From the Global to the Local: Changing Foodways in Colonial New Mexico

Emily Dawson

From the Global to the Local: Changing Foodways in Colonial New Mexico

Year: 2020

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Previous research on colonial-era foodways in New Mexico has often focused on the arrival and use of Old World foods as a way to maintain a distinct Spanish identity. Early accounts by Spanish colonists indicate that they brought wheat, lentils, melons, and other Old World cultivars with them. While these accounts suggest the colonists were growing these cultivars, previous archaeological work has produced limited evidence for the growth and use of these plants. Using the revolutionary technique of phytolith analysis, this poster examines everyday plant use at a seventeenth century rancho and eighteenth century settlement in northern New Mexico. I present preliminary phytolith data from an ongoing study that offers insights into the ways the colonists utilized both native and introduced plant species in their daily lives, shifting the narrative from one of Spanish exclusion to a more complex and comprehensive narrative of Spanish inclusion of native foodways.