Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States," at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Mission San Antonio de Valero was the first Franciscan mission founded in the upper reaches of the San Antonio River basin in central Texas, United States. The mission occupied two localities before its final establishment on the east bank of the river in 1724. Over the course of nearly seven decades under the edicts of the Spanish Crown, the layout of the mission complex changed in size, configuration, and space utilization. Following secularization in 1793, the site continued to evolve as a military fortress, a battleground, and as public municipal space. Recently, multiple intensive archaeological investigations have been conducted at the designated UNESCO World Heritage site, and comprehensive revaluations of the mission-period records have been completed. This symposium will examine the architectural evolution and use of Mission San Antonio de Valero from its founding as a Franciscan mission to the current, renown historical site known as the Alamo.

Other Keywords
mission • Alamo • Colonialism • Spanish Colonial • Geoarchaeology • bioarchaeology • Architecture • Preservation • Artifact Analysis • Burials

Geographic Keywords
Texas • Texas, United States • San Antonio, Texas, USA • Central Texas, United States of America • Southern Texas/Northern Mexico

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-8 of 8)

  • Documents (8)
Documents
  • Artifact Collection Processing and Analysis Methodology - Alamo Church and Long Barrack Restoration Project (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kathleen A Jenkins.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The artifacts recovered from the Alamo Church and Long Barrack Restoration Project underwent various lab processing methods to ensure the preservation, organization, and integrity of the artifact assemblage. All cultural material was processed at the...

  • Bioarchaeology of Mission San Antonio de Valero: Preliminary Results and Methodological Insights from the Alamo Church and Long Barrack Restoration Project (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Brittany S. McClain.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. During the 2019–2020 archaeological investigations at the Mission San Antonio de Valero, 12 historic burial features were recovered from the interior of the Alamo Church. The 12 exhumed burials represented a minimum number of 14 individuals, comprising...

  • Conducting Archaeology in the Public Eye: Strategies, Logistics, and Lessons Learned – Alamo Public Archaeology 2006-2022 (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kristi M. Nichols.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In 2006, the University of Texas at San Antonio with the Daughters of the Republic of Texas hosted a field school at the Alamo (41BX6), one of the first excavations at the site to occur in a decade. Another decade passed before additional excavations...

  • Imagine the Plaza-abilities: An Exploration of Communal Space and Memory at Alamo Plaza (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Gabriella M. Zaragosa.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Since the establishment of Mission San Antonio de Valero at its current location in 1724, the adjoining open plaza has served as a communal space for mission residents, various militaries, and early businesses of Bexar County. Throughout the centuries,...

  • Mission San Antonio De Valero - Sixty-Nine Years Of Flexibility In Architectural Layout (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Steve A. Tomka.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In 1724 the Franciscan Friars moved the mission from its second site to its final location on the east bank of the San Antonio River. Several temporary structures were erected early on, but their conversion to permanent facilities lagged. Even after the...

  • Paleomagnetic Analysis Results for Alamo Plaza – Main Gate & Lunette Project (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Anna M. Schautteet.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. During the 2022–2023 Alamo Plaza Main Gate and Lunette Project, five archaeological test units were excavated to identify cultural deposits and/or features related to the South Wall and Main Gate of the former Mission San Antonio de Valero, known today...

  • Preserve the Alamo: Objectives and Results of the Alamo Church and Long Barrack Restoration Project (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Tiffany M. Lindley.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In 2018, preservation experts at Mission San Antonio de Valero, or the Alamo, constructed a plan to address the deterioration of the centuries-old Church and Long Barrack. The poor state of the buildings was not unknown, as rising damp was previously...

  • Uncovering Historic Burial Types at the Alamo Church: Insights from 2019–2020 Alamo Church and Long Barrack Restoration Project at Mission San Antonio de Valero, Bexar County, Texas, USA (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Rhiana D. Ward.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Between 2019 and 2020, archaeologists conducted a series of test excavations within the footprint of the former Mission San Antonio de Valero – known today as the Alamo – for the Alamo Church and Long Barrack Restoration Project. These investigations...