Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Recent archaeological investigations near Mission San Luis Obispo encountered a zanja (irrigation ditch) and associated terracing within the larger mission landscape. Native Californian practices persisted through the mission period?incorporating new technologies and new food sources?and using those new technologies to build upon existing social structures. In the process, native groups and individuals actively controlled some of the land use within the mission setting, as well as the products of that land use. Previous investigations of this and other California missions acknowledge the importance of native labor, but typically frame discussion of the infrastructure as part of the larger colonial institution. Recent findings have prompted the authors to reconsider water and infrastructure as part of the native landscape within the mission system at San Luis Obispo.