The Archaeology and History of Alamo Plaza

Chipped Stone and Adobe: A Cultural Resources Assessment of the Proposed Applewhite Reservoir, Bexar County, Texas

“…Similar materials are recorded at other historic sites, such as Rancho de las Cabras (Ivey 1983:47-61), the Spanish Governor's Palace (Fox 1977:16), and the Alamo Plaza (Fox, Bass, and Hester 1975). The provenience of collected historic lithic materials is presented in Table 10.…”

“…Majolica has been recovered from archaeological sites in the San Antonio area, including Missions Espada and San Juan (Scurlock et al 1976:196), Rancho de las Cabras (Ivey and Fox 1981;Jones and Fox 1983;Ivey 1983), the Al amo (Fox, Bass, and Hester 1975), and the Alderete property (Fox, Valdez, and Bobbitt 1978). Six varieties are known from this area: (1) Huejotzingo (1770-1800); (2) San Elizario, popular in northern Mexico in the late 18th century (Gerald 1968:46) and in Texas after 1760 (Ivey and Fox 1981:35); (3) Monterey; (4) Guanajuato, a red paste with a cream-colored gl aze (Fig.…”

Archaeological and Historical Investigations at the Site of the New Bexar County Justice Center in Downtown San Antonio, Texas

“…Founded at the same time as the town, the mission developed parallel to the town, so to speak, and was affected by the same historical events and subject to similar ethnic and cultural influences. Excavations at the mission by the Texas Historical Commission and the Witte Museum in 1967 (Schuetz 1966;Tunnell 1966;Greer 1967), by Schuetz in 1973 (Schuetz n.d.), and by the CAR in the northern courtyard in 1979 (Fox and Ivey n.d.), the mission plaza in 1975 (Fox, Bass, and Hester 1976), and immediately in front of the Alamo church in 1977 (Eaton 1980), have produced a body of useful information and comparative artifacts. Several CAR investigations in the La Villita section of town, especially those of 1985 (Labadie 1986) in a Mexican siege works filled with neighborhood trash, have yielded important information for dating San Antonio sites of the 1830 to 1850 period (Fox 1986:122).…”

Excavations at the Alamo Shrine (Mission San Antonio de Valero)

“…By 1744, when the cornerstone for the new church was laid, the mission Indian population had reached 311 persons. The Indian housing at this time consisted of two rows of small houses (adjoining apartments), with adobe walls and grass roofs forming a row on either side of an acequia (water ditch), and the whole complex ~-1as to be surrounded by a wall (Chabot 1931 :62;Fox, Bass, and Hester 1976:3).…”

“…The church which was begun in 1744 was actually completed, including an arched roof, a dome, and a bell tower; but sometime in the early 1750s it collapsed due to poor workmanship and materials (Fox, Bass, and Hester 1976;Habig 1977;Schuetz 1966). Then, about 1756, reconstruction of the church was undertaken, this time under the direction of a Master Builder.…”