Bureaucratic Reforms on the Frontier: Zooarchaeological and Historical Perspectives on the 1767 Jesuit Expulsion in the Pimeria Alta

Summary

The introduction of livestock to the Pimeria Alta (northern Sonora and southern Arizona), was one prong of Spanish imperial expansion into North America initiated largely by Jesuit missionization. Unlike other areas of North America, the missions in this region experienced an enormous bureaucratic transition following the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, and the subsequent arrival of Franciscan missionaries. Historians and historical anthropologists debate the social and economic impacts of this transition, but archaeological evidence has not been brought to bear on the issue or its consequences on the local landscape. This paper evaluates the ability of zooarchaeological, historical, and isotopic data to ascertain the impact of the bureaucratic shift on the landscapes of the Sonoran Desert. Animals like cattle, sheep, and goats have the ability to alter landscapes through grazing, and the stocking rates of these animals at the missions were linked to the relative stability and administration of a mission site.This paper examines range management strategies, and culling and butchering practices prior to and after the expulsion, and presents an archaeological framework for studying the shift in political ecologies in the region following the change in religious bureaucracy throughout the Spanish empire.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeologies of Empire and Environment   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 13201