Had a weird moment at an old Spanish mission in Tucson yesterday

I was walking around the San Xavier del Bac mission and noticed these faint lines on the bricks near the back wall. Turns out they were hand-carved marks from the 1700s, probably left by the builders or maybe the local Tohono O'odham people who helped construct it. Has anyone else stumbled on something like that at a historic site and just stood there wondering who made them?

2 comments

2 Comments

blake30226d ago

So were those marks actually dated or just your best guess on when they're from?

the_jenny25d ago

Did they happen to mention if any of those marks had a known provenance or came from a reputable source? In my experience, that makes a huge difference in how seriously you can take the dating. Just curious if they gave any backup for the claims.