The Coronado Expedition to Tierra Nueva: The 1540-1542 Route across the Southwest

3. Coronado Fought Here: Crossbow Boltheads as Possible Indicators of the 1540–1542 Expedition

Introduction lthough historic records document the 1540–1542 Coronado expedition across the Southwest and the Great Plains, the search for tangible archeological evidence of the entrada has been frustrating and often fraught with controversy. A number of factors contribute to the tenuous nature of the archeological resources. The expedition was a onetime event whose short-term camps left few permanent traces upon the landscape. The passage of four and a half centuries and subsequent settlement and development have obliterated all but the most durable or most isolated artifacts and features related to the entrada. Later Spanish exploration and colonization brought similar cultural materials into the New World, confusing the search for artifacts directly associated with Coronado. Dating methodologies traditionally used for archeological resources are often inadequate when applied to metals and, in the past, there was a strong tendency for researchers to disregard “intrusive” metal or bone in what were assumed to be prehistoric sites. Trading and seasonal movements of American Indian groups redistributed artifacts, and possible ethnographic evidence relating to the entrada has been poorly researched. Researchers are left with a few known sites such as Hawikuh and Pecos and with a limited repertoire of possible diagnostic artifacts Crossbow Boltheads as Possible Indicators of the 1540–1542 Expedition C H A P T E R 3 Coronado Fought Here DIANE LEE RHODES 37 DIANE LEE RHODES 38 such as glass beads and metal pieces to help identify the expedition’s route and activities. Coronado’s presence at Hawikuh (Zuni), Pecos, and pueblos along the Rio Grande is documented in the expedition narratives. Because archeologists have found crossbow boltheads (dart points) in association with contact-period Indian artifacts at several of these New Mexico sites, it has been suggested that the boltheads may be diagnostic of the Coronado expedition (Vierra 1989: 218, 227). The following discussion examines this possibility. Historic Use of the Crossbow By the 1500s, the crossbow had been in use for several centuries and was a favored weapon of the early Spanish explorers of the New World. A strong military crossbow with a steel bow was able, at fair range, to penetrate with a sharp-headed bolt armor that was in use at the time. The point-blank firing range was sixty to seventy yards (Byron Johnson, personal communication 1992). There are dozens of references to the use of the crossbow by Hernán Cortés in his conquest of Mexico two decades before Coronado. Cortés’s army is known to have been supplied with “a large quantity of balls and arrows” from Spain and the Antilles (Clavigero 1807: 159). Using guns and crossbows, the Spaniards “cleared the terraces” of the Indian villages as they swept through Mexico (Clavigero 1807: 103). Francisco Pizarro sailed from Panama in 1524 with a small band of men described as crossbowmen. Records note that bowmen were included in the muster lists of both Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo and Coronado, and are known to have accompanied the expedition led by Hernando de Soto. There are other references to use of the crossbow in early journals. Distances were often expressed in terms of the length of crossbow shots (Peterson 1956: 7). During Pánfilo de Narváez’s expedition, pieces of metal from the crossbows were used to manufacture nails to construct boats. Spanish narratives document the presence of the ballestas and ballesteros (crossbows and crossbowmen) on the Coronado expedition, and mention use of crossbows at the Zuni towns, along the Rio Grande during the long cruel winter of 1540–1541, and at the stalwart pueblo of Pecos. The narratives also document the use of crossbows on Coronado’s journey across the buffalo plains. Here the Spaniards discovered a collection of animal bones as wide as the distance a crossbow could shoot, a tiro de ballesta. The plains were so flat that wherever a man placed himself, he could see the sky around himself for the distance a crossbow could shoot. And in one time of siege, the Spaniards captured the roofs of some houses . . . getting off good shots with crossbows . . . (Strout 1958: 793). CORONADO FOUGHT HERE 39 History also documents the decline in crossbow use as Europe’s Middle Ages ended and, by Coronado’s time, the crossbow was rapidly being superseded as a military weapon by the arquebus and other firearms. As De Soto and others were to learn, the power of the crossbow could not compensate for...