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Envisioning Colonial Landscapes Using Mission Registers, Radiocarbon, and Stable Isotopes: An Experimental Approach from San Francisco Bay

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Tsim D. Schneider
Tsim D. Schneider*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 ([email protected])
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Abstract

The periodization used to distinguish sites and artifacts as "prehistoric" or "historic" translates to the selection of field methods and analytical techniques. This comes at the expense of developing new approaches to track continuities and adjustments in Native American site use, technologies, and other cultural traditions, such as mobility across an artificial divide between prehistory and history. To evaluate the mobility of Coast Miwok people in colonial San Francisco Bay, California, this article presents an experimental technique that compares radiocarbon and geochemical data from a Late period Phase 2(A.D. 1500-1800) shellmound (CA-MRN-114) to baptismal records from Spanish missions (A.D.l 776-1830s). Supported by eyewitness accounts of native fugitivism, furlough, and foraging at the missions, Coast Miwok baptisms before 1817 are at their lowest during traditional times of mussel harvests. After 1817, a different pattern is examined vis-d-vis the colonial landscapes taking shape in the region. Radiocarbon, geochemical, and documentary evidence supports the conclusion that seasonally oriented Coast Miwok mobility involving the collection of shellfish continued even during missionization. With further refinement, the proposed methodological framework holds promise for documenting patterns that often go unseen in the historical record and enhancing the archaeology of colonialism in North America.

Résumé

Résumé

La periodización utilizada para distinguir sitios y artefactos como "prehistóricos" o "históricos" se traduce en la selección de métodos de campo y técnicas de análisis. Esto sucede a costa del desarrollo de nuevas estrategias para rastrear las continuidades y ajustes a través de una división artificial entre la prehistoria y la historia en el uso indígena de sitios, tecnologías y otras tradiciones culturales como la movilidad. Para evaluar la movilidad de los indígenas Coast Miwok en la época colonial en la Bahía de San Francisco, California, este artículo presenta una técnica experimental que compara los daws radiocarbonos y geoquímicos de un conchero (CA-MRN-114) de la Fase 2 del Período Tardío (d.C. 1500-1800) a los registros de bautismos de las misiones Españolas (d.C. 1776-1830s). Apoyado por relatos de testigos oculares de nativos fugitivos, con permiso de paseos, y aquellos buscando de alimentos salvajes afuera de las misiones; los bautizos de los Coast Miwok antes de 1817 están a los niveles mas bajos durante los tiempos tradicionales de las cosechas de mejillones. Déspues de 1817, un patrón diferente se examina en relación a lospaisajes coloniales que están tomando forma en la región. La evidencia geoquímica, de radiocarbono y de documentos apoyan la conclusión de que la movilidad estacionalmente orientada de los Coast Miwok, involucrando la colecta de moluscos continuo incluso durante la época misional. Con mas refinamiento, el marco metodológico propuesto aquí, es prometedor para la documentación depatrones que frecuentemente son desapercibidos en el registro histórico ypuede mejorar la arqueología de colonialismo en América del Norte.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 3 , July 2015 , pp. 511 - 529
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2015

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