Uncovering Etzanoa: A Megasite on the Southern Plains

Summary

In 1601 CE, Juan de Oñate visited a large community in southern Kansas that natives described as taking two or three days to walk through. The location of the remains of the town was first clearly demonstrated in 2015. Since then, surface survey and work with collectors continues to document the scale of the community. Excavation in 2017 by Wichita State University and the University of Colorado in what was thought to be a midden mound instead encountered a dense concentration of features that reflects the presence of one of the house clusters described by the Spanish visitors. A Spanish horseshoe nail from one of the pits is the third Oñate era artifact to have been found at the site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20688