Bob and Anita,

The answer to your question depends entirely on your research objectives for
digging up the tiles. I was always greatly disappointed in the cavalier
treatment of floor tiles recovered during the 1968-1971 Royal Presidio de San Diego
excavations. Those were simply counted and heaped into piles for reburial
later. When I directed the 1981-1995 excavations of the Spanish cannon battery (5
miles southwest of the Royal Presidio de San Diego), I had my crew recover all
1200 + tile fragments and then we spent five years analyzing the pieces
against a 1772 Spanish publication on fortification construction. We then set aside
about fifty specimens for future analysis and returned 1150+ tile fragments
to the same area we recovered them. The pieces retained are wrapped in
acid-free tissue, set in acid-free packing material in boxes sealed with 2-ply epoxy
paint and carefully stacked in the Ballast Point Repository, Building 257,
Naval Base Point Loma. Those specimens have all been photographed, sketched, and
measured and are described in a manuscript written by C. Fred Buchanah, C.E.
that will be published by San Diego State University sometime next year. This
will be accompanied by a paper I wrote describing the overall investigation. Our
goal was to provide an understanding of how those tiles fit together to form
a segment of the cannon battery architecture. But as I said, it all depends on
your research design as to how you treat the tiles. I am hoping my research
will guide the way for more meaningful analysis of Spanish tiles on California
sites in the future.

Ron May
Legacy 106, In.c