Native Persistence at a California Mission Outpost
Native Persistence at a California Mission Outpost
The Bioarchaeology and History of the Asistencia de San Pedro y San Pablo
Collaborative research revealing the lives of Ohlone individuals buried at an eighteenth-century Spanish mission outpost
Construction work in 2016 at Sanchez Adobe Park, the site of a historic Spanish mission outpost in the San Francisco Bay Area, led to the surprising discovery of human skeletal remains. This book presents a series of bioarchaeological studies done in collaboration with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of Mission San Juan Bautista, the state-appointed Most Likely Descendants of the Ohlone people buried in this cemetery, to explore persistence and change in the lives of Native Californians recruited into the Spanish missions during the late 1700s.
This volume presents cutting-edge research techniques used to study the health, diet, social connections, and medicinal practices of these Ohlone individuals. Studies include obsidian and glass bead sourcing, osteological and paleopathological analysis, stable isotope analysis, and proteomic studies of dental calculus. By comparing these findings with historical records, researchers are even able to identify several of the individuals by name and reconstruct their life histories.
This volume reveals continuity in some traditional Ohlone behaviors as well as new practices influenced by the Spanish. It offers unique insights into the experiences of Native communities during early colonization on California’s Pacific coast. It also serves as a key example of collaborative bioarchaeological research carried out by a tribal community, a local parks department, and both professional and academic archaeologists.
Contributors: Diana Malarchik | Kristen Broehl-Droke | Alyson Caine | Beth Armstrong | Glendon Parker | Anna Berim | Shannon Tushingham | Alan Leventhal | Tammy Buonasera | Christine Marshall | Michelle Zimmer | Monica Arrellano | Austin Cole | Tanya Smith | David Gang | Ramona Garibay | Jason Miszaniec | Melody Tannam | Kyle Burk | Mario Zimmermann | Christine Austin
“An original and significant contribution for the insightful connections the authors make between the archival and archaeological data sets. Such an approach uniquely allows the authors to propose individual life histories and address cultural persistence within this Spanish asistencia at the individual level.”—Sarah Peelo, president, Albion Environmental
Jelmer W. Eerkens, professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis, is coeditor of The Evolution of Leadership: Transitions in Decision Making from Small-Scale to Middle-Range Societies. Lee M. Panich, professor of anthropology at Santa Clara University, is coeditor of Archaeologies of Indigenous Presence. Christopher Canzonieri is an archaeologist and osteologist at Basin Research Associates, Inc. Christopher Zimmer is an enrolled member of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of Mission San Juan Bautista, serving as Tribal Monitor and Most Likely Descendant.
