Archaeological Testing for the Walker Ranch Park Bridge Project (41BX1271), San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

In April 2006 the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) of the University of Texas at San Antonio was contracted by the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of San Antonio to perform subsurface investigations within the boundaries of site 41BX1251, in north-central San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. The purpose of the testing was to learn if the concrete abutment of a planned pedestrian bridge over Salado Creek would impact significant archaeological deposits in this site, which is a part of the Walker Ranch National Historic District. Five shovel tests and one backhoe trench were excavated. The shovel tests were placed within the footprint of the abutment and the backhoe trench was place approximately 10 m west of the shovel tests. Two artifacts were recovered from the shovel tests: a small piece of asbestos tile and a small piece of chert debitage. Three artifacts were observed in the backhoe trench: a piece of modern glass and two pieces of chert debitage. All artifacts were located in the upper 30 cm of sediments. No significant cultural deposits were encountered in the tests. It was recommended that the construction work continue as planned, and that no further archaeological work would be needed.