Archaeological Monitoring and Sampling Excavations at Mission Concepción (41BX12), San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) was contracted by Pugh Constructors, Inc. to monitor and sample excavations associated with the installation of a new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVAC) for the church at Mission Concepción (41BX12) in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. The Area of Potential Effect is approximately 11 m2. The mission is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Texas State Antiquities Landmark (SAL). It is also a component of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park and is administered jointly by the National Park Service (NPS) and the Archdiocese of San Antonio. The project required review by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) as the property is listed as a SAL under the Antiquities Code of Texas (Texas Natural Resource Code, Title 9, Chapter 191, and Section 191.092, as amended). The THC awarded Texas Antiquities Permit No. 9420 to Dr. Raymond Mauldin of CAR for the investigation. An Archaeological Resources Protection Act permit was not required, though the NPS will have final review authority on the project. CAR monitored the excavation for utility trenches, HVAC units, and concrete footers for a decorative fence on June 4 and 5, 2020. A small number of artifacts were collected from the main utility trench, and all artifacts were collected from the footer excavations. The artifacts included faunal bone, ceramics, lithics, burned rock and burned clay, and modern glass. No features were observed in any of the excavations. While the area has been heavily impacted by previous construction, there appear to be pockets of intact deposits based on the results of two of the auger excavations that contained undisturbed soil and artifacts in stratigraphic context. If future ground disturbing activities are to take place in this area, CAR recommends that the activity be monitored. Prior to final curation, in accordance with Chapter 26.27(g) (2) of the Antiquities Code of Texas, CAR requested permission from NPS and THC to discard artifact classes that have no remaining scientific or historical value (such as non-feature burned rock, non-diagnostic glass, unidentifiable metal, etc.). All remaining recovered artifacts and project-related materials, including the final report, will be permanently stored at the CAR curation facility. All artifacts will be entered into the NPS Interior Collections Management System (ICMS) used by NPS to manage the curatorial collections for Mission Concepción. The project accession number is 2293.