Archaeologists show off new artifacts found at Alamo site

More than 300 artifacts were freshly discovered at the Alamo site, and a Facebook Live video gives a closer look at some of the items found so far near the west wall.

Reimagine the Alamo researchers found everything from broken ceramic to a button made from animal bone, dating from the 19th century or earlier. They also found local and European ceramics that were imported, fragments from a tooth brush and square nails.

“This is daily life at its best,” team leader Nesta Anderson says in the video. “We’re getting what we’d probably find in many households.”

The findings are what remains of the people who lived in rooms near the wall.

She said some of the ceramics could date back possibly to its mission period.

“As of yet, we’re not finding a lot of battle-related things,” she said.

When asked if there are more things coming, she said more may be on the way.

“Remember we’re still processing artifacts, so that ‘wow’ piece might be coming up,” she said. “We just never know.”

Because the artifacts were found on state property, they’re owned by the people of Texas.

These particular artifacts will be cleaned, analyzed and prepared for curation at the UT-San Antonio Center for Archaeological Research.

“It’s an interesting sideline because we always like to recover everyday artifacts to find out how people were living and working,” she says. “But it also contributes to our knowledge of the west wall. Because in addition to that wall and the arcade that would have been inside it, there were structures where people were living.”

The team will finish up the west wall and then move to the south wall.

You can watch the full video below.

@bryanbastible

This story was originally published August 1, 2016 at 9:41 PM with the headline "Archaeologists show off new artifacts found at Alamo site."