  
From February 1540 to August 1542, an armed force of some 350 Europeans and 1,000 Indians trekked into unknown lands, across the Greater Southwest of North America. They went, at great expense, with the intent of taking control of sophisticated native populations rumored to be living in what the expeditionaries thought of as the periphery of India.
Over the last century, scholars have been searching for the route of this expedition, which has come to be known after its underwriter, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. This remarkable journey is one of the most enduring and important in American history, because it laid the foundation for interactions among Native Americans and Europeans--the colonization of the American Southwest. Surviving documents describe the inhabitants and environments encountered during the enterprise, but these writings are vague and open to differing interpretations, leading to competing theories about the route. Even though the expedition members surely lost and discarded personal items and trash all along the way, to date, no unambiguous Coronado-related artifacts have been found in southeastern Arizona or southwestern New Mexico.
The Center for Desert Archaeology is initiating a public education project to determine Coronado's 1540 route by trying to find telltale artifacts associated with the expedition. Previous research has shown that at least seven types of artifacts are found exclusively with the 1540-1542 Coronado Expedition:
For images of other artifacts possibly associated with the Coronado expedition, click here.
To view a 10 minute video on the Coronado expedition, click here.
To view the final Coronado Project press release, click here.
We hope that once local residents become aware of these artifact types, they might be willing to come forward and share their existing collections with scholars. If researchers could find enough of these items, with general provenience information intact, it may be possible to finally determine Coronado's specific route.
While we are not encouraging people to go "artifact hunting," we think that our best chance of finding Coronado-era artifacts is through people who have already found artifacts, or have had items handed down to them through the years. A rancher helped discover one of the few confirmed Coronado campsites in the Southwest, the Jimmy Owens Site in Texas. If researchers can identify Coronado related artifacts and the general locations where they were found, it may be possible to locate the Coronado trail through Arizona or western New Mexico.
The outreach and public information campaign consists of three parts. The first part is a 10-minute video produced by Tucson's PBS station KUAT-TV and hosted by Don Collier, which has been distributed to local residents in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. A second aspect is the introduction of the "Coronado Hotline," a toll-free phone number, which individuals can use to report possible Coronado finds (1-800-557-8353). Thirdly, the campaign will culminate with four "Antiques Road Show"-type events in Reserve and Lordsburg, New Mexico, and in Willcox and Springerville, Arizona. At these events people will be encouraged to bring their possible Coronado-era artifacts for scientific evaluation by archaeologists and historians, who will also give free presentations on the expedition.
The true value of these artifacts is what they can teach us about our shared past. We will not purchase objects or take them from individuals. We only seek information about artifacts and where they were originally found.
For further readings and links to more information on Coronado's expedition, click here.
Major support for The Coronado Project is generously provided by:
 Southwestern Foundation for Education and Historical Preservation
New Mexico Humanities Council
KUAT-TV, Tucson, Arizona
Coronado Scholars:
John Madsen
Shirley Flint
Richard Flint
William K. Hartmann
Gayle Hartmann
Homer Thiel
Additional thanks to:
Arizona State Museum, Arizona Historical Society, Piney Hollow Bead & Jewelry Store, and Proline Graphics
Don Collier, Gayle Hartmann, Don Burgess, Linda Pierce, William H. Doelle, Dan Duncan, Fran Sherlock, Hector Gonzalez, Martin Rubio, Tom Kleespie, Twanya Kaber, Stacy Green, Laurel Turner, Barbara Gerres, Debra Smith, and Kathy Klump
For more information or to report a possible Coronado-era artifact, contact Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh at the Center for Desert Archaeology.
Email: coronado@cdarc.org
Toll-free number: (800) 557-8353
Business number: (520) 882-6946
Business fax: (520) 882-6948
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