Jason Scull

Shipwrecked on the Texas Gulf coast and wandering through the wilderness of what is now South Texas and northern Mexico, Avar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions, Andres Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Madonado, and a Moorish slave named Esteban, made their way through the harsh landscape of the region for eight years. In their travels, these wanderers acquired knowledge of medicinal herbs and plants from the indigenous peoples and were looked upon as healers. In one encounter in what is now far West Texas, Cabeza de Vaca was asked to remove an arrowhead from a native’s chest, performing what was the first surgery by a European on the North American continent.

This sculpture depicts the incident of that surgery, honoring this act of healing and Cabeza de Vaca himself. How odd that a Spaniard, along with three others, were the only survivors out of some 300 and after being shipwrecked thousands of miles from their fellow countrymen, were placed in a position to write history. In face, Cabeza de Vaca wrote an account of his eight years in the wilderness.