Exploring a Glass and Ceramic Cache in the Native Barracks at Mission La Purísima Concepción: Inferences to Indigenous Negotiations of the Waning Spanish Frontier

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Chronicles of Colonialism: Unraveling Temporal Variability in Indigenous Experiences of Colonization in California Missions", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 1963/64, James Deetz conducted an examination of the Native adobe barracks at Mission La Purísima Concepción, where he uncovered a substantial concentration of glass and ceramic vessels under the floor in one apartment unit. Subsequent reevaluation of this assemblage has revealed that these vessels actually represent a distinctive caching event that occurred during the later stages of the mission period. The cache was discovered within a room exhibiting characteristics such as whitewashed walls, alongside various other artifacts suggestive of an individual or family with high status. The cache thus has particular significance as it provides insights into the strategies employed by Indigenous peoples who were heavily invested in the mission system. Moreover, it exposes the realities faced by Native individuals in their efforts to reform the missions or have a say in their survival after the decline of the Spanish frontier.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Chronicles of Colonialism: Unraveling Temporal Variability in Indigenous Experiences of Colonization in California Missions

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow