Oldest Gun Ever Found in America

From 1540 to 1542, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led a Spanish expedition out of Mexico to as far north as Kansas in a search for the mythical Seven Cities of Gold. The golden cities were never found but during a stop at the former settlement of San Geronimo III (in what is now Nogales AZ) the expedition left some items behind. One of those items is now a major archaeological find and an indication of weapon history in the United States.

In 2020, Researchers uncovered a bronze cannon—also known as a “wall gun”—at a Spanish stone-and-adobe structure. Radiocarbon dating and other dating techniques say the device is 480-years-old, which puts it in the same time period as Coronado’s expedition. This cannon is the oldest firearm ever discovered within the continental United States, and perhaps is the oldest cannon known at this time on the continent.

However, it is not a small pistol. Being 42 inches in length and weighing 40 pounds, it would have taken two people to operate. The team also uncovered plenty of broken swords and daggers, fishhooks, pottery, and other items, but not any bullets. And the lack of residue in the barrel indicated it was never fired.

A wall gun is considered a beefed-up musket. It got its name because it was often used at a building’s wall or a ship’s railing. Although not what is usually visualized as a cannon, it is also referred to one because of the smoothbore barrel. This particular gun was likely built in the early 1500s in either Mexico or the Caribbean and brought on the expedition before it was eventually abandoned, possibly because they ran out of ammunition for it.

These Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon.

Since the first gun’s discovery in 2020, the team has uncovered a second, very similar cannon.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/archaeologists-accidentally-discovered-the-oldest-gun-ever-found-in-america/ar-AA1On7iD?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=68eda03f62e4437c80d66c55b0ff381b&ei=107