‘I have chills’: Archaeologists find intact Battle of the Alamo cannonball

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Published  March 19, 2026 10:16am CDT
FOX Local

(Source: Alamo Trust, Inc.)

The Brief

    • Archaeologists unearthed a rare, intact bronze cannonball at the Alamo, dated to the 1836 siege and discovered just before the battle's 190th anniversary.
    • Historians believe the artifact belonged to the Mexican Army, as they primarily used bronze munitions while Texan forces typically used iron.
    • The find is part of an ongoing $550 million preservation project, with researchers now analyzing the relic to determine its specific trajectory and impact.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Archaeologists at the Alamo have discovered a fully intact, solid bronze cannonball dating back nearly two centuries, officials announced Thursday, marking the significant find just one day before the 190th anniversary of the site’s historic 1836 battle.

Battle of the Alamo discovery

Big picture view:

The discovery was made March 5, 2026, during excavations outside the Alamo Church. The news was first shared on the Alamo’s podcast, "Stories Bigger Than Texas."

"I have chills now, just thinking about it," said Dr. Tiffany Lindley, the Alamo’s director of archaeology. "March 5th is when we pulled it out of the ground. I don't think words can express the feelings that we all felt."

circa 1950:  The Alamo, a former Franciscan mission in San Antonio, Texas and the setting for a famous Texan defeat by the Mexicans in 1836. During the Texan war of independence from Mexico, 187 Texans were besieged within the abandoned mission for six days - not a single man survived when the fort was finally breached.  (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)
Engraving of the siege of the Alamo, the first thirteen days of the Battle of the Alamo, from the book 'Brief history of Texas from its earliest settlement to which is appended the constitution of the state' by De Witt Clinton Baker, 1873. Courtesy Internet Archive. (Smith Collection/Gado) From: Getty Images
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - DECEMBER 9, 2018:  The iconic 'hump' on the facade of Mission San Antonio de Valero, better known as The Alamo, was added by US soldiers in the 1850s. The former Franciscan mission was the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836 during Texas' war for independence from Mexico where Texian defenders were defeated by Mexican troops under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)
The Alamo (Image Credit: Daniel Schwen)

The four-pound artifact was found about three feet below the surface in what Lindley described as a "clean deposit." Because the soil layers remained undisturbed over time, researchers were able to link the artifact to the 1836 siege with near certainty.

While historians cannot be 100% certain of the projectile's origin, the material provides a definitive clue.

What they're saying:

"The Mexican Army is using bronze cannonballs and largely the Texans are using iron cannonballs," said Kolby Lanham, the Alamo’s senior researcher and historian. "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 12-day siege."

The find adds to a growing collection of combat relics unearthed at the site over the last year, including four fragments of "exploding shot." The three bronze and one iron pieces originated from Howitzer rounds, which functioned like modern-day grenades.

Four exploding shot fragments discovered outside the Alamo Church (Source: Alamo Trust, Inc.)

Researchers plan to analyze the fragments to determine the size and trajectories of the weapons used during the conflict.

The discovery comes amid an ongoing $550 million preservation and expansion project known as the Alamo Plan. The site remains an active archaeological zone where visitors can watch teams work daily.

"There was a visitor who once said, 'I've been to Pompeii, but this is cooler!'" Lindley said. "As an archaeologist, Pompeii is the epitome of cool... I was so excited to hear that visitors are really connecting to what we're doing."

Dig deeper:

The Alamo, a UNESCO World Heritage site, attracts more than 1.6 million visitors annually and is managed by the nonprofit Alamo Trust, Inc.

The Source: Information in this article is from Alamo Trust, Inc.

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