Archaeologists at the Alamo in San Antonio have recovered two more solid-shot cannonballs believed to date to the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. The find brings the number of cannonballs pulled from the site this year to four.
The Alamo Trust announced the latest pair in late October. Both turned up along the edge of Alamo Church during excavations that are still underway there.
The two differ in size. One measures 1.8 inches in diameter and the other 3.26 inches, dimensions that match ammunition for 1-pounder and 6-pounder cannons.
Two earlier discoveries came first. A 4-pounder surfaced in March, just ahead of the 190th anniversary of the fighting, and a 6-pounder followed in June.
Which army fired them is still an open question. Tiffany Lindley, director of archaeology at the Alamo Trust, said three of the balls are bronze, a material the Mexican army used, so they may have come from Mexican guns aimed at the church.
Lindley cautioned that the Alamo's defenders or others could have gathered the shot before the battle began, meaning either side may have put them to use.
Tying the finds to the battle itself is less complicated, she said. The cannonballs sat in a soil deposit that also held musket balls and gun parts, and its depth indicated the material was older than objects found in the layers above.
With help from historians, the team concluded the shot probably lay close to a spot where Mexican artillery was positioned outside the Alamo.
Lindley said she knew of no solid cannonballs recovered at the site before the current project. She credited the recent run of finds largely to the size of the area being dug.
The siege ran from Feb. 23 to March 6, 1836, as Texian defenders, among them Davy Crockett and William B. Travis, held off a far larger Mexican force. Mexican troops ultimately overran the garrison, and the defeat became a rallying cry for the Texas Revolution.
