THE NATIVE VILLAGE THAT HID HERNANDO DE SOTO’S FIRST CAMP IN AMERICA

Finding a Native village from roughly the correct period was not enough.

Finding a European object was not enough either.

The object had to make sense in the archaeological context.

The location had to match the historical descriptions.

And ideally, multiple independent clues had to point toward the same conclusion.

That is what made the recent discovery so significant.

THE MARCH INTO GEORGIA

After spending the winter of 1539–1540 in the Apalachee region of present-day Florida, de Soto’s army moved north into what is now Georgia.