At San Lorenzo, the bastion was one of the mission's most important buildings. Built of adobe at the southwest corner, it protected the south and west walls and was manned by presidio soldiers, while the granary in the northeast corner served as a secondary bastion protecting the north and east walls. Because San Lorenzo was an unauthorized mission, it lacked support and was poorly supplied, and the few soldiers there were ill-equipped to defend against frequent Comanche raids. Their families also struggled, and the mission's inhabitants were often underfed and short of vital supplies. Artifacts found near the bastion reveal both military and domestic sides of life there, including pottery fragments, copper pots, gun parts, lead shot, decorative buttons, gunflints, and a flintlock trigger guard. Many inhabitants had brought their belongings with them, while new goods had to arrive by mule train from Mexico, and these deliveries were often raided. A typical eighteenth-century household there used Mexican majolica plates, cups, and bowls, copper pots, and coarse earthenware ollas and jars for cooking and storage, and at times foreign pottery from France, England, and China also reached San Lorenzo.