Pedestrian Survey of Proposed Greenway Extensions at Leon Creek/IH-10/Loop 1604 Area, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

In May 2014, the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) conducted an archaeological survey and shovel testing of a 1 km extension of the Leon Creek Greenway in advance of the construction of the proposed trail. The archaeological work included a 100 percent pedestrian survey of the proposed trail and shovel testing. The principal goal of the survey was to identify and document all prehistoric and/or historic archaeological sites that might be impacted by the proposed park trail. The initial portion of the trail began within the previously recorded Pavo Real site (41BX52), originally excavated in 1979-1980 (Collins et al. 2003). While this area was surveyed, no shovel tests were excavated in this previously tested area. Eight shovel tests were excavated along the remaining portion of the proposed trail extension. The only buried cultural material, consisting of several pieces of modern glass and a bullet casing, was encountered in a single shovel test located on the eastern end of the proposed trail, just west of IH-10. No temporally diagnostic artifacts, features, or new sites were identified during the course of this survey. The archaeological investigations were performed under the Texas Historical Commission Permit No. 6873, with Antonia L. Figueroa serving as the Project Archaeologist, Mark Luzmoor serving as Crew Chief, and Dr. Raymond Mauldin serving as the Principal Investigator. Cynthia Munoz served as the project manager. Given the lack of recovery, the CAR does not recommend any further work at this location. We suggest that construction of the Leon Creek Greenway trail extension should proceed as planned. In a letter dated June 5, 2014, the Texas Historical Commission (THC) agreed with these recommendations. Kay Hindes of the COSA Office of Historic Preservation also concurred with the CAR’s suggestions. No artifacts were curated on this project. Records generated during this project were prepared for according to THC guidelines and are permanently curated at the CAR at UTSA.