From Municipal Dumpsite to Private Liberal Arts University: Insights into the City of San Antonio from a Nineteenth-Century Midden

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The modern-day campus of Trinity University is located on a nineteenth and early twentieth century municipal dump site on what was then the margins of the city of San Antonio, Texas . The land also served as a limestone rock quarry for the Alamo Cement Company (1884-1931), a community baseball diamond, and a lover’s lane. The university bought the land and began construction in the 1950s, promptly ending the site’s previous uses. A recent archaeological surface collection of the site, currently used as a frisbee golf course and walking track, has recovered thousands of artifacts. Laboratory analysis and archival research into these objects has provided insight into the daily life of low-income and working-class San Antonians during this early occupation. In addition to discussing the ever-changing history of the space, we will discuss our findings on artifacts such as Gebhardt Chile Powder bottles, Ball Mason jars, Vaseline containers, porcelain baby dolls, and opium vials.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38025.0