The Alamo’s archaeology team collaborated with other experts to determine the cannonball was likely used by the Mexican Army during the 13-day siege of the historical site. Credit: Shutterstock / 4kclips
A fully intact cannonball from the Battle of the Alamo was unearthed in San Antonio earlier this month, according to the historical site’s archaeology team.
The team unearthed the find on March 5, which also just so happened to be the eve of the 190th anniversary of the famous battle that helped spark the Texas Revolution.
The news of the discovery first broke on Stories Bigger Than Texas: The Alamo Podcast.
“I have chills now, just thinking about it,” Alamo’s Director of Archaeology Tiffany Lindley told the podcast. “March 5 is when we pulled it out of the ground. I don’t think words can express the feelings that we all felt.”
The archaeology team determined that cannonball had likely been used by the Mexican army during its 13-day siege of the former Spanish Mission.
A photo shows the recently unearthed cannon ball. Credit: Courtesy of The Alamo
“We can’t say with 100% certainty that it came from the Mexican Army, but I would say 99% because largely the Mexican Army is using bronze cannonballs and largely the Texans are using iron cannonballs,” Alamo Senior Researcher and Historian Kolby Lanham told the podcast. “Doesn’t mean they didn’t capture each other’s stuff and use it, but I would say with a fair amount of certainty that this is a Mexican Army cannonball and it was likely fired at the Battle of the Alamo — or it could have been during the … siege.”
Over the past year, many other discoveries have been made aside from the cannonball. Recently, four exploding shot fragments were found outside the Alamo Church. The fragments were found to be made of bronze and iron.
The Alamo is an active archaeological site, with excavations conducted annually, supporting the ongoing preservation of the Alamo Church and Long Barrack. The excavations also support the $550 million Alamo Plan. People from around the world come to the Alamo to watch the excavations.
“There was a visitor who once said, ‘I’ve been to Pompeii, but this is cooler!’ And I almost had a heart attack,” Lindley told the podcast. “As an archaeologist, Pompeii is the epitome of cool. So I was so excited to hear that visitors are really connecting to what we’re doing and they’re enjoying seeing us.”
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The most recent discovery comes after shot fragments were found outside the Alamo Church by archeologists last year.
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