gSchmader’s decades of meticulous research at Piedras Marcadas—a large protohistoric pueblo just outside Albuquerque in New Mexico’s central Rio Grande Valley—offers exceptional detail on the Tiguex War of 1540, often called “America’s earliest named war.” The conflict pitted Francisco Vázquez de Coronado and his Indigenous allies against the southern Tiwa Pueblo inhabitants. In 2007, the first Coronado-era artifact from the site prompted a metal-detection survey that yielded an extraordinary surface and near-surface assemblage. Since then, extensive noninvasive archaeological and historical work, coupled with consultations with descendant communities from Sandia and Isleta Pueblos, has greatly advanced our understanding of the 1540–1542 expedition and its profound impacts on Native peoples of the Rio Grande Valley.
Schmader’s volume offers essential guidance for identifying colonial sites in general and Coronado locales in particular. His fine-grained surface mapping and analysis of the pueblo battle yield a uniquely detailed picture of the fighting: the Tiwa community’s active defense, the roles of Coronado’s Indigenous allies, and the participation of often-overlooked groups such as Pueblo women, elders, and children. Advanced techniques—lead-isotope testing, X-ray fluorescence, and other metallurgical studies—are applied to what is likely the largest Coronado-era assemblage analyzed to date, helping distinguish items made in Mexico from those produced in Europe and creating a robust reference dataset for scholars tracing expedition routes and related sites. The book is well-illustrated and includes a practical review of battlefield-archaeology methods, interpretations, and analytic procedures, along with a substantial glossary and index.
