The Etzanoa tribe lived in beehive type homes of grass and wood. The location of the great settlement has eluded historians for years. Now historians believe the settlement was in Arkansas City. 

by Amber Schmitz, Sumner Newscow —  Don Juan de Oñate, a conquistador who was a founder of the Spanish colony of New Mexico, led a small army of 70 soldiers, along with 60 women, children, and others, across eastern New Mexico and Oklahoma in 1601 to southern Kansas in a search for the fabled city of gold, Quivira. Coronado searched for this same city in the 1540s.

Here, Oñate found what he referred to as the “great settlement,” which the natives called Etzanoa.

Sandy Randel, director of the Cherokee Strip Land Museum in Ark City, presented the program “Etzanoa: The Great Settlement” to a large crowd at the Sumner County Historical Society’s monthly meeting held at the Wellington Public Library.

“Three years ago was the first archealogical dig at Etzanoa,” Randel said. “In the archeology field, we use lots of different ways to uncover things underground, and use the term ‘dig’ in general when we are trying to locate what’s under the earth.”

What is perhaps the largest prehistoric Native American town in the United States and Canada may very well rewrite history books about the way that Native American tribes lived on the Great Plains. Previously, they were thought of as small groups of wandering nomads who hunted game and lived in teepees, which is the way they are depicted in many Western movies. In Etzanoa, large groups of Native Americans, called Rayados, pursued agriculture and built stationery settlements, while growing corn, squash and beans for hundreds of years. A large trading culture was developed among other tribes. The Rayados spoke the Caddoan language, and are ancestors of the Wichita tribe.

Explorers along the way encountered herds of American bison, which they called “monstrous cattle.” They were some of the first Europeans to describe the prairies of the Great Plains as “grasses so high that in many places they hid a horse.”

Oñate’s soldiers, who scouted ahead, told that the “Great Settlement” had 2,000 houses made of grass and wood, which were shaped like beehives, with 10 people per house, meaning about 20,000 people. At this time, there were fewer than 1,000 Spaniards in all of New Mexico, and the largest pueblo had no more than 2,000 residents.

“To have a group of 20,000 people at that point was virtually amazing,” Randel said. “A lot of Native Americans were roamers. They would roam, hunt, stay in that spot for a few days, they traveled around a lot. This group was settled, and it was very clear that it was settled.”

The Rayados though, made it work, by providing food and water sources, and shelter, for all of its people.

As Oñate marched east from what is now Santa Fe with soldiers, cannons, he came across an encampment of Escanjaques, who were enemies of the Rayados. The word Rayado means striped in Spanish, which referred to their custom of painting or tattooing their faces. The Escanjaques attempted to enlist the help of the Spanish to attack the Rayados. They guided Oñate to a nearby river, the Arkansas, and saw 300-400 Rayados on a hill.

Warriors threw dirt up into the air, signaling they were ready to fight, as the Spanish approached. When the Spaniards entered the town, the Rayados fled, thousands of them evacuating to the south. Oñate sent armed soldiers into the empty town to check it out. This is when they discovered Etzanoa, the “great settlement.”

Oñate and his men turned south, coming face to face with hundreds of Escanjaque warriors, who fired arrows at Oñate and his small Spanish troop. At least 60 of the 70 Spanish soldiers were wounded. Clusters of iron bullets were fired from the cannon, much like shotgun blasts, whistling past trees and boulders. The Escanjaques joined together in a rock-like ravine, then charged uphill, attacking soldiers, before backing off.

A native warrior named Miguel was captured by Oñate and taken back to the king, who asked him to draw a map of Etzanoa.

“Unfortunately, no one could ever line it up to anything in the Plains area,” Randel said.

A Smithsonian named Frank Weidel came to Kansas in the 1940s, and learned the Miguel map, as it came to be known, shows Etzanoa was close to a place where two rivers converge, which was a short list of places in Kansas.

“He ended up in Ark City, and went around town asking about it, and no one knew what he was talking about,” Randel said. “Eminent domain was in effect. To farmers, ranchers and landowners, that’s an ugly word.

Fortunately today, eminent domain for archealogy purposes is no longer in effect.

“It only exists if a body or human bones are located on a property,” Randel said. “The land belongs to who it belongs to.”

In 2015, Dr. Donald Blakeslee, Wichita State University Professor of Anthropology, and a team of volunteers and students, determined that Etzanoa was located in Arkansas City, on the east side of town, along the Walnut River. Ongoing field work performed by Blakeslee and his team has determined the exact location of the ancient city.

As the team continues their investigation along the river, it could eventually lead to the largest prehistoric Native American town in the United States and Canada. Archealogists have long agreed that the natives of Etzanoa were the ancestors of the Wichita tribe.

For over 400 years, Etzanoa remained a mystery, as archealogists could not find it. Most historians figured that a permanent settlement of 20,000 Native Americans was unheard of.

Blakeslee found evidence of a massive town, which may have stretched across thousands of acres of bluffs and along two rivers. A high school student name Adam Zeigler, discovered the first artifact on the site, verifying that Etzanoa really did exist in Arkansas City 400 years ago, a half-inch Spanish cannon ball.

After making such a major discovery, Ark City could very well be put on the map and expect numerous visitors in the future, once the archealogical investigation is complete.

The citizens of Cowley County formed the Etzanoa Conservancy to support and develop archeological research, preservation, education and tourism in the surrounding area, emphasizing Etzanoa.

Their future plans include creating hands-on learning opportunities, encouraging and assisting archealogical research in the area, preserving archealogical sites, working toward Etzanoa as a National Historical Landmark, National Battlefield and World Heritage Site, developing a visitors center, working with property owners to create recreational activities and promoting archealogical projects which illuminate the 13,000 year history of Native Americans in the Great Plains.

To consider a membership or donation, contact the Etzanoa Conservancy, Inc. at etzanoa@gmail.com, or visit www.etzanoa.com or www.facebook.com/etzanoa.

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