SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio River is home to the River Walk, tourists and now - in a stretch of the river miles from downtown - apparently the home of ancient man.
A preliminary investigation by state archaeologists found a pre-historic hut near the river from the Late Archaic Period.
“The carbon dating now shows it’s from 2275 BC and it burned down,” said Betty Bueche, Facilities Manager for Bexar County.
Bueche is overseeing the $5.2 million facelift to Mission County Park. The renovations required a preliminary dig by archaeologists.
Bueche said the team dug up wooden posts, a stone hearth, and flint chips, used to sharpen weapons.
“It’s clear that they were hunters. And that there was game here they could hunt,” she said.
Unlike the Spanish, who left monuments to their colonization effort, this ancient find is several thousand years older. And there are no pictures to show, because officials quickly buried it again.
County Commissioner Sergio Rodriguez said the site remains undisclosed to avoid having people tamper with it, until the county is ready to put it on public display along the river that spawned the habitation.
Rodriguez said the county is seeking to get the Mission Reach project, including the Spanish mission churches nominated as a World Heritage Site, under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.
Commissioners now have some older evidence to put in that resume for the world body to consider.
The prehistoric hut found at the park is considered the 3rd oldest structure in Texas.
Testing continues on the artifacts by the state and UTSA Center for Archaeological Research.
