What and Where to Dig Next

[cje]

I have seen some excellent reports over the years about various digs around the Alamo and have enjoyed looking at what has been found. My question is: "What areas have not been explored and if there was a wish list, where would a new dig be done?" Some Alamo Maps have shown where the various digs have taken place and they are great but it seems there might be some "good" areas to look. Time and various building have effected the various sight I know but it would be interesting to find a new location/area.

[Paul Sylvain]

I'm not an expert on this subject, but obviously the entire downtown has been dug up, paved over, built on and so on since almost immediately after the battle. I want to say there isn't much that hasn't been looked at, but every so often something turns up in the course of doing something involving digging in the area. It wasn't all that many years ago that some interesting items were uncovered in the ground under the History Shop on Houston St., across from what would have been the cattle pens and the location of one of the Alamo's canon batteries. You can visit the shop, see Mark Lemon's huge model on display there (thanks to its purchase by Phil Collins, who does a narration), and peer into the hole where metal bits and uniform buttons, etc. were found. The metal bits most likely were fired from the cannon in the cattle pens.

I have no doubt there's much to be found, and as repairs and renovations, road work, and so on, is done under and around some of the streets and downtown buildings, more will be found.

Paul

[Rich Curilla]

Mark pointed out to me at one time a few years ago that one of the key spots that has never had a dig is on both sides of the "connecting wall," that is the wall that connects the Long Barrack with the Church. This was central to all Alamo actions and there are many unanswered questions about the wall itself. One theory is that, as the south wall of the mission friary, it was also the north wall of a pre-existing church that collapsed before the current building was begun. Much would be revealed by a dig along the base of the wall, inside and out. I am hoping that, now that the G.L.O. is in charge, scholarly digs will be permitted. There is much to learn from them.