THE SPANISH OBJECT THAT CHANGED THE STORY

In 2021, researchers recovered a Spanish-made iron tool from inside one of the distinctive Native house features.

That discovery was already important.

It suggested that Spanish material had entered the settlement in a context closely connected with Native structures.

But it did not settle the entire question.

Then came the sword pommel.

In late October 2025, archaeologist Aaron Ellrich found the pommel while working with a metal detector at Deer Run Plantation in Georgia.

The object was from a sixteenth-century Spanish sword.