Archaeologists excavating a Spanish stone-and-adobe structure in Arizona uncovered a 480-year-old gun.
Experts believe the “wall gun” was associated with the Coronado expedition.
The wall gun is now considered the oldest firearm ever found within the continental United States.
On his quest to find the mythical Seven Cities of Gold somewhere in the American southwest, Spanish explorer Vázquez de Coronado left behind some materials after a pit stop that, while perhaps an afterthought to him, included what is now a major piece of archaeological and weapon history in the United States.
A team of researchers uncovered a bronze cannon, or “wall gun,” in Arizona and, using radiocarbon dating among other dating techniques, pegged the 480-year-old device to the Coronado expedition. By virtue of its age, the cannon is the oldest firearm ever discovered within the continental confines of the United States.
In a study published in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology, a team of researchers revealed the 2020 find from the floor of a Spanish stone-and-adobe structure in Arizona at the former settlement of San Geronimo III in what is now Nogales, Arizona, for the first time.
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Radiocarbon dating places the gun in the same time period of the 1539-1542 Coronado expedition, led by the Spanish explorer in hopes of finding the gold cities of Cibola, which were rumored by conquistadors to exist somewhere in what would become the southwestern U.S.
“This wall gun is the first gun known to be associated with the Coronado expedition and is the oldest firearm ever found within the continental USA,” the study authors wrote, “and perhaps the oldest cannon currently known on the continent.”
This was no small pistol, though. At 42 inches in length and weighing 40 pounds, researchers say it would have taken two people to operate. But that apparently wasn’t necessary. There were no bullets found near the gun—the team did uncover plenty of broken swords and daggers, fishhooks, pottery, and other items—and the lack of residue in the barrel indicated it was never fired.
“I was in shock,” Deni Seymour, archaeologist and lead author, told the Washington Post about the find. “It was just an odd feeling that I rarely get.”
A wall gun is considered a beefed-up musket and got its name as it was often used at a building’s wall or a ship’s railing. While it’s not what we traditionally think of when we hear the word, it is also referred to as a cannon, largely because of the smoothbore nature of the barrels. The 480-year-old gun was likely built in the early 1500s and brought on the expedition after manufacturing in either Mexico or the Caribbean, the study suggests. It was then abandoned at the site hundreds of years ago.
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“An artifact like this can connect people to the past, to history, and really stirs their imagination,” Seymour said.
The expedition led by Coronado was a Spanish effort that started in Mexico and explored the American southwest with the goal of finding the Seven Cities of Cibola, which were proven to be just a myth. While no gold-adorned cities were ever located, the explorers became the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon.
Seymour told the Post that since the initial discovery in 2020, she has uncovered a second, similar cannon. “The cannon is pretty darn wonderful, but each artifact we find and the context of them has the potential to convey a really interesting part of the story,” she said. “And that’s what’s fun about it. That’s what’s interesting, and that’s what keeps me going.”
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Tim Newcomb is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications, including Popular Mechanics. His favorite interviews have included sit-downs with Roger Federer in Switzerland, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, and Tinker Hatfield in Portland.