The earliest multi-year European settlement in the United States, a Spanish colony established near modern-day Pensacola, Florida in the 16th century, has been discovered by archaeologists from the University of West Florida.

Those artifacts, which were found in the privately-owned residence of a Pensacola native back in October, date back to a Spanish settlement of Tristán de Luna y Arellano, which stood from 1559 to 1561 and predated a similar settlement in St. Augustine, Florida by six years.

After multiple visits to the property, several collected artifacts were brought to UWF labs so that they could be analyzed, associate historical archaeology professor Dr. John Worth explained in a statement. That analysis, he said, revealed “an amazing assemblage of mid-16th century Spanish colonial period artifacts. These items were very specific to this time period.”

Dr. Worth noted that archaeologists from UWF and several other universities had been working at the site for decades, but had never had this kind of success before. Among the things found by the team were multiple pieces of broken ceramic cookware, several small personal items such as a copper lacing aglet, and beads uses to trade with Native Americans.

UWF archaeologists plan to return to the site in 2016

The artifacts, which the study authors said are consistent with materials previously identified in the shipwrecks in the waters of Pensacola Bay, were likely brought to Florida as part of the Luna expedition: a group of 1,500 soldiers, colonists, slaves and Aztecs that traveled from Veracruz in Mexico to Pensacola to colonize the area in 1559.

One month after their arrival, the colony was hit by a hurricane, sinking several ships and wiping out their food stocks. Two years after they first arrived, they were rescued by a Spanish fleet and returned to Mexico. If circumstances were different, the Luna colony and not St. Augustine may have served as the center for Spanish colonization in what is now the US, Dr. Worth said.

The discovery also verified that a pair of shipwrecks discovered in Pensacola Bay were wrecked at the anchorage for the Luna fleet, the researchers said. This knowledge could help them narrow down the potential locations of the remaining shipwrecks. Dr. Worth and his colleagues also plan to continue working at the site, whose exact location is not being disclosed.

“The shipwrecks have provided a tremendous insight into the nature of the machinery that brought Spain to the New World and how they operated this entire vast empire. In terms of understanding who they were after coming to the New World, this kind of archaeology at the terrestrial site will provide us that window,” the professor explained.

“It’s hard to believe that this opportunity is finally here. Not only do we know where the site is, but now we get to explore it,” Dr. Worth added. He and a team of archaeology students from the university plan to conduct additional excavations there starting next summer.

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Feature Image: Thinkstock

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