Preserving the Faith: Archaeological Investigations at Mission San Lorenzo (41RE1), Camp Wood, Texas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Franciscan mission of San Lorenzo, established in 1762, survived for 6 years as an unsanctioned mission before closing its doors in 1768. Since its abandonment, the site has suffered from both the ravages of time and human interference. Today, the mission is located in the small community of Camp Wood, Texas where it has long been an important part of local history and efforts are currently underway to help preserve, interpret, and re-vitalize the site. Specifically, recent excavations focused on recovering information about the site’s built environment with particular attention paid to mission layout and construction styles. While some foundations are still intact, subsequent events including fires, the construction of a 19th century military camp, and well-intentioned attempts to reconstruct the mission in the mid 20th century have greatly impacted the integrity of the site. The identification of each of the these events and their subsequent effects as well as careful mapping and recording of architectural features are providing insight into the mission’s current state of preservation and future needs. Moreover, archaeological, historical, and geographical lines of evidence have also been used to create a timeline of events and a more complete image of the mission plan.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26051