American Latinos

Coinciding with repair and restoration efforts at the Quarai ruins, archeological investigations throughout the 1900s convey the meticulous design of the mission and the grandeur that still surpasses its neglect. Archeology does not resolve the ambiguities of Quarai’s timeline, but through architectural and human and material remains, it pictures Quarai as it was, not as how one-sided records imagine it to be.

Relationships between Taino and Island-Carib Indians, Europeans, and Africans during European contact and colonization set the stage for cultural interaction across the Virgin Islands. By understanding social relations during this tempestuous period of Caribbean proto-history, archeologists aim to know about interactions between indigenous populations, Europeans, and Africans during the early period of European expansion and its importance to global history.

Learn about the markings on Spanish coins found at two shipwrecks, La Galga and Juno. See how the markings help archeologists to date the sites.

Candelilla (or "wax weed") harvesting has occurred in Big Bend for over a century. Archeologists investigated wax-making camps and factories where laborers, many of whom were Latino, lived and worked each day.

The presidio ruins were not impressive at first glance. After careful examination, archeologists recognized the outlines of structures and identified how much of the complexes still remained. In most areas, the floors are well-protected under a blanket of fallen and dissolved wall, preserving the objects used by the Spanish and indigenous men, women, and children that inhabited the Big Bend.

From analyses of four written accounts of De Soto’s expedition and archaeological findings, most scholars believe that De Soto left Cuba and arrived in Florida near present day Tampa in May 1539. His entourage included an estimated 1000 men, 250 horses, several hundred pigs, and a substantial number of dogs. De Soto immediately set out to establish his power among the natives he encountered.

Early Spanish travelers followed an extensive network of Pueblo foot trails that entered mountain passes, followed river valleys, or crossed desert plains to life-supporting water sources. The Spanish Empire colonized New Mexico in 1598, incorporating many ancient Pueblo trails into the Spanish system of wagon roads to colonize the northern frontier. Archeologists have found many traces of it today.

Gran Quivira's history began ca. 800 with a sedentary indigenous population who used distinct pueblo masonry architecture. It was into this delicate balance of subsistence that the Spanish entered. Missionary activities at Las Humanas began in earnest and around 1626. By 1672 the site was abandoned.

In 2008 Tumacácori National Monument in southern Arizona commemorated 100 years. The theme of Tumacácori's centennial celebration was “One Hundred Years of Preservation and Stewardship,” in recognition of the preservation specialists, archeologists, historians, interpreters, masons, and maintenance workers who have strived to preserve the mission for future generations. This article summarizes the preservation history of San José de Tumacácori.

Engravings along the base of El Morro National Monument's Inscription Rock range from prehistoric petroglyphs to the earliest known European inscription, Don Juan de Oñate's engraved memorial, dated 1605. Dramatic new evidence — a range of metal artifacts — has emerged linking El Morro with the earliest major Spanish entrada in the desert Southwest – the 1540-1542 expedition of Capitan General Francisco Vázquez de Coronado.