The oldest firearm ever discovered in the continental US has been found at the site of a massacre that occurred in Arizona in 1541. Brought to America by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, the bronze cannon was supposed to protect the residents of the first European settlement in the American Southwest, most of whom were slaughtered before the weapon even had a chance to be loaded.
“Not only is it the first gun ever recovered from the Coronado expedition, but consultation with experts throughout the continent and in Europe reveal that it is also the oldest firearm ever found inside the continental USA,” write the authors of a new study. Though they can’t say for certain, the researchers go on to suggest that the weapon may be the oldest gun anywhere in the Americas.
“It is also the first known surviving example of a weapon of war, an actual firearm used in the attempted early conquest of the American Southwest,” they add.
Launched in 1539, the Coronado expedition was an ill-fated quest to reach a fabled cluster of seven golden cities that were rumored to exist in the southwestern US. The first European incursion into the region, the mission was terminated in 1542 when it transpired that there were no such riches, following which Coronado was apparently incapacitated after being kicked in the head by a horse.
Along the way, the conquistador helped to establish the town of San Geronimo III – also known as Suya – in what is now Arizona. However, the village later gained notoriety as the site of the first successful Native American uprising when members of the Sobaipuri O’odham tribe attacked the town, killing most of the residents.
“Europeans did not return to what became southern Arizona for another 150 years, making this the earliest, most consequential Native American uprising in the continental US,” write the study authors.
It was at San Geronimo III that the researchers found the ancient weapon, known as a hackbut or hook gun. “This cast bronze cannon is a pristine historical specimen and was found in situ, resting on the floor of a Coronado expedition Spanish structure,” they write.
“It is a design consistent with the mid-to-late 1400s and was practically obsolete by the time of the expedition,” they add. This observation suggests that the weapon may have been manufactured long before Coronado set off for North America, although all the evidence points to the fact that it was deployed to protect the town of San Geronimo III in 1541.
However, an examination of the cannon revealed a lack of black powder residue in the barrel, indicating that it was never loaded or fired. This chimes well with historical accounts describing an early morning attack by the Sobaipuri O’odham which took the settlers completely by surprise and laid waste to the town before any sort of defense could be mounted.
“This final blow seems to be the precipitating event that led to the abandonment of the wall gun, where it remained snugly encased in an eroded Spanish adobe-and-rock-walled structure [ruin] for 480 years, as radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dates confirm,” write the study authors.
“It was left behind at or brought to San Geronimo to protect an incipient settlement, which represents the first European settlement in the American Southwest, and then, also, the first successful Native American uprising in the American Southwest,” they conclude.
The study is published in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology.
