Quivira Revisited

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Quivira Revisited," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In early Spanish accounts, Quivira was the name of a fabulous place far out on the Great Plains. Visited by the Coronado, Humaña, and Oñate expeditions between 1541 and 1601, it became associated with myths of gold and walled cities. In the 20th century, the archaeological remains were identified as the Great Bend Aspect, clusters of supposed village sites in central Kansas. This symposium presents a combination of remote sensing and laboratory science that has revolutionized our understanding of the archaeological remains. Rather than clusters of villages, the communities consisted of huge towns with a well-developed export industry. The remains include ceremonial structures and ground figures that had ritual significance.