State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory
Searching For De Soto Nearly 500 years ago Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto led an expedition through a large swath of what is now the Southeastern U.S. Though the expedition consisted of hundreds of men and animals that traveled thousands of miles, archaeologists have found surprisingly little evidence of it.
By Kristin Ohlson
T
he Atlanta high school girl was in the middle of a solitary stint at the sifting screen, while archaeologist Dennis Blanton and the rest of the group working at the Glass site were engaged elsewhere.Then Blanton heard the girl, who was usually too shy to speak out, calling him. As he approached, she extended her arm and opened up her clenched fist.“Mr. Blanton, is this anything?” There, in the middle of her palm, was the kind of brightly
american archaeology
This 1791 engraving depicts de Soto in his armor.
colored, multifaceted glass chevron bead associated with the 16th-century expedition of Hernando de Soto. The discovery sent a jolt through Blanton and his crew. A number of archaeologists have dedicated their careers to finding evidence of de Soto’s expedition, which began on the west coast of Florida in 1539 and concluded four years and 4,000 miles later. But Blanton wasn’t one of them. In fact, the purpose of his excavation of the Glass site was to search for
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