Archaeologists in northern Mexico have uncovered the remains of the first Indigenous village established alongside the Mission of Our Lady of Pilar and Santiago de Cocóspera, a 17th-century Jesuit mission founded by the renowned missionary Eusebio Francisco Kino.
The discovery, announced by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), sheds new light on the lives of the Pima Himeri people during the early colonial period and provides long-sought evidence of the community that existed alongside one of the few surviving Jesuit missions in the historic Pimería Alta region.
Village found beside centuries-old mission
The settlement was discovered in the Cocóspera Valley in the Sierra de Sonora, between the modern towns of Ímuris and Cananea, just 100 metres from the mission church.
Preserved beneath a mesquite grove for more than 300 years, the village had remained hidden despite decades of archaeological investigations aimed at locating the earliest Pima settlements associated with the mission.
The excavation was led by archaeologist Tomás Pérez Reyes of INAH, working with specialists from across Mexico as part of the Ímuris–Nogales Railway Salvage Project.
According to archaeologist Júpiter Martínez Ramírez, the newly uncovered settlement dates to the mission’s founding in 1687, when Father Kino established the religious outpost.
“The village demonstrates the resistance, transformation and cultural adoption of the Pima people in the face of the implementation of the missionary system in the region,” Martínez Ramírez said.
Evidence of Indigenous resilience
Excavations covering approximately 800 square metres revealed both residential buildings and communal spaces that blended European and Indigenous architectural traditions.
The researchers identified adobe houses constructed using Spanish building techniques but arranged according to traditional Pima customs. Many homes featured centrally positioned hearths, while evidence of more temporary Indigenous dwellings was also uncovered.
Archaeologists also discovered around 20 outdoor cooking ovens containing the remains of cattle, pigs, sheep, deer, dogs, chickens, turkeys, donkeys and horses.
Plant remains recovered from the site included maize, amaranth, cactus and edible wild greens known as quelites.
According to Martínez Ramírez, the food remains illustrate the persistence of Indigenous traditions despite Spanish influence.
“The Spanish did not eat horses, and cooked remains of all kinds of animals were found here,” he noted, suggesting the Pima maintained aspects of their traditional diet even after the establishment of the mission.
Artefacts reveal cultural continuity
Among the most significant discoveries was a large collection of stone arrowheads, indicating that the Pima continued to use traditional hunting and weapon technologies after Jesuit missionaries arrived.
“We found them everywhere,” Pérez Reyes said. “They are material proof that the Pima Himeris continued to use them after the Jesuits settled in Cocóspera.”
The excavation also yielded shell ornaments originating from the Gulf of California, alongside Christian crosses and religious medals, illustrating how Indigenous traditions and European religious practices coexisted during the colonial period.
Researchers believe the assemblage reflects a period of both resistance and adaptation as Indigenous communities responded to Spanish missionary expansion.
“All these materials are evidence of a turbulent period, of belligerent resistance, transformation and cultural adaptation that the Himeris faced when they were subjugated by the Jesuits in mission towns,” Pérez Reyes said.
Hidden beneath later development
The archaeological remains survived because they lay outside the protected mission complex and were concealed beneath disturbances caused by mid-20th-century construction.
Mexico’s Secretary of Culture, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, said the discovery highlights the value of archaeological rescue excavations.
“This discovery allows us to understand the daily life of the Himeri people and recognise, through their spaces, objects and practices, a history of resistance, adaptation and cultural continuity,” she said.
The Cocóspera Mission later passed into Franciscan hands following the expulsion of the Jesuits from New Spain in 1769. During the late 18th century, the Franciscans remodelled the original adobe church, adding brickwork, lime plaster, decorated altars and painted murals—features that remain visible in the historic mission today.
Header Image Credit : Tomás Pérez
Sources : INAH
