Hawk's Bell from a Tennessee Mound

What it is

This is a copper or brass hawk's bell dating from the time of the de Soto entrada into the American Southeast. It was recovered from a mound belonging to the Mississippian culture in Tennessee.

Why it matters

Small trade goods like hawk's bells were commonly carried and exchanged by Spanish expeditions, including de Soto's, as they moved through Native American territories. Finding one in a Mississippian mound provides archaeological evidence of direct contact between de Soto's expedition and Indigenous communities in the Southeast, confirming and supplementing written accounts.

Look closer

• Why might Spaniards have carried small bells like this one with them on their expedition?
• What does finding this object in a Native American mound suggest about contact between the two groups?
• How does an object like this complement or challenge what written chronicles say about de Soto's expedition?