Posted on 07/09/2012 7:05:53 PM PDT by Engraved-on-His-hands
Hernando De Soto's route through Florida is as elusive to modern archaeologists as the gold the famed Spanish explorer sought throughout the southeastern United States.
Ever since De Soto's 600 men set foot on the shores of Tampa Bay, arriving from Cuba almost 500 years ago, historians have debated the exact direction of his failed treasure-hunting expeditions as far north as Tennessee and North Carolina.
But in north Marion County, an archaeologist has found what his contemporaries deem rarer than the gold De Soto was seeking — physical evidence of the explorer's precise journey through Marion County and enough information to redraw Florida De Soto maps and fuel many more archaeological digs based on his findings.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocala.com ...
ping
Living in Desoto county MS, I can only say he walked through my living room on the way to the Mississippi
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks Engraved-on-His-hands. It's a George Costanza moment. :') |
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What???
They found a 500 year old desoto in florida?
Does it run?
What a silly question! The gas has turned to jelly dust and the battery is dead as a doornail. How could it run? The crew used alcohol mix with gas so the gasline tubing is all shot, too. Besides, no one knows where the ignition key is.
Long stroke 383.
‘59 was the only year they built that engine.
damn if it don't look like the offspring of a Chevy and a Chrysler
Interesting story! I believe it was De Soto’s contact with the Timucua Indians where De Soto described how the Indians would take the scalps of slain enemies as war trophies, putting to rest the false claim that the Indians learned it from the white man many years later.
Also, I had an old New Mexico history book that claimed when Coronado looked for Grand Quivara in Kansas he heard of whites to the South East and tried to make contact. He failed.
It also mentioned he left behind two priests at their behest to convert the Indians. They even built a chapel on the plains, but when they wanted to go and convert a neighboring enemy tribe, their own Indian converts killed them.
The key is hidden in granny’s asefedita bag.
You sneaky rascal ...
Loved Virgil Exner’s “Forward Look”-particularly the ‘57-’58 models.
OK, I admit it...I clicked on this because I thought it was a car thread.
The movie "Christine" was a disappointment. The factory in Evansville, IN never built a red Fury. All of them in both model years were "Desert Sand" when delivered, which went perfectly with the gold anodized stripes and grille. Seeing your picture takes me back over 50 years . . .
No blocking A-pillars and easy to look up for cop planes trying to nab ya.
Now, about crossing "The Great River', as we all know today the Great River flows West from the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny to Cairo illinois and then Souf' to N'orlans etc.
That is 90% of the flow into the Mississippi comes from what is today called the Ohio River ~ and that fact must have been quite apparent to the Indians.
There is an old theory that has DeSoto wandering about Tennessee, then crossing to Arkansas, then getting killed. A more modern theory has DeSoto abandoning the Florida coast and marching straight North to the Western slope of the Appalachians (missing hurricanes no doubt), and on to Green River Island (at the outflow of the Green River in Kentucky into the Ohio) Where he could make a fairly safe river crossing ~ well protected against Indian attack as well.
At that point he would have encountered his first large Mound Builder village. Later, as he moved up through the rather sparse landscape of drought damaged Southern Indiana (same drought hitting Virginia) he'd been in the open and able to see highlands where he'd be safe from any floods, or Indian attacks.
In this theory he stops at what are now Vincinnes and Terre Haute and describes features still visible ~ e.g. fish hatching ponds!
Although he never found the gold mines he did find iron pyrite, and at that time that indicated that there'd be sufficient iron to make iron implements (near a place known today as Laurel Indiana ~ arguably 'la villa real' from later Spanish interest ~ take a look at the layout) AND, there'd be enough residual gold in the process to command a nice profit. He also discovered some native copper lying about left over from an early Ice Age advance ~ and I know exactly where that spot is!
For some reason or other his forays into Southern Indiana to the East of his line of march missed the only gold ever found in quantity in the MidWest! It wasn't cleared out for another 3 centuries.
The Arkansas first theory has to ignore the native copper and iron pyrite stories.
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