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A ROAD TO ZACATECAS: FORT SAN JUAN AND THE DEFENSES OF SPANISH LA FLORIDA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2018

Robin A. Beck ,
David G. Moore ,
Christopher B. Rodning ,
Timothy J. Horsley  and
Sarah C. Sherwood
Robin A. Beck*
Affiliation:
Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan, 1109 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, USA
David G. Moore
Affiliation:
Warren Wilson College, P.O. Box 9000, Asheville, NC 28815, USA
Christopher B. Rodning
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, 101 Dinwiddie Hall, 6823 Saint Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA
Timothy J. Horsley
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Northern Illinois University, 1425 West Lincoln Highway, De Kalb, IL 60115, USA
Sarah C. Sherwood
Affiliation:
Integrated Program in the Environment, Sewanee University of the South, 735 University Avenue, Sewanee, TN 37383, USA
*
(rabeck@umich.edu, corresponding author)
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Abstract

From 1565 to 1570, Spain established no fewer than three networks of presidios (fortified military settlements) across portions of its frontier territories in La Florida and New Spain. Juan Pardo's network of six forts, extending from the Atlantic coast over the Appalachian Mountains, was the least successful of these presidio systems, lasting only from late 1566 to early 1568. The failure of Pardo's defensive network has long been attributed to poor planning and an insufficient investment of resources. Yet recent archaeological discoveries at the Berry site in western North Carolina—the location of both the Native American town of Joara and Pardo's first garrison, Fort San Juan—warrants a reappraisal of this interpretation. While previous archaeological research at Berry concentrated on the domestic compound where Pardo's soldiers resided, the location of the fort itself remained unknown. In 2013, the remains of Fort San Juan were finally identified south of the compound, the first of Pardo's interior forts to be discovered by archaeologists. Data from excavations and geophysical surveys suggest that it was a substantial defensive construction. We attribute the failure of Pardo's network to the social geography of the Native South rather than to an insufficient investment of resources.

Desde 1565 hasta 1570, España estableció no menos de tres redes de presidios (asentamientos militares fortificados) en partes de sus territorios fronterizos en La Florida y Nueva España. La red de seis fuertes de Juan Pardo, que se extendió desde la costa atlántica hasta las Montañas Apalaches, fue la menos exitosa de estos sistemas de presidios, ya que duró solo desde finales de 1566 hasta principios de 1568. El fracaso de la red defensiva de Pardo se ha atribuido a la inversión insuficiente de recursos. Sin embargo, recientes descubrimientos arqueológicos en el sitio Berry en el oeste de Carolina del Norte —la ubicación del poblado indigena de Joara y de la primera guarnición de Pardo, el Fuerte San Juan— justifican una reevaluación de esta interpretación. Mientras que las investigaciones arqueológicas previas en el sitio Berry se concentraron en el complejo doméstico donde residían los soldados de Pardo, la ubicación del fuerte permanecía desconocida. En 2013, los restos del Fuerte San Juan fueron finalmente identificados al sur del complejo doméstico. Este es el primer fuerte interior de Pardo que ha sido descubierto por arqueólogos. Los datos procedentes de excavaciones y estudios geofísicos sugieren que fue una construcción defensiva sustancial. Atribuimos el fracaso de la red de Pardo a la geografía social del los grupos indigenas del Sur en lugar de una inversión insuficiente de recursos.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 83 , Issue 4 , October 2018 , pp. 577 - 597
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by the Society for American Archaeology 

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