Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T02:04:06.968Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Categorical Denial: Evaluating Post-1492 Indigenous Erasure in the Paper Trail of American Archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2019

Lee M. Panich Open the ORCID record for Lee M. Panich [Opens in a new window]  and
Tsim D. Schneider
Lee M. Panich*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053, USA
Tsim D. Schneider
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
*
([email protected], corresponding author)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

To understand the implications of archaeological site recording practices and associated inventories for studying Indigenous persistence after the arrival of Europeans, we examined the documentary record associated with nearly 900 archaeological sites in Marin County, California. Beginning with the first regional surveys conducted during the early 1900s and continuing into the present, the paper trail created by archaeologists reveals an enduring emphasis on precontact materials to the exclusion of more recent patterns of Indigenous occupation and land use. In assessing sites occupied by Indigenous people from the late sixteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, we discuss how the use of multiple lines of evidence—including temporally diagnostic artifacts, chronometric dating techniques, and historical documentation—may help illuminate subtle but widespread patterns of Native presence that have been obscured by essentialist assumptions about Indigenous culture change. Our findings further reveal the shortcomings of traditional site recording systems, in which archaeologists typically categorize sites within the prehistoric-protohistoric-historic triad on the basis of commonsense decisions that conflate chronology with identity. Instead, we argue for recording practices that focus specifically on the calendric ages of occupation for any given site.

Para entender las implicaciones de las prácticas de registro e inventariación de sitios arqueológicos asociados con la persistencia indígena después de la llegada de los europeos, examinamos el registro documental asociado con casi 900 sitios arqueológicos en el condado de Marin, California. Comenzando con las primeras encuestas regionales realizadas a principios del siglo veinte y continuando hasta el presente, el registro creado por los arqueólogos revela un énfasis constante en los materiales precontacto y la exclusión de patrones de uso y residencia más recientes. Al evaluar los sitios ocupados por grupos indígenas desde finales del siglo dieciséis hasta mediados del siglo veinte, analizamos la manera en que el uso de múltiples líneas de evidencia (incluidos los artefactos diagnósticos, técnicas de datación cronométrica, y documentación histórica) puede contribuir a iluminar patrones sutiles pero generalizados de presencia que han sido ocultados por premisas esencialistas sobre el cambio cultural indígena. Nuestros hallazgos resaltan las deficiencias de los sistemas tradicionales de registro en los que los arqueólogos clasifican los sitios como prehistóricos, protohistóricos o históricos con base en decisiones de sentido común que mezclan la cronología con la identidad. En su lugar, abogamos por prácticas de registro centradas específicamente en las fechas calendáricas de ocupación de los sitios.

Keywords

Indigenous persistencecolonialismsite recordingdatingCaliforniapersistencia indígenacolonialismoregistro de sitiosdataciónCalifornia
Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 4 , October 2019 , pp. 651 - 668
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by the Society for American Archaeology 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acabado, Stephen 2017 The Archaeology of Pericolonialism: Responses of the “Unconquered” to Spanish Conquest and Colonialism in Ifugao, Philippines. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 21:1–26.Google Scholar
Arkush, Brooke S. 1990 The Protohistoric Period in the Western Great Basin. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 12:28–36.Google Scholar
Arkush, Brooke S. 2011 Native Responses to European Intrusion: Cultural Persistence and Agency Among Mission Neophytes in Spanish Colonial California. Historical Archaeology 45(4):62–90.Google Scholar
Beaudoin, Matthew A. 2016 Archaeologists Colonizing Canada: The Effects of Unquestioned Categories. Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress 12:7–37.Google Scholar
Borck, Lewis 2018 Constructing the Future History: Prefiguration as Historical Epistemology and the Chronopolitics of Archaeology. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 5:229–238.Google Scholar
Bryant, Stewart F. 1934 Archaeological Site Survey Record for MRN-265. On file at the Northwest Information Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California.Google Scholar
Byrd, Brian F., Dearmond, Shannon, and Engbring, Laurel 2018 Re-visualizing Indigenous Persistence during Colonization from the Perspective of Traditional Settlements in the San Francisco Bay-Delta Area. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 38:163–190.Google Scholar
Byrd, Brian F., Whitaker, Adrian R., Mikkelsen, Patricia J., and Rosenthal, Jeffrey S. 2017 San Francisco Bay-Delta Regional Context and Research Design for Native American Archaeological Resources, Caltrans District 4. California Department of Transportation, Oakland.Google Scholar
Byrne, Denis 2003 The Ethos of Return: Erasure and Reinstatement of Aboriginal Visibility in the Australian Historical Landscape. Historical Archaeology 37(1):73–86.Google Scholar
Byrne, Denis 2004 An Archaeology of Attachment: Cultural Heritage and the Post-Contact. In After Captain Cook: The Archaeology of the Recent Indigenous Past in Australia, edited by Harrison, Rodney and Williamson, Christine, pp. 135–146. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, California.Google Scholar
California Office of Historic Preservation 1995 Instructions for Recording Historical Resources. Office of Historic Preservation, Sacramento.Google Scholar
Clark, Matthew R., Wiberg, Randy S., Ambro, Richard D., and Holman, Miley Paul 1992 Evaluative Report of Text Excavations at Sites CA-Mrn-529 and CA-Mrn-530/530E for National Register of Historic Places Eligibility for the Novato Creek Flood Control Project, Marin County California. Report to Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. Study 14285 on file at the Northwest Information Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California.Google Scholar
Clark, Matthew R., Bieling, David G., and Psota, Sunshine 1995 Archaeological Data Recovery at CA-MRN-530E/H, the “Diablo Bridge Site” and “Our House” Historic Site, for the Novato Flood Control Project, Novato, Marin County, California. Report to Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. Study 18726 on file at the Northwest Information Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California.Google Scholar
Colley, Sarah, and Bickford, Anne 1996 ‘Real’ Aborigines and ‘Real’ Archaeology: Aboriginal Places and Australian Historical Archaeology. World Archaeological Bulletin 7:5–21.Google Scholar
Cusick, James C. (editor) 1998 Studies in Culture Contact: Interaction, Culture Change, and Archaeology. Southern Illinois University Center for Archaeological Investigation, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Dietz, Stephen A. 1976 Echa-Tamal: A Study of Coast Miwok Acculturation. Master's thesis, San Francisco State University, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Dixon, Roland B. 1913 Some Aspects of North American Archaeology. American Anthropologist 15:549–577.Google Scholar
Flexner, James L. 2014 Historical Archaeology, Contact, and Colonialism in Oceania. Journal of Archaeological Research 22:43–87.Google Scholar
Fontana, Bernard L. 1965 On the Meaning of Historic Sites Archaeology. American Antiquity 31:61–65.Google Scholar
Gerkin, Agnes S. 1967 MRN-S-297: An Intertidal Site on Tom's Point in Three Volumes and Five Apple Cartons. Study 11206 on file at the Northwest Information Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California.Google Scholar
Ghisleni, Lara 2018 Contingent Persistence: Continuity, Change, and Identity in the Romanization Debate Current Anthropology 59:138–154.Google Scholar
Gnecco, Cristóbal, and Langebaek, Carl 2014 Introduction: Against Typological Tyranny. In Against Typological Tyranny in Archaeology: A South American Perspective, edited by Gnecco, Cristóbal and Langebaek, Carl, pp. v–x. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Heizer, Robert F. 1941 The Direct-Historical Approach in California Archaeology. American Antiquity 7:98–122.Google Scholar
Hull, Kathleen L. 2009 Pestilence and Persistence: Yosemite Indian Demography and Culture in Colonial California. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
IHRWG (Interagency Heritage Resources Work Group) 2018 Utah Archaeology Site Form Manual. Interagency Heritage Resources Working Group, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Irish, Paul, and Goward, Tamika 2012 Where's the Evidence? The Archaeology of Sydney's Aboriginal History. Archaeology in Oceania 47:60–68.Google Scholar
Jordan, Kurt A. 2014 Pruning Colonialism: Vantage Point, Local Political Economy, and Cultural Entanglement in the Archaeology of Post-1415 Indigenous Peoples. In Rethinking Colonial Pasts through Archaeology, edited by Ferris, Neal, Harrison, Rodney, and Wilcox, Michael V., pp. 103–120. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Law Pezzarossi, Heather, and Sheptak, Russell N. 2019 Indigenous Persistence in the Colonized Americas: Material and Documentary Perspectives on Entanglement. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Liebmann, Matthew 2012 The Rest is History: Devaluing the Recent Past in the Archaeology of the Pueblo Southwest. In Decolonizing Indigenous Histories, edited by Oland, Maxine, Hart, Siobahn M., and Frink, Liam, pp. 19–44. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, Kent G. 1995 Culture Contact Studies: Redefining the Relationship between Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology. American Antiquity 60:199–217.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, Kent G., and Gonzalez, Sara L. 2018 The Study of Sustained Colonialism: An Example from the Kashaya Pomo Homeland in Northern California. American Antiquity 83:427–443.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, Kent G., Gonzalez, Sara L., and Schneider, Tsim D. 2009 Refugees and Interethnic Residences: Examples of Colonial Entanglements in the North San Francisco Bay Area. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 42(1):1–21.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, Kent G., and Simmons, William S. 1998 Culture Contact in Protohistoric California: Social Contexts of Native and European Encounters. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 20:138–170.Google Scholar
McNiven, Ian J., and Russell, Lynette 2005 Appropriated Pasts: Indigenous Peoples and the Colonial Culture of Archaeology. AltaMira Press, Lanham, Maryland.Google Scholar
Madley, Benjamin 2019 California's First Mass Incarceration System: Franciscan Missions, California Indians, and Penal Servitude, 1769–1836. Pacific Historical Review 88:14–47.Google Scholar
Meighan, Clement W. 1952 Archaeological Sites Survey Record for MRN-284/H. On file at the Northwest Information Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California.Google Scholar
Meighan, Clement W. 1953 Preliminary Excavations at the Thomas Site, Marin County. Reports of the University of California Archaeological Survey 19:1–14.Google Scholar
Milliken, Randall 1995 A Time of Little Choice: The Disintegration of Tribal Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1769–1810. Ballena Press, Menlo Park, California.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Mark D., and Scheiber, Laura L. 2010 Crossing Divides: Archaeology as Long-Term History. In Across a Great Divide: Continuity and Change in Native North American Societies, 1400–1900, edited by Scheiber, Laura L. and Mitchell, Mark D., pp. 1–22. Amerind Studies in Archaeology. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Nelson, Nels C. 1907 San Francisco Bay Mounds. University of California Archaeological Survey Manuscripts 349. Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Nelson, Nels C. 1909 Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Region. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 7:309–356.Google Scholar
Nelson, Peter A. 2017 Indigenous Archaeology at Tolay Lake: Responsive Research and the Empowered Tribal Management of a Sacred Landscape. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Panich, Lee M. 2014 Native American Consumption of Shell and Glass Beads at Mission Santa Clara de Asís. American Antiquity 79:730–748.Google Scholar
Panich, Lee M. 2016 Beyond the Colonial Curtain: Investigating Indigenous Use of Obsidian in Spanish California through the pXRF Analysis of Artifacts from Mission Santa Clara. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 5:521–530.Google Scholar
Panich, Lee M., Allen, Rebecca, and Galvan, Andrew. 2018 The Archaeology of Native American Persistence at Mission San José. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 38:11–29.Google Scholar
Panich, Lee M., Griffin, Ben, and Schneider, Tsim D. 2018 Native Acquisition of Obsidian in Colonial-Era Central California: Implications from Mission San José. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 50:1–11.Google Scholar
Panich, Lee M., and Schneider, Tsim D. 2015 Expanding Mission Archaeology: A Landscape Approach to Indigenous Autonomy in Colonial California. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 40:48–58.Google Scholar
Panich, Lee M., Schneider, Tsim D., and Byram, R. Scott 2018 Finding Mid-19th Century Native Settlements: Cartographic and Archaeological Evidence from Central California. Journal of Field Archaeology 43:152–165.Google Scholar
Peter, Jesse 1921 Site Survey of Tomales, Bodega Bay and Sonoma County Coast. Manuscript on file at the Northwest Information Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California.Google Scholar
Porcayo Michelini, Antonio 2018 Chronological Reordering of the Yuman Complex in Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 54(3&4):3–55.Google Scholar
Ray, Arthur J. 1978 History and Archaeology of the Northern Fur Trade. American Antiquity 43:26–34.Google Scholar
Rubertone, Patricia E. 2000 The Historical Archaeology of Native Americans. Annual Review of Anthropology 29:425–446.Google Scholar
Russell, Matthew A. 2011 Encounters at tamál-húye: An Archaeology of Intercultural Engagement in Sixteenth Century Northern California. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Scheiber, Laura L., and Finley, Judson Byrd 2012 Situating (Proto) History on the Northwestern Plains and Rocky Mountains. In Handbook of North American Archaeology, edited by Pauketat, Timothy R., pp. 347–358. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Peter R., and Mrozowski, Stephen A. (editors) 2013 The Death of Prehistory. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Schneider, Tsim D. 2015a Envisioning Colonial Landscapes Using Mission Registers, Radiocarbon, and Stable Isotopes: An Experimental Approach from San Francisco Bay. American Antiquity 80:511–529.Google Scholar
Schneider, Tsim D. 2015b Placing Refuge and the Archaeology of Indigenous Hinterlands in Colonial California. American Antiquity 80:695–713.Google Scholar
Schneider, Tsim D. 2018 Making and Unmaking Native Communities in Mission and Post-Mission Era Marin County, California. In Forging Communities in Colonial Alta California, edited by Hull, Kathleen L. and Douglass, John G., pp. 88–109. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Schneider, Tsim D. 2019 Heritage In-Between: Seeing Native Histories in Colonial California. Public Historian 41(1):51–63.Google Scholar
Schneider, Tsim D., and Panich, Lee M. 2019 Landscapes of Refuge and Resiliency: Native Californian Persistence at Tomales Bay, California, 1770s–1870s. Ethnohistory 66:21–47.Google Scholar
Schurr, Mark R. 2010 Archaeological Indices of Resistance: Diversity in the Removal Period Potawatomi of the Western Great Lakes. American Antiquity 75:44–60.Google Scholar
Schuyler, Robert L. 1970 Historical and Historic Sites Archaeology as Anthropology: Basic Definitions and Relationships. Historical Archaeology 4:83–89.Google Scholar
Silliman, Stephen W. 2005 Culture Contact or Colonialism? Challenges in the Archaeology of Native North America. American Antiquity 70:55–74.Google Scholar
Silliman, Stephen W. 2010 Indigenous Traces in Colonial Spaces: Archaeologies of Ambiguity, Origin, and Practice. Journal of Social Archaeology 10:28–58.Google Scholar
Slaymaker, Charles M. 1977 The Material Culture of Cotomko'tca: A Coast Miwok Tribelet in Marin County, California. Miwok Archaeological Preserve of Marin Occasional Paper 3. Miwok Archaeological Preserve of Marin, San Rafael, California.Google Scholar
Steward, Julian H. 1942 The Direct Historical Approach to Archaeology. American Antiquity 7:337–343.Google Scholar
Strong, William Duncan 1940 From History to Prehistory in the Northern Great Plains. Essays in Historical Anthropology of North America, pp. 353–394. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Trabert, Sarah 2019 Reframing the Protohistoric Period and the (Peri)Colonial Process for the North American Central Plains. World Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2019.1576539.Google Scholar
Watkins, Joe 2017 “Can We Separate the ‘Indian’ from the ‘American’ in the Historical Archaeology of the American Indian?” In Historical Archaeology Through a Western Lens, edited by Warner, Mark and Purser, Margaret, pp. 113–137. University of Nebraska Press and the Society for Historical Archaeology, Lincoln, Nebraska.Google Scholar
Wedel, Waldo R. 1940 Culture Sequence in the Central Great Plains. Essays in Historical Anthropology of North America, pp. 291–352. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Wesson, Cameron B., and Rees, Mark A. (editors) 2002 Between Contacts and Colonies: Archaeological Perspectives on the Protohistoric Southeast. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Wilcox, Michael V. 2009 The Pueblo Revolt and the Mythology of Conquest: An Indigenous Archaeology of Contact. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Wolfe, Patrick 2001 Land, Labor, and Difference: Elementary Structures of Race. American Historical Review 106:866–905.Google Scholar
Yellowhorn, Eldon 2015 Just Methods, No Madness: Historical Archaeology on the Piikani First Nation. In Ethics and Archaeological Praxis, edited by Gnecco, Cristóbal and Lippert, Dorothy, pp. 245–256. Springer, New York.Google Scholar