archeologist have excavate the web site of a lose metropolis in the most unlikely of property . This civilization was n’t found in the chummy undergrowth of the jungle , nor was it guard by evil spirits . It was discovered in an unassuming rural field in the heart of the US .
The Los Angeles Timesrecently tattle to Donald Blakeslee , a Wichita State University prof , who discovered the lose metropolis of Etzanoa in Arkansas City , Kansas , not far from the Oklahoma moulding . This village might have been one of the largest Native American settlement ever build , second only to one in Cahokia , Illinois . Spanish colonialists had written about the city ’s immense size and complexity , however , the townspeople had vanish with niggling trace by 1700 .
“ The Spaniards were astounded by the size of it of Etzanoa , ” Blakeslee toldThe Wichita Eaglelast year . “ They counted 2,000 houses that could hold 10 people each . They said it would take two or three days to walk through it all . ”
In 2015 , Blakeslee and a team of his scholarly person were excavating near Arkansas City when theyunearthed a mud - cover rustypiece of metal . Locals have discovered literally slews ofmetal artefact in this fieldover the years , however , something about this find clicked in Blakeslee ’s mind : the nail looked as if it had been flung from the cannon of a Spanish conquistador .
The descriptions of the township by the Spanish conquistadors explain that a massive battle occurred there in 1601 . aim by their lust for gold and the desire to win over natives to Christianity , conquistador channelize from New Mexico up to the Midwest . Here , they came across the vast settlement of Etzanoa , complete with beehive - determine thatched houses divided by garden of vegetables and flowers .
However , the Spanish accounts say that the people of Etzanoa threw a 1,500 - unattackable ambush at them . Fighting give way out , grease-gun and cannons were fired , and the Spanish provide . Over 100 geezerhood later , when another group of European colonizers came to the area , the people of Etzanoa were gone . A retranslation of the accounts in 2013 aid to shed some light on the accurate locations of the battle and Etzanoa . Using this re - analysis of the documents , Blakeslee argues that the battlefield in Arkansas City is indeed the site of the 1601 battle at Etzanoa .
Still , not much is knownabout the the great unwashed of Etzanoa , although most anthropologists trust that these natives are associated with the Wichita Nation .
However , if you ’re interested in instruct more about this site , it’snow open to visitorsafter several years of archaeological work .
