From the Alvin and Rosalie Sara Check studio, PBS Kansas Presents Positively Kansas, It's Time for Positively Kansas coming up.

The Kansas Prairie may soon give up one of its oldest secrets.

Chris Frank takes us along on a search for clues that could shed new light on a mystery that has endured for centuries.

Plus, the changing seasons bring big challenges for wildlife across the Sunflower State.

Mike Blair introduces us to some of Kansas's most often overlooked creatures, and a remarkable way that they prepare for what lies ahead.

And it's time to hit the road.

We debut an all new feature series as John Wyse drives his state and community's landmarks and hidden treasures that make Kansas such a special place to call home.

I'm Sierra Scott.

A half hour of information and inspiration starts right now on Positively Kansas.

And.

The Kansas prairie may be about to give up one of its oldest secrets.

Nearly five centuries after Francisco Vazquez de Coronado crossed Kansas in search of the Native American settlement of Quivira.

Archeologists are still trying to trace his precise path in this Positively Kansas exclusive.

Chris Frank joins a team of researchers whose discoveries are rewriting the story of one of the history's most famous explorers.

Nearly five centuries before Kansas became a state, Francisco Vazquez led a Spanish expedition onto these plains searching for Quivira.

And the great riches he had been led to believe were here.

Historians have long known that the expedition reached Kansas, but the precise ground it crossed and the places where its members camped have remained a mystery.

What?

You got a mystery?

What I'm going to look at you say hidden underground because it's right there.

Oh, cool.

Look at the potentially history.

Look at that.

That appears to be.

Yeah, it's several pieces.

Look at that.

Put your hand out.

Put your hand out on a quiet patch of Kansas farmland.

That is chain mail order.

Period.

Chain mail.

Coronado people.

Chain mail.

A team of researchers just unearthed something incredible.

You guys that may have been buried for nearly five centuries.

Yeah, that's the one we found so far.

That is, the metal links are small.

But to archeologist Denny Seymour, their significance could be enormous.

So that when we found chain mail yesterday, even the most, reserved among us finally said.

There's no question.

May have Coronado here.

We found, a segment of link chain mail.

Chain mail was a form of body armor made from thousands of small, interlocking metal rings.

Spanish soldiers wore it during the 1500s, including members of the Coronado expedition.

The fragment found here appeared to contain about eight links still connected.

I'm thrilled.

I mean, I don't even know how to.

I don't really have the words to describe how satisfying this is.

We come out here, we drive out here, mostly on our own nickel, and we, you know, we come out not so hard, metal detectors falling any directions, and sometimes we get paper, and sometimes it takes a lot of searching and metal detecting before hitting that paydirt he described.

Well, I guess we've always known that Coronado came through here, but this is pretty much proof that he was here.

Historians have long known that the expedition of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado reached what is now Kansas in 1541, but knowing he came through Kansas and identifying the precise ground where his expedition camped, are two very different things.

Confirming one of those campsites would be a significant archeological breakthrough.

The precise area's name with are still in question.

And so what we're identifying is the actual places they can't see more.

And her team believe this is one of those places.

The discovery was important, but it was not the only evidence buried here.

Seymour says the team had already recovered other objects associated with the Coronado expedition.

Now, I was convinced before, because we have a green obsidian prismatic blades.

Two of them.

We have copper bell, we have lace eaglets.

We have lace shapes individually.

An artifact may not settle the question.

But Seymour says finding this particular combination together at one location points to a very narrow period of history.

What?

We have to have certain a subset of artifacts that only occur during that time and don't occur later, and that tend to be found in conjunction with one another.

The search is taking place on privately owned farmland in McPherson County.

At the landowner's request, PBS Kansas is not disclosing the precise location.

Seymour's team is searching the property systematically, using deep penetrating metal detectors to locate possible targets beneath the soil.

We go first with the heavy duty deep penetrating detectors and try to establish the locations of things.

And then we have another crew come by and dig at that location.

Each possible location is marked once the team finishes searching one section.

It moves the tape and advances to the next.

All right.

But the individual artifacts are only part of the evidence.

Their location and the pattern they form across the land may also help identify what happened here.

What I was expecting is a cluster of artifacts, a break, a cluster of artifacts, a break for about a 200 yard or 300 yard area.

That's exactly what we're seeing here.

Seymour says those separated clusters may mark the places where different groups within the expedition pitched their tents and carried out the daily work of camp life.

The small objects left behind here are clues to a much larger journey, one that brought a Spanish expedition deep into the North American plains.

Seymour.

Search for Coronado began far to the southwest in Arizona.

Her work helped identify a site linked to the expedition, including the discovery of two cannons from the Coronado period.

It's the first site we found is the southwestern most known Coronado expedition site within the United States.

Now we are standing on the northeastern most known Coronado expedition site in the United States.

Seymour believes Coronado may have traveled several miles farther northeast to another village site and possible camp site.

The team has yet to fully search.

Coronado's journey north was driven by stories of Quivira, a place he had been led to believe held great wealth.

The riches Coronado sought were not here, but the plains were far from empty.

The Spaniards encountered large native communities.

People.

Archeologists connect to the ancestors of the Wichita tribe with their thriving native communities that had existed on the Central Plains for generations.

For one, this is the Great Bend aspect is the way that archeologists refer to the archeology.

But it's the Wichita tribes in this area.

The Wichita.

The next day, the team search for evidence moves to a secluded site in Ellsworth County.

All in all, it's a really amazing site there.

Archeologist Mark Willis joined Seymour and the other researchers to examine a very different kind of evidence.

Carved into the stone are images known as petroglyphs, a record created over many generations.

There's rock art here, or petroglyphs from a variety of periods, and a subset of it represents the Coronado Expedition.

And we have not found an encampment here.

And that tells me that most likely these images that represent Coronado expedition figures were drawn by indigenous people at the time, having observed the expedition.

Seymour believes the carvings depict details that would have made the Spanish newcomers appear strikingly different.

Their helmets, weapons and body armor.

It looks to me like quilted cott and an atlatl, and you can see his dart tip here.

They were carrying different kinds of materials and weapons.

They were wearing different kinds of clothes, and they looked different.

Seymour believes the carvings were one way native people recorded what they had seen.

But this rock face really is it's kind of like PBS 1541.

This was a newspaper from the past.

This is where you wrote things down.

You drew things to convey an image of, something very unusual that happened.

But reading that newspaper is not easy.

Many of the images are faint, weathered, and difficult to separate from the natural texture of the stone.

Archeologist Mark Willis specializes in recording prehistoric rock art.

What we're doing is we're creating a 3D model of the surface of the rock using a process called, photogrammetry.

So I'm moving the camera, kind of like a snake or a lawnmower would across a surface, taking hundreds.

And I'm positive at this point, thousands of images.

The overlapping photographs will be stitched together by computer, creating a high resolution, three dimensional model of the entire rock art panel.

We'll be able to, illuminate the panels in ways that it can't be illuminated naturally and, bring out very faint features that we can't easily see with their naked eye.

The model will also create a permanent digital record, allowing researchers to identify future weathering, damage or vandalism.

This could not be done if we didn't have the generous support of the landowners who are allowing us access.

Reading rock art is not the same as reading a written account.

Its meaning is open to interpretation.

No doubt there are competing interpretations for the things that I am considering to be representative of the 1541 Coronado Expedition.

Rock art is always subject to other interpretations, but what we do as professional archeologists is we make an argument for it and we show parallel examples and such.

And I think we can make a very strong argument that that's what this represents.

I think that these were drawn by Wichita people, in 1541 to represent the Coronado expedition.

I haven't been pre, you know, told what I'm seeing.

And we're kind of I'm noticing something making your own observation.

Yeah.

Make my own observations.

And and they mostly seem to be chiming with what she's come up with.

It's a spectacular sight.

I haven't seen them all over.

The high plains.

And it's well-preserved.

It's it's beautiful.

It's got a lot of detail.

We see new things all the time.

We've known for ages that Coronado came through this area.

Is this the Quivira?

They promised?

And we found Spanish items.

People have found Spanish items for a century or more.

But what we can now say is where the expedition camped, where they visited with the natives, which specific natives they visited with.

Do they have the gold we seek?

And also how those groups were organized, how big the group was, what they were doing at that campsite and so on, and maybe what they traded with the natives.

And here we have a uniquely native perspective on this, which is an important part of the story.

The research is far from finished, but nearly five centuries after Coronado crossed the Kansas Plains, the land may still hold more of the story.

Seymour plans to return to investigate another possible campsite.

We're withholding the precise locations to ensure that they remain undisturbed for further research.

Now to a different kind of story on the Kansas prairie.

The changing seasons bring a life changing consequences for wildlife of all kinds.

This week's Kansas Wildlands Report.

Mike Blair shows us how some often overlooked butterflies prepare for the cold in a way all their own.

The cool nights and hazy days of late summer marked the decline of another growing season.

You see it in the color, the dewy early mornings and the winding down of small creatures whose time is now limited.

And so it is with the second generation of a colorful Kansas butterfly, the goat weed leaf wing.

This pert orange flier is somewhat obscure.

It prefers open fields near its food plant.

Croton, a twiggy and leafy shrub like plant.

And the butterfly is not easy to spot despite its bright color.

First generation adults of late spring lived for only about a week while laying eggs.

When resting their normally folded wings perfectly mimic a dead leaf.

And not often do, their brightly colored upper wings attract attention.

More so, these butterflies don't commonly nectar on flowers.

Their feeding tubes are short and stout, too small to efficiently reach plant sugars.

Instead, in the manner of some other butterflies and insects.

They feed on plant sap, fermented fruits, and even animal dung.

Here, a leaf wing feeds on a drying watermelon rind.

I began filming goat weed leaf wings in late July.

New butterflies were then purring and laying eggs, and I searched acres of scattered plants to find a dozen single eggs deposited on Croton leaves.

It was a waiting game as the tiny larvae grew and fed.

These caterpillars are easily overlooked since they blend almost perfectly with the leaves they feed on.

As they grow, they often you sell to create tight shelters in which to hide.

The caterpillar stage last from 4 to 6 weeks, spanning five stars.

Sometimes mature larvae are found with new eggs of a partial third generation.

When larvae are fully mature, they spin up chrysalis that again blend very well among the food plant leaves.

This stage last up to 14 days, and it clears to show the orange butterfly inside.

About a day before emergence.

When all is ready, the chrysalis splits open and the new butterfly crawls out to dry.

It may stay near the empty chrysalis for half a day, alternately pumping its beautiful wings and excreting excess fluid from this final life change.

Leaf wings found now will live until frost, finally crawling deep into thick cover and overwintering as adults.

Unusual in the butterfly world.

Then in spring, they'll made it start the process all over again.

Goat weed.

Leaf wings.

Watch for them in Kansas.

Summerfield.

I'm Mike Blair for Positively Kansas.

As the seasons change across Kansas, there's no better time to hit the road.

Welcome to travel Kansas with a wise guy.

This new weekly feature takes us on drive to some of the fascinating places and hidden treasures that make our state so special.

First up, the Town of Lincoln with our tour guide, John Wise.

Welcome to Lincoln, Kansas.

And behind me is the courthouse here, Lincoln County Courthouse.

And Lincoln is also known as Lincoln Center.

But most people just refer to it as Lincoln.

I'm going to tell you a little bit about the history of it.

And we're going to walk right down through walking from the courthouse to the downtown right now.

We'll, we'll, show you that, tell you about the history.

As we leave the courthouse.

We are walking down the main street here in Lincoln from east to west.

We'll check out a lot of the older buildings.

So Lincoln, which is also, like I said, has been called Lincoln Center, but most commonly known as Lincoln, is the county seat of Lincoln County, and that was named after Abraham Lincoln and originally the settler George Green, who founded the town in 1870, named it after the county.

The center was added to the name because it's basically located in the center of Lincoln County.

Kansas became a state in 1861, but the county wasn't formed until 1867, and it was originally part of Ottawa County.

And then when Lincoln County was trying to figure out the county seat, it went back and forth a couple of times.

Originally, it was Lincoln in 1870, and then a vote relocated it to nearby Abraham.

And then again in 1872.

There was another vote and it became Lincoln Center was the county seat, and it's been there ever since.

Then.

The town started growing and was incorporated as a city in 1879, and it's officially referred in the U.S.

Census as Lincoln Center.

But the city government and the local chamber of commerce referred to it as Lincoln.

And that's the way it appears on maps.

Lincoln started growing quite a bit in the late 1800s and on into the early 1900s.

The Kansas Christian College was opened in 1885, in the town and then the Union Pacific Railroad opened a branch through the city in 1886 that was very important, bringing mail service from the east.

The courthouse burned down, and as you saw earlier in 1899, the new one was built out of the native limestone known locally as post Rock.

Telephone service came in 1905.

In 1906, the city had its first power plant.

So speaking of the post Rock limestone in 1989, given the widespread long standing use of it all around the county, the Kansas Legislature named Lincoln County as the post rock capital of Kansas.

As you can see in the census, the population hit 1000 for the first time in the year 1890, and it went up six consecutive times until 1940, when it peaked at 1761.

That was in Kansas a lot of times where there's the drought, obviously the end of the Great Depression, and but it maintained a good population for a couple more decades, then slowly started to get smaller.

Still has 1171.

And as you can see, it has a terrific downtown.

Now let's take a look at the rest of the town.

Through.

The.

15.

50.

Through.

The.

First.

To see a longer version of this video and some of John's other travels.

You can check out his YouTube page.

Travel with the wise Guy.

Well, that's a wrap for this week.

If you have a question, comment or story idea, email us at Positively Kansas at KP dawg.

And if you can help support the show with a donation, we'd appreciate that too.

Unclear, Scott.

Thanks for watching.

I'll see you again soon.