Test excavations at Mission Concepción courtyard, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Date

1992

Authors

Krueger, Marty
Meskill, Frances K.

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Publisher

Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio

Abstract

In December 1990, the Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, conducted limited test excavations at Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purisima Concepcion de Acuña (41 BX 12) for the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. The purpose of the excavations was to locate wall footings in the courtyard area, to increase the accuracy of maps from previous investigations so that future drainage and landscape work can proceed with greater confidence about where cultural material is located below the surface. The excavations showed the eastern arcade wall of the second convento to apparently be an uninterrupted wall, since arcade footings were not present. The western granary wall and the associated buttress were located. The excavations showed conclusively that the northern wall of the first convento did not extend eastward beyond the eastern arcade wall of the second convento, as had been previously projected. No traces of occupation surfaces were found. Our recommendation is that since the subsurface structural remains continue to offer complicated and sometimes surprising features, additional careful testing should be conducted before any potentially damaging work is begun.

Description

Keywords

archaeological investigation, archaeology, Texas archaeology, missions, excavations, San Antonio, Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purí­sima Concepción de Acuña, Mission Concepción

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