Interpreting Stratigraphy in the San Antonio Missions: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Summary

The Spanish colonial missions of San Antonio had a complex history characterized by different phases of development and decline, featured by changes over time of the buildings’ structures and land use. This paper presents a research on Mission San Jose’ and Mission Espada: on one side, the study focuses at identifying the history of the church buildings through the analysis of the walls’ stratigraphic sequences, through on site sampling integrated with historical information.  In parallel, the study tackles the analysis of the cultural landscape of the two missions, carrying out a comparative study of the present land use with historical maps. Through mapping visualization, is identified the land patterns’ development of the acequias’ landscape, and its integrity level. This approach shows simultaneously changes over time of structures and land, and offers a holistic methodology for the safeguard of the material authenticity of the built heritage as recommended by UNESCO.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• Celebrating 300 Years: San Antonio's Origins: Missions, Presidio, Villa, and Camino and How They Shaped the Landscape and Culture

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 881