Archaeologists explore a rural field in Kansas, and a lost city emerges

Who would have thought ?? I did not realize that the Spanish conquistadors made it all the way to Kansas.

Using freshly translated documents written by the Spanish conquistadors more than 400 years ago and an array of high-tech equipment, Blakeslee located what he believes to be the lost city of Etzanoa, home to perhaps 20,000 people between 1450 and 1700.

They lived in thatched, beehive-shaped houses that ran for at least five miles along the bluffs and banks of the Walnut and Arkansas rivers. Blakeslee says the site is the second-largest ancient settlement in the country after Cahokia in Illinois.

Blakeslee, 75, became intrigued by Etzanoa after scholars at UC Berkeley retranslated in 2013 the often muddled Spanish accounts of their forays into what is now Kansas. The new versions were more cogent, precise and vivid.

“I thought, ‘Wow, their eyewitness descriptions are so clear it’s like you were there.’ I wanted to see if the archaeology fit their descriptions,” he said. “Every single detail matched this place.”

The conquistadors were met at the village with kindness and corn cakes..All was going well until they tried and took some captives... The article does not say but I would bet they were after women.. The remaining (20,000) Escanxaques villagers fled..

So after wandering around the now empty settlement for 3 days and finding no gold the conquistadors saw another settlement in the distance but were afraid the Escanxaques would counter attack; which they did. The Spanish fought with guns and cannon and were able to flee to never return...
www.latimes.com...

Cool, but did Jesus ever visit the Americas?

The Spanish were a very Jerky people back then, they took what they wanted to take and killed anyone who disagreed with them. The head of government in Spain expected something for the expense of the exploration going on.

Spain was not the only country desiring world dominance.

originally posted by: musicismagic
Cool, but did Jesus ever visit the Americas?

Not that I have read or seen but I guess you could say the church set their version of Christen soldiers called the conquistadors to rape and pillage the land thinking that would get the crown gold and converts. If you read any history about the conquistadors IMO they were some rabid religious idiots cloaked in a pious sounding mission ..

a reply to: 727Sky

They must be idiots if they settled in what is now Kansas.

Kansas?!

a reply to: six67seven

I'd imagine they'd call modern civilization stupid.

Interesting I will have to keep an eye on this as it's in my backyard so to speak could be interesting to see what is found if anything.

a reply to: musicismagic

That possibility only gains credibility when our history is constantly being revised by the same people who claim to have it all figured out.

South America was settled by Catholic Spanish, North by Protestant Germans and English, it's interesting to think about?

originally posted by: 727Sky

Not that I have read or seen but I guess you could say the church set their version of Christen soldiers called the conquistadors to rape and pillage the land thinking that would get the crown gold and converts. If you read any history about the conquistadors IMO they were some rabid religious idiots cloaked in a pious sounding mission ..

A tried and true recipe of most nations at one time or another, including our own (United States).

What people do in the name of their god(s) can be outright abhorrent.

a reply to: 727Sky

Thanks for posting this. I was reading on this just the day before yesterday. The Los Angeles Times article was also good.

The article I saw recounted Coronado's search for seven lost cities of gold. Quivira was one of them and was located in Kansas. There is a map of Coronado's expedition and some of his story but the author doubted whether the record was true because Quivira is also listed on several old maps as a city in California. I guess this discovery resolves at least one part of that question. 16th century Tartarian King Tartarrax ruled Quivira Regnum in North America

originally posted by: rickymouse
The Spanish were a very Jerky people back then, they took what they wanted to take and killed anyone who disagreed with them. The head of government in Spain expected something for the expense of the exploration going on.

Spain was not the only country desiring world dominance.

Yep

Everyone pretty much was rather jerky back then and had been for thousands of years prior. Not killing one another on sight is a fairly new development. Conquest and raiding was the norm for most people. What made the 15-18th century unusual is that the Europeans developed superior tactics and technology and became far more organized and deadly than many others.

Thus the modern world came about.

A good book about that is Lawrence H. Keeley's War Before Civilization, ISBN 0-19-511912-6

www.amazon.com...

originally posted by: musicismagic
Cool, but did Jesus ever visit the Americas?

Must not be any Mormons in Japan...
I let Elders Smith and Young into my house and let them tell their tale of how the Book of Mormon is all about Jesus visiting the Americas.

a reply to: 727Sky
All the Spanish forays into the new world were accompanied by priests. These priests were Jesuits of the inquisition fame. The main aim was to convert any inhabitants by stealth or force. Their thought being if they converted them to Christianity they would be immediately civilised (that's their idea of civilised).
The gold part was the incentive for the conquistadors to protect them in their zeal to convert. And the lands gained would be the Spanish crowns money in the bank.
This was ever so true in South America. But the catholic church took over the mantle of taking the wealth of the countries. Which it's still doing to this day.

a reply to: 727Sky

Thanks for posting!

It will be interesting to see what is learned when the burial grounds are discovered. Contrary to the old saw, "Dead men tell no tales." the dead can tell us quite a lot about the culture.

Seems entirely possible to me that these people were the descendants of the great city at Cahokia since that site was mostly abandoned about a century earlier. Scientists still don't have any provable explanation for the abandonment but speculation centers on earthquakes and a drought which hit the area. From looking at the population exodus of the area after the 1811-12 earthquakes, it's easy to postulate that the same sort of migration out of the area would have occurred.

originally posted by: crayzeed

All the Spanish forays into the new world were accompanied by priests. These priests were Jesuits of the inquisition fame.

I believe they came later Franciscans were first 12 showed up to convert the 'Mexicans'.

en.wikipedia.org...

The gold part was the incentive for the conquistadors to protect them in their zeal to convert.

It turned out that silver was much more important to Spain. See charts in the following

mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu...

Example: in the years 1541-­1550 10.46 million pesos were returned to Spain of which 25 tons was gold and 178 tons of silver. In 1591-­1600 this had changed to 69.60 million pesos in 19.5 tons of gold and 2,708 tons of silver

And the lands gained would be the Spanish crowns money in the bank.

Which fuel massive inflation and destroyed the economy of Spain and caused ultimately a loss in population.

a reply to: 727Sky

Maybe they were just backward folks (by our standards) who could not accept any other way of living than their own? I feel awe for these folks who ventured out into the unknown, but also saddened by the fact that they treated the others they met with such cruelty, distain, and lack of compassion. Maybe we can take a hint fro our past mistakes?

I was thinking it would be fun to find a tribe of displaced Mayans.

Or even a relocation of the cliff dwellers would raise a brow.

Thanks for sharing the chapter on the new world, I enjoyed that a lot.Amazing to think that somebody could keep such a good grip on how that silver and gold was spread around. a reply to: Hanslune

originally posted by: ttropia
I was thinking it would be fun to find a tribe of displaced Mayans.

Or even a relocation of the cliff dwellers would raise a brow.

Doc Savage (Clark Wildman Jr.) did. See "The Man of Bronze."