Did Ancestral Chiricahua Apaches Watch from

the Stronghold as Coronado’s Army

Marched through Southeast Arizona in 1540?

Deni J. Seymour, Ph.D., will discuss
"Archaeological Evidence of Ancestral Chiricahua Apache in the Dragoon Mountains."

A site found in the Dragoon Mountains is attributed to the ancestral Chiricahua Apache. Radiocarbon and thermoluminesence dates confirm a late prehistoric or protohistoric occupation. The site is clearly not protohistoric Sobaípuri or prehistoric Hohokam or Mogollon, and recent research on the archaeological correlates of other protohistoric groups known for the area indicates that it is not Jocome, Jano, Suma, or Manso.

The assemblage is consistent with, but stylistically different from an assemblage defined farther east attributed to the ancestral Mescalero (Seymour 2002a, 2004a, 2004b). On these bases, this site is inferred to be an ancestral Chiricahua Apache site. This group is known to have frequented the Dragoon Mountains in the protohistoric and historic periods. Comparison of assemblages between this Dragoon Mountain site and other sites with early dates in the Mogollon and Datil mountains confirms that sites in both areas are of the newly defined Gileño Complex.

This presentation briefly presents this complex, summarizes evidence for its affiliation with the ancestral Chiricahua Apache, and discusses the implications of the fifteenth-century dates, which make this the earliest known Athabascan site in the Southwest.

8 pm Monday, April 11, 2005 At the Sunsites Senior Center

A Public Meeting Co-sponsored by

Sunsites Gem and Mineral Club

and

The Amerind Foundation

(The talk will be preceeded by a 7 pm business meeting of the Club.)