From Soto to Luna: Following a Mid-16th Century Trail of Glass Trade Beads in the Southeastern United States

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Glass Beads: Global Artefacts, Local Perspectives", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The University of West Florida has recovered at least 36 glass trade beads since the discovery of the Tristán de Luna y Arellano settlement in 2015. This paper compares the bead assemblage recovered from the Luna settlement site in Pensacola, Florida, with Soto's winter encampment, the Governor Martin site, in Tallahassee, Florida. It also examines other traditionally perceived Soto bead assemblages found at sites in the Coosa Valley in Northeastern Alabama and Northwestern Georgia. Nueva cádiz and 7-layer chevron beads make up the majority of the Luna bead assemblage. Their presence suggests that nueva cádiz and 7-layer chevrons found at inland Native sites in the southeastern interior are just as likely to have originated from the Luna expedition as from the Soto expedition.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Glass Beads: Global Artefacts, Local Perspectives   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow