Excavations at the Alamo Shrine [page 22]
which are undisturbed and culturally sterile, were formed by natural alluvium deposits and earlier soil developments. All of these soil levels will be briefly described with mention of any cultural material contents. More detailed descriptions of the collected artifacts and bone will be presented in following chapters.
The stratified soil levels encountered, in descending order from just below the removed flagstone, include the following: limestone gravel fill, white caliche earth fill, gray to brown soil, more white caliche earth fill, dark brown clay loam, dark reddish-brown clay loam, brown to gray granular caliche, and basal white caliche. The levels of loam and bottom caliche are natural, undisturbed soils.
The flagstone paving and most of the underlying gravel fill had been removed to a depth of around 20 cm by the City before the project was started. When the excavations began, 3 to 4 cm of small sized, crushed limestone gravel still remained over packed calcareous earth (caliche) fill in some places. The gravel comprised the first excavation level (Level A) for Units 1, 2, and 5; however, Level A for the other units, where the covering gravel had been previously removed by the City, began with the upper level caliche. A description of caliche soils will be given below.
Found within the overlying gravels, but principally collected from the surface of the caliche that the gravel covered, were a variety of artifacts. Included were square iron nails, potsherds representing a variety of wares, window and bottle glass fragments, corroded metal objects, a few small chunks and flakes of chert, and fragments of red ceramic tile or bricks. The pottery collection was a mixed lot of Mexican and English wares, and also red-painted utility wares. The collected artifacts, in general, appear to be 19th century. Some items might have been in the gravel fill, but others were probably debris on the underlying surface. Evidently the gravel had been deposited just prior to the laying of the flagstone sidewalk in 1880, and again in 1934 when the overall flagstone paving for the present front ceremonial square was laid.
Below the gravel fill was a packed level of off-white to cream-colored caliche earth with small stones and cultural material inclusions averaging about 20 cm in depth. It is possible that this fill was deposited about the time of the Spanish cavalry occupation between 1805 to 1810. Within this level were inclusions of small stones, fragments of red tile or brick, square iron nails, bottle and window glass fragments, potsherds, and scattered fragments of charcoal. Also present were some land snail shells (Rabdotus sp.). Pottery fragments in this level included Spanish Colonial, Mexican, English, and probably Indian wares. Basically, the artifacts recovered from this level indicate deposit during the early 1800s, and possibly with continued admixture of materials by Spanish, Mexican and Anglo occupations.