Robert F. Scott IV

Introduction

Phase I and II excavations at the Alamo North Wall Project yielded a large, varied, and well-preserved collection of faunal material. The two phases of
work recovered over 1,000 bones which provide a glimpse of the eighteenth-and nineteenth-century methods of securing meat and animal
by-products. Domestic and wild animals are included in the analyzed bones. Butchering marks are prominent on over 100 bones from Phase I and 97
bones from Phase II, providing an opportunity to reconstruct the sequence and tools used to dismember the animals. The Alamo collection, in general,
provides a unique situation in which to study historic subsistence.

The following analysis proceeds in two parts, dealing first with Phase I remains, then with those from Phase II. The collection is then analyzed as a
whole, comparing and contrasting the two phases. Bones were analyzed utilizing a private comparative collection and the comparative faunal collection
at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin. Two priorities were pursued during the analysis: identify the
types and numbers of animals utilized for food, and define a detailed butchering sequence. Each bone was examined for butchering marks and
evidence of burning, carnivore gnawing, age, and fractures.

Phase I

During Phase I, five units (A-E) were excavated. Eight hundred eighty-four bones were recovered, the majority of which were identifiable to some
extent (Tables A-1, A-2, and A-3). Of the five units, A, B, and D contained the majority of the remains, with A yielding the greatest number (n=367).

Unit A

Unit A was a 4-x-10-ft trench crossing the back wall of what had been the Grenet/Hugo and Schmeltzer store. The excavation extended to a depth of
56 inches and recovered 367 bones. This number represents 42 percent of the entire bone recovery for Phase I. Bones were recovered throughout the
unit but were particularly concentrated from 12-36 inches deep. Recovery was greatest in A-1-4 (24-30 inches), accounting for about one-third (n=
120) of the bones found in Unit A.

In terms of species recovered, the unit showed very little variation from the upper levels through the lower ones. Generally, the greatest numbers of
bones were associated with the largest numbers of artifacts. The middle levels (18-24 inches and 24-30 inches) contained the majority of the bones
distributed among the greatest number of animal genera. A-1-4 (24-30 inches) contained at least one example of every animal identified from Unit A
with the exception of an antelope identified in A4 (18-24 inches).

As in the other units, A contained butchered and discarded remains. Whole bones are usually only associated with rodent and fish remains, and the
lower leg bones of the larger animals. In particular, remains from A-1-4 (24-30 inches) are composed of the discarded axial elements of skeletons
(vertebra, pelvis, and sacrum) and the fragmentary ends of long bones also discarded during dismemberment. Almost 20 percent of the bones (n=23)
in A-1-4 (24-30 inches) show evidence of having been