Seymour said, they are the remains of a large camp, but he suspects it is something else.
“What we have is a place called,” he said, “a place called the Coronado newspapers.”
Seymour believes he has found the remains of Suya, also known as San Geronimo III because it was the third and northernmost location of a Spanish outpost established to support the expedition.
Along with the central structure where the wall weapon was found, he said he has identified what appear to be six surrounding surveillance stations, three of which show “clear evidence of being attacked.”
The Spaniards “had a significant presence here, and they had great conflicts with the natives here,” Seymour said. “And they’re natives different than you thought.”
Depending on the location of the site and the elements it has found, she is convinced that the advanced site was not defeated by the Opata who dominated what is now Sonora, but by the Sobaipuri, whose direct descendants include the Tohono O’odham in San Xavier.
Sobaipuri’s distinctive lead and arrowheads tell the story of its final confrontation, which sent the Spaniards to retreat south.
“We have clear evidence of the battle,” said Seymour, who has written dozens of books and scholarly articles about the region and its first native inhabitants. “No questions asked.”
Excavations at the site have so far yielded more than 120 spikes and more than 60 crossbow bolts.
These are the most “diagnostic” artifacts of the Coronado expedition, Flint said, and finding so many crossbow bolts in particular is convincing evidence of a major skirmish.
According to Flint, there are a number of written accounts of members of the expedition that refer to Suya and the battle that led her to abandon her. He said the loss of the outpost “put the key in the coffin” of Coronado’s trip, because it cut him off from his main supply and communication route.
The question of whether it qualifies as the first European settlement in the US seems to depend on how the word settlement is defined.
For Hartmann, Suya was “more like a fighting military garrison than a city,” he said.
And he wasn’t the first, Flint added. By the time San Geronimo III was established, Coronado had already traveled deep into present-day New Mexico, where the expedition clashed with the natives and lived for months in some of its captured villages.
“Everyone wants to be the first. (This discovery) is important, even if it’s not the first,” Flint said. “Virtually anything found on the Coronado expedition has a chance to shed new light on something that was not known.”
Seymour is much less measured. As for her, this discovery is so important, so revolutionary that it could end up as a national monument or one World Heritage someday.
“There are a lot of opposites,” he said. “I’m an archaeologist. I only go where the evidence is.”
Seymour hopes to publish the first of several peer-reviewed articles about his discovery sometime this spring. He said he has already received a number of radiocarbon results and other dating methods to support him, with more tests planned.
Speaking at his recent public talks in Tubac, Seymour said he took the unusual step of selling tickets and publicizing his work early on to raise money for a documentary that is being made about the discovery. by Frances Causey Films, based in Tucson.
“As archaeologists, we can see the most interesting things,” and we go to places that others can’t go, he said. “(The documentary) is important for people to see and understand the discovery process.”
So far, just over $ 8,400 had been raised for the film, but the crowdfunding campaign was still well below its $ 100,000 goal.
Seymour has not kept the excavation site completely to herself. Over the past year, he has shared photos of the artifacts with various experts, including the Flints, and invited a handful of fellow researchers to see where he works.
He said he only carries people he trusts, and only on the condition that they do not reveal the location or bring anyone else.
Seymour knows she can’t keep the place a secret forever, but she wants to protect it for as long as she can.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” he said. “I don’t want to be in competition with treasure hunters.”
The longtime researcher from southern Arizona also claims to have found Coronado artifacts in two other places about 6 miles away in the San Bernardino Valley, about 100 miles east as the crow flies from its main site in Santa Cruz County.
She predicts that these discoveries will eventually help determine the exact route of the infamous expedition through Arizona.
“We now have an anchor point,” Seymour said. “I think we’ll start finding a lot more places in Coronado.”
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