Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción de los Piros de Socorro del Sur was founded to serve Spanish families and Native American groups displaced during the Pueblo Revolt in 1682. Historians and scholars began documenting the stories of the people and communities shortly thereafter. This paper is an examination of some of the historiography of Socorro, including the work of Juan Agustín Morfi, Gerardo Decorme, Herbert Morrow, and others, including more recent work by graduate students and professors at the University of Texas El Paso. As the Texas Historical Commission works through new collaborations, research, and partnerships to begin redevelopment and interpretation at the site, the insights that scholars of the past can provide serve as an important touchstone - even if those works must be weighed against the context of the time and place they were written.

The archeological site of Old Socorro Mission del Sur, established along the Rio Grande in 1684, was first identified by archeologists and historians in 1980. Since that time, several phases of archeological investigation, including recent work by the Texas Historical Commission (THC), have confirmed the late 17^th and early 18^th century location of this mission. Recent work has also attempted to confirm the presence of a Piro pueblo and other mission-period construction at the site. In 2013, the THC began a campaign to acquire this significant site for preservation and now the Old Socorro Mission State Historic Site contains the footprint of the mission as well as a buffer on all sides. This paper will discuss the history and results of archeological investigations at this early Spanish Mission site and planning efforts to open the site to the public as well as community involvement in the interpretive planning process.

The Socorro Mission archeological site is believed to be the location of the 17^th century Mission Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción del Socorro. This mission is the oldest known in Texas and was established to serve Spanish families and displaced Native Americans that fled after the Pueblo Revolt. This site (41EP1532) was investigated in the 1980’s by archeologists from the University of El Paso. The Texas Historical Commission conducted additional field investigations in 2014-2015. The faunal collection has not been analyzed in its entirety; this analysis provides new insights on life at the mission, diet, tool use, butchering styles, and locations of food preparation at the site. Socorro provides a unique opportunity to learn how native people integrated their lifestyle with the Spanish. The focus of this research is to identify faunal species, record human alteration on elements, and reassess the spatial context of the results into site interpretations.

The archeological recovery of majolicas, glazed coarsewares, porcelain, and other pottery produced or purchased in Mexico, Europe, or China and transported by the inhabitants to Spanish colonial sites is a regular occurrence. This paper examines the pottery assemblage from the excavation collections of the Old Socorro Mission State Historic Site and compares it to other contemporary Spanish Colonial sites in Texas. Differences observed between them provides an opportunity to consider how supply and demand was shaped by local conditions and the available means of transport to reach these sites on the edges of the northern Spanish borderlands.