SAN ANTONIO – One hundred and fifty never-before-seen artifacts, almost all excavated from the Alamo, are on display at the grounds Thursday.
The items span the entire history of the military use of The Alamo, and you can catch them today-only.
The artifacts line the cases.
An unfired bronze Howitzer shell sits beneath the glass, 181-years-ago ready to let loose amongst the likes of Santa Anna and Jim Bowie.
Ceramic shards, weapons, pieces of uniforms, native artifacts from the 1750s, until five this evening you can see the items excavated across a 50 year period.
Almost half come from the actual battle for Texas freedom.
"You know that you're the first person to actually hold that artifact since it was used either right during the fortification of The Alamo, or during the battle, so it's, it's actually really humbling," said San Antonio City Archeologist Kay Hindes.
Also, a must-see for 7-year-old Alana Benedict, inspired by the discoveries.
"I thought it was fun," said Alana, "One day I wanna end up doing it too."
"I think it's just fascinating, the things that they, they can dig up and find," said her mom Sarah Benedict.
This is the first time these artifacts have been on public display because once they're dug up they go back to the lab and a curator. It takes archeologists to put it together.
"There has been a lot of interest in the Alamo recently, and we also wanted to, we knew that we had done the work in 2016, so we knew that there were some incredible artifacts that we wanted the public to get to share in," said Hindes, "You'll see ceramics that were being used in the 18th-19th centuries, you see military-related artifacts, we have like a bronze Howitzer shell that was found that was used during the battle, we have a Shako plate that came off of a Mexican officer's hat, Shako hat. So full range"
After today, the artifacts go back to the Center for Archeological Research.
That isn't open to the public, so make your way to the back of the grounds in Alamo Hall until 5 pm.
