If you participated in Finding Medina I (or even if you didn’t), you’ll want to read on.  We ran the musket balls and a few other artifacts from our second survey site through an XRF machine at Texas State University.  Three of them came back to be spot-on metallurgic matches with the Blue Wing burial ball! 

Some of you know that the so-called Blue Wing burial featured the partial remains of a young male with a 1.18″ lead ball embedded in his neck (so not a musket ball).  Based on the date of the buttons, the size of the ball, and the burial location these remains have been associated with the Battle of Medina or at least the wider campaign since they were excavated in 1968.  We had a lot of discussions in the field at Finding Medina I about whether or not the musket balls we found were from the battle…this may have given us our answer.  The results from the first season have got us very excited about what Finding Medina II might reveal! 

The first season of fieldwork benefited from the historical expertise (and fundraising!) of Brandon Seale, the vast field experience of consultant Kay Hindes, and a strong partnership with the Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas at San Antonio.  All of these will remain in place for Finding Medina II.  For a great summary of where we are and how we got here, check out Brandon’s podcast referenced here.