NOGALES, ARIZONA—Live Science reports that independent scholar Deni Seymour unearthed a 40-pound bronze cannon—reported to be the oldest known firearm in the continental United States—at the site of San Geronimo III, or Suya. The short-lived settlement was founded in the Santa Cruz Valley by members of the expedition led by Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. Inspired by reports of golden cities, Coronado set out northward from Compostela on February 23, 1540, with more than 300 European men and perhaps more than 2,800 people in total. Separate parties that were sent in different directions explored what are now the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Kansas. Shortly after the establishment of San Geronimo in 1541, the Sobaipuri O’odham resisted Spanish incursion and attacked the colonial outpost, which the Spanish then abandoned after most of the population had been killed. In 2020, Seymour was conducting a systematic metal detector survey at the site, which she had identified as relating to the Coronado expedition. She unearthed the three-foot-long weapon, which is also known as a hook gun, in a structure made of adobe and stone. She and her colleagues found no gunpowder residue inside the gun barrel, suggesting that it was not fired in the course of the conflict. "It looks like the battle in that area unfolded so quickly that [the cannon operators] could not access, load, and fire the cannon," she said. Seymour found another cannon at the site in March 2024 that is currently under study. The side of the barrel had been blown out during the battle. "They probably put too much powder in trying to repel an onslaught of attackers who were overrunning them," Seymour explained. Coronado returned to Mexico in 1542. To read about evidence for the migrations of Navajo and Apache ancestors from Subarctic Canada to the American Southwest, go to "Walking Into New Worlds."
