Paleomagnetic Analysis Results for Alamo Plaza – Main Gate & Lunette Project

Summary

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 as the Alamo. The test units were located near the center of Alamo Plaza Park, at the center of downtown, San Antonio, Texas, USA. Alamo Plaza Park is an open, municipal space that has endured drastic landscape alterations over the past three centuries. As such, a geoarchaeological assessment was conducted for the 39 soil samples systematically collected during the 2022–2023 investigations. Utilizing particle size analysis, magnetic susceptibility, and pressure calcimetry, each sample was tested and defined. Data produced through these analyses establish a scientific correlation between the soils recovered, to known anthropogenic deposits and the underlying intact sediments within the urban landscape surrounding the historic site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Alamo – A Construction History from Mission to Military Fortress, Texas, United States   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow