On Sunday, January 7, 2018 at 7:30:58 AM UTC-5, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Renault" wrote in message
...
The discovery of centuries-old pistol parts in Colorado is
shedding new light on the state's Spanish Colonial history.

The spring-loaded arm, known as a "dog" and trigger guard were
once part of a wheellock pistol, according to the Museums of
Western Colorado, which has released details of the fascinating
find.

"The dog was found as part of an archaeological excavation
conducted by the Western Investigations Team (Museums of Western
Colorado) of a site, known as the Redoubt Site, which included
bits of Spanish Armor and other Spanish Colonial memorabilia
found near a small fortification, a few years back south of
Grand Junction, Colorado," explained David Bailey, curator of
history at Museums of Western Colorado, in an email to Fox News.
"After analyzing the material, we discovered there was a dog and
a trigger guard [that] were from a very early Spanish pistol
known as a wheellock."

The pistols, which could be almost two-feet long, first emerged
in Europe around 1500.

Metallurgic tests indicate that the pistol parts found near
Grand Junction are from the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries,
making the discovery particularly unusual. "The importance of
the find is the material is usually found in Texas or New Mexico
and not this far north in western Colorado," Bailey added.

The historian explained that the dog tightened two clamps that
held flint or pyrite in place to ignite the pistol's powder.

"There are many theories of how the material got this far north,
perhaps the remnants of a Spanish Exploration party or material
that was traded to The Ute Indian that lived in this area," he
said. "Many mysteries still remain about this site and we are
still working to find additional evidence of why Spanish
Colonial artifacts would be found so far north and from such an
early period."

The pistol parts are the latest archaeological find to provide a
glimpse into America's Spanish colonial history.

In 2016, archaeologists discovered stones beneath San Antonio's
Alamo Plaza that could be associated with the main gate of the
18th century Mision San Antonio de Valero, as the Alamo Mission
was originally known.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/...-600-year-old-
pistol-parts-sheds-new-light-on-colorados-spanish-colonial-
history.html


Native trade was very extensive. A skeleton found in Massachusetts was
wearing brass armor thought to be Mayan.
http://www.newenglandhistoricalsocie...eton-in-armor/

Mayan brass work:
http://www.pacal.de/grabplatte_en.html

-jsw

A google search of the term 'Joara' will return some interesting results for those interested in the history of Spanish exploration / exploitation in the mid-1500's in North America.

If they'd discovered the gold less than 30 miles south of there, the whole history of N America would have been different. But they prospected north of Joara into the mountains, and pretty much only found mica.

Jim H.