Archaeological Investigations in Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, 1988 and 1989

In June of 1988 and 1989, The University of Texas at San Antonio conducted an archaeological field school at the northern end of the plaza in front of the Alamo in downtown San Antonio. The Center for Archaeological Research cooperated with the university in organizing and staffing this field school. Excavations were limited to specific areas related to the fortifications around the main entrance to the Alamo constructed in 1835 and demolished and backfilled less than a year afterward. These fortifications consisted of a lunette and related defensive trench around the main gate, a secondary trench parallel to the south wall of the site, and a palisade wall between the church and the barracks building. The trenches were located and mapped and their contents recovered and analyzed. While important information was recovered about the construction of the fortifications, equally important is the collection of artifacts used for fill in the trenches, which represents mission and local inhabitants\u27 depositions in the area from ca. 1750 to 1836