Archaeologists uncover 500-year-old firearm near the US-Mexico border

“An artifact like this can connect people to the past, to history, and really stirs their imagination,” archaeologist Deni Seymour told The Washington Post.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF DECEMBER 6, 2024 01:26

Archaeology excavation. (photo credit: Xolodan. Via Shutterstock)

The oldest gun in the continental United States was found near the US-Mexico border, archaeologist Deni Seymour announced in a report published in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology last month.

In September 2020, Seymour and her team dug up the 500-year-old bronze firearm in Nogales, Arizona, while using metal detectors. 

“I was in shock,” she was cited as saying of the finding by The Washington Post. “It was just an odd feeling that I rarely get.”

Weighing around 40 pounds, and at 3.5 feet long, Seymour explained in her report that the weapon was most likely built in the early 1500s and was brought by Spanish explorers on an expedition to North America a few decades later. 

She added that the cannon, also called a "wall gun," would have to have been operated by two people. 

Hopi point in Arizona (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

First portable firearms

Despite its heavy weight and size, Seymour said that the weapon is believed to be among the first portable firearms.

“An artifact like this can connect people to the past, to history, and really stirs their imagination,” Seymour told The Washington Post.

She also stated that the weapon was most likely never fired, given the lack of residue in the cannon’s barrel. 

Matthew Schmader, an archaeology professor at the University of New Mexico told The Washington Post that Seymour’s research could help fill in some historic gaps.

“It may help to fill out some of the missing details of, not only some of the material and the weaponry, but also that area,” Schmader said. “Because that particular area, that portion of the expeditionary route, is really pretty unknown.”

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According to The Washington Post, in March, Seymour unearthed a second similar cannon and is continuing her search for additional artifacts. 

“The cannon is pretty darn wonderful, but each artifact we find and the context of them has the potential to convey a really interesting part of the story,” Seymour reportedly said. “And that’s what’s fun about it. That’s what’s interesting, and that’s what keeps me going.”