Archaeological Services for Utilities Placement on Commerce Street, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Abstract

In January and February of 2017, the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) conducted archaeological monitoring of excavations associated with the utilities installation on Commerce Street, Bexar County, Texas. The CAR was contracted by M.J. Boyle General Contractor, Inc. to monitor excavation activities along Commerce Street in downtown San Antonio. The archaeological investigations and construction monitoring were conducted under Texas Antiquities Committee Permit No. 7893 with Dr. Paul Shawn Marceaux serving as the Principal Investigator and Antonia Figueroa serving as the Project Archaeologist. The project area is in a City of San Antonio right-of-way and within the River Improvement Overlay District. The site is also in an area reported as the possible site of the Battle of the Alamo funeral pyre; however, no evidence for this was encountered. Four trenches were excavated to accommodate utility installations. Two of the four trenches resulted in evidence of cultural material. CAR staff identified evidence of the historic electric railway system (41BX2163) that once traversed the APE in Trenches 3 and 4. Cultural material was observed and collected west of the Acequia Madre de Valero (41BX8) in Trench 3. This area appears to have been heavily disturbed by previously installed utilities, and the cultural material is likely refuse removed from the acequia during historical maintenance. CAR does not recommend further work on the site or in the Area of Potential Effect, and CAR recommends construction proceed as planned. All collected artifacts and project-associated documentation are permanently curated at the CAR facility.