It was late autumn 1900 when a minor cave-in occurred in the giant United Verde mine in Jerome. On December 3, as workers cleared the mess, they were astonished to find a newly exposed cave that contained a mysterious gravesite falloff artifacts. “It was with wonder and awe that the workmen first entered the cave and handled the relics that must have been laid away centuries [ago],” the Jerome News described; adding that it created quite an excitement in the copper town.
Beside the implements was a mummified man. Due to the giant size of the artifacts surrounding the body, it was assumed that the man must have been a giant too, “but [had] evidently shriveled, yet many of the most important parts have undoubtedly remained their natural size,” the newspaper continued. A cloth covering the body reportedlyhad “hieroglyphics” printed on it. “There were found near him working tools, all of which were manufactured of tempered copper, showing that the man must have been buried over 3000 years ago—during the first age of copper, ” the paper surmised.
“The numerous articles found with the body would signify that he was chief or king of some renown,” the paper surmised. The largest artifact was a huge gun. “A firearm somewhat similar to the shotgun [of today], but so large, and of such weight that the average man of today could not pose it for shooting.”
This would not be the last time a large gun like this was found in Arizona. Research has revealed two other instances. One occurred in the Spring of 1918 “in one of the Verde river caves,” the Journal-Miner reported. This was examined by the Arizona state historian, Captain AF Banta who declared the the firearm, made of bronze, “was once the property of Coronado, the Spanish explorer, and that it was brought to this country in 1541. It was thought that “neither Coronado’s nor any other Spanish exploring expedition ever passed through the region where the gun was found. Therefore Banta believed it must have reached its location on the Verde river by trade.
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However, the finding of a third, large, Coronado gun in our present decade is rewriting history. Dr. Deni Seymour, a Tucson archeologist, “unveiled a discovery in Santa Cruz County that she thinks could rewrite the history of the Coronado Expedition,” CBS News reported. “She has unearthed hundreds of artifacts linked to the 16th century Spanish expedition, including pieces of iron and copper crossbow bolts, distinctive caret-headed nails, a medieval horseshoe and spur, a sword point, and bits of chain mail armor.”
The “trophy artifact” was a 3 foot long bronze gun which was found on the floor of a structure located in the undisclosed location. It weighed approximately 40 pounds and this, along with the many other artifacts “could be proof of the oldest European settlement in the continental United States,” Seymour said. The general location of this settlement is (appropriately,) forty miles or more west of the Coronado National Memorial. "This is a history-changing site," Seymour proclaimed, "it's unquestionably Coronado.”
When this historian contacted Dr. Seymour about the 1918 account, she replied that she had not heard of this account before, and expected that the gun was probably sold into a private collection.
The vagueness of the 1900 United Verde account is frustrating. There was no mention of the length, weight, or the material with which the two-man gun was made. Back then, no one dreamed that Coronado reached into Arizona, (particularly Jerome!) and they would not have considered it a possibility. Instead, the original accounts in the newspaper followed the school of thought of that day—that it must have had something to do with the Aztecs.
Likewise to the 1918 artifact, the 1900 object probably ended up being sold to a private collector and now has a completely unprovable context. If only this discovery were made in this century, academic archeologists and historians might be writing about Coronado in Yavapai County!
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SOURCES:
Jerome News 12/8/1900 Pg. 3, Col. 3.
Prescott (Daily) Journal-Miner; 5/2/1918, Pg. 1, Col. 7.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronado-expedition-1540-artifatcs-found-arizona-archaeologist/
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