Building at Bac: Chronological Challenges in Conservation at Mission San Xavier

Summary

Traces of early modern European presence in the Sonoran Desert endure today as plaster-white mission churches dotted across the arid landscape. Established by Jesuits as early as 1691 AD, Mission San Xavier del Bac in Tucson, Arizona is unique in its continued usage as a modern Catholic church. Its long-standing occupation necessitates nearly-constant conservation practices, which must be complementary to the church’s original construction. However, the absence of nearly two-hundred years’ (1691-1864 AD) worth of church records consigns the information regarding the mission’s early building and repair history to a few oblique textual references and sporadic, modern archaeological sampling. Coupled with multiple building phases and sometimes ambiguous construction methods, assumed biographies of the structures seen today are incredibly convoluted. As recently as January 2015 and August 2016, foundations near the East Tower exposed during routine restoration have revealed inconsistencies with the fragmented early historical records. Solidifying a building chronology for this beautiful, historic mission church has become paramount in addressing difficulties in conservation practice, especially as restorative work on the mission foundations becomes more necessary. In particular, dendrochronological analysis of reused timber in the southern convento wing may attach the church’s early history to a calendar date.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15647