Archaeological Testing in the Mission Concepción Courtyard (41BX12), San Antonio, Texas

This report describes archaeological investigations conducted in January, 2000 which constituted Phase 1 of a project designed to expose and stabilize the remaining walls and floors of Colonial period rooms south of the church at Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña, in the southern part of San Antonio, Texas. This phase of the project, conducted by the Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio and sponsored by the National Park Service, was performed to determine the depth of the floors of the buried rooms within the courtyards, to allow architects to complete plans for the larger project. Archaeological investigations, consisting of four hand-excavated 1 x 1 m units, established the depth at which the original floor appears at four points within the courtyard. Mission period pottery and evidence of later occupation were recovered during the excavations.