The Reorganization of Shell Bead Production in California during the Historic Period

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper explores Olivella shell money bead production among the Chumash during the Mission period in south-central California. An extensive examination of bead-making detritus recovered during recent archaeological excavations at Mission La Purisima Concepcion yielded insight into this extensive industry that flourished in the early nineteenth century. We argue that the main economic hubs for bead manufacturing and distribution moved from the California Channel Islands to mission centers, creating a shift in Indigenous economic systems. While Chumash elites and other "big men" monopolized the manufacturing of shell beads before the Spanish mission period, new Native communities that formed mission towns employed more of a free market, thus affecting the quality and production of shell money beads later in time.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36761.0