Posted in Kansas
April 18, 2017
A Lost City Was Just Discovered In Kansas And It’s Truly Amazing
As kids, in some areas of Kansas, you could find flint arrowheads in fields, and chunks of pottery from hundreds of years ago in your backyard, reminding you of who used to roam these lands before the Europeans took over. This Wichita State professor, with the help of some Ark City locals, is certain he’s found the lost city of Etzanoa right here in Kansas.
We’re aware that these uncertain times are limiting many aspects of life. While we continue to feature destinations that make our state wonderful, please take proper precautions or add them to your bucket list to see at a later date. If you know of a local business that could use some extra support during these times, please nominate them here: onlyinyourstate.com/nominate
Spaniards documented Etzanoa, saying it was a city on both sides of the river, holding around 2,000 houses that could hold up to 10 people each, and it could take 2-3 days to walk through it completely. Locals always knew there was a large Native American presence here, as they've found more than their fair share of artifacts like flint tools left behind from more than 400 years ago. Cannonballs from a war between the Escanxaques and the Spaniards were found near a ravine matching an ancient description of a battle.
War, disease, and other terrible causes drove the local tribes to scatter, some going towards Oklahoma, leaving this huge settlement behind. Now, it's almost all covered by modern structures and obscured by time. Pictured is what he believes to be a ritual stone, where pregnant members of the community would pour water into divots and drink from them as they pray for a safe pregnancy.
At this stone, we see man-made carvings into it's face. Blakeslee believes this to be another of many ritual stones, where water could be poured into basins through stair-like steps, bringing the streams together, then apart again. Water is an important sacred element in Native cultures, and is often linked directly to life itself.
You can learn more about this discovery and read the full interview here, and watch the full video below.
For more ancient ruins right here in Kansas, there’s this list of trails that’ll lead you right to them!
