Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

This study integrates several lines of evidence to assess temporal trends in the persistence of indigenous village communities in the San Francisco Bay-Delta area after the arrival of the Spanish in 1776 C.E. Baptismal records indicate that more than half of the Native American village communities in the region persisted as independent entities for at least another 25 years or longer. Archaeological evidence and radiocarbon and obsidian hydration results from post-contact native settlements are spatially patterned in a manner consistent with the archival record. Material indicators of the Mission Period (such as European material culture and non-native plant and animal resources) are also present at many radiocarbon-dated post-contact native settlements, indicating at least a limited movement of goods but also highlighting how these data sets are poor indicators of indigenous persistence during the early colonial era. The results provide a foundation for future research into initial reactions to the colonial intrusion from the perspective of traditional native communities.

There are few existing studies of contemporary Yuman ceramics in Baja California, and past research has primarily focused on how the craft has been ìwesternizedî since the Spanish mission period. Although innumerable ceramic traditions were practiced in Mexico prior to the arrival of the Spanish, it is not usually possible to trace the persistence of this craft through the transition from a semi-nomadic subsistence pattern to a more sedentary lifestyle; it is possible with Yuman ceramics. The author has developed a new method employing the vesicular or Egyptian rectangle to measure vessels and demonstrate diachronic and synchronic changes in the relative height and variety of forms. The associated theory holds that these changes correspond to the decreasing mobility, or increased sedentism, of Yuman peoples. Independent of the undeniable western influences on Yuman ceramics, this method shows that the proportional height of vessels increased with the persistence of this craft through time.

Multiple investigations on the Santa Clara University campus have revealed important archaeological finds dating from the Spanish and Mexican colonial periods. From early May 2012 through August 2015, the Universityís Cultural Resources Management program and Albion Environmental, Inc. investigated the site of the Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History Building and Parking Structure. Through this mitigation process, archaeologists stratigraphically excavated 61 significant features associated with the Indian rancherÌa (CA-SCL-30/H), occupied between 1781 and 1840. The archaeological record confirms that members of the diverse indigenous population continued to incorporate traditional forms of material culture into their daily practices. However, differences exist in the ways in which these objects were made, traded, and used during colonial times. These changes enhance our understanding of how a diverse group of indigenous peoples living within the mission negotiated not only cultural or ethnic identity, but also other aspects of their social identity, aspects tied to status and gender.

Contrary to long-held perceptions of rapid upheaval of Native Californian lifeways instigated by the establishment of Spanish missions in coastal southern California, archaeological and ethnohistorical research in the greater Los Angeles basin highlights the persistence and autonomy, as well as the transformation, of Native Californians in a missionized socio-political and economic landscape. Mission-period GabrieliÒo (Tongva) established post-contact communities that reinforced indigenous ideology, religion, and practice. At the same time, these communities also successfully navigated the environmental, social, and economic challenges created by colonial institutions. The successful persistence of many GabrieliÒo (Tongva) cultural rituals and subsistence practices for approximately 40 years after the establishment of Mission San Gabriel was due to the continuance, and transformation, of these long-lived native communities. This study looks broadly at evidence from both La Ballona, located in what is now west Los Angeles, and from the greater Los Angeles basin.

This paper uses ëcommunities of practiceí as an analytical framework to investigate the ways in which Chumash basket weavers reconstituted themselves and persevered during and after the colonial period in south-central California. Specifically, we focus on two distinct and chronologically-sequential Chumash basket weaving communities, including one group of weavers who lived at Mission San Buenaventura in the early 1800s and another group who fashioned baskets for the global market at the turn of the twentieth century. A detailed examination of baskets produced by these weavers and curated in museum collections reveals both similarities and distinct differences in manufacturing techniques and design styles. We suggest that during a time of cultural and political upheaval, the existence of basket weaving communities played a large part in the perseverance of Chumash cultural identities in these two historically-distinct contexts. Interviews with contemporary indigenous basket weavers lend support to these interpretations and provide insight into the significance and importance of basket weaving communities that continue to thrive today.

Olivella-shell grooved rectangular beads, or N series beads as classified by Bennyhoff and Hughes (1987), are the oldest Olivella wall beads in central California, dating to a narrow time-frame during the mid-Holocene. This bead type, thought to have originated in the southern Santa Barbara Channel islands, has been identified across a wide geographical area, including most of central and southern California and portions of Nevada and southeastern Oregon. Used by some to argue for a Middle Holocene Uto-Aztecan socioeconomic interaction sphere, we demonstrate that their broad geographical range is simply a barometer of the widespread transmission of cultural knowledge and the establishment of extensive trade networks circa 5,000 years ago. We also present new isotopic data that suggest that at least some of these beads were manufactured from shells obtained north of Point Conception, beyond the greater Santa Barbara Channel region.

Marine-shell beads have been recovered from numerous archaeological sites throughout the Intermountain West. Direct radiocarbon determinations and typological cross-dating indicate that groups conveyed beads long distances inland throughout the Holocene. Because the oxygen and carbon isotopic signatures of Callianax (previously Olivella) sp. snail shells reflect local sea surface temperature, researchers over the past 15 years have started to assign beads to source regions (stretches of the coast from which people collected shells). We report radiocarbon and stable isotope data for a Callianax biplicata bead from Oregonís Hawksy Walksy Valley, the only bead that has been recovered from this archaeologically important region. These data indicate that the bead was conveyed ~400 km. inland at 480ñ285 cal B.P. from somewhere along the Oregon or northern California coasts. We place these results within the context of other provenance studies of beads in the northern Great Basin to add to our understanding of how, when, and from where coastal producers conveyed shell beads to inland consumers.

In 1846, an arborgraph drawn on a cottonwood tree near Kern River was recorded by a member of the FrÈmont party; it may well be the only such record still extant. The scene depicted appears to involve vaqueros roping tule elk, and possibly represents a traditional native response to initial contacts with Euromericans.

We report new stable isotope and radiocarbon data on a small set of human remains representing seven individuals from three archaeological sites in northeastern California, CA-MOD-205 (Franklin Creek site; n = 2), CA-LAS-989 (Bare Cave; n=4), and an unrecorded site near Honey Lake (n =1). Results reveal several points of interest for dietary reconstructions, mobility patterns, and the antiquity of Northern Side-Notched points. First, one of the samples from LAS-989 produced a calibrated radiocarbon date in excess of 7,800 cal B.P., one of the oldest human bones dated in northern California. This sample is associated stratigraphically with Northern Side-Notched projectile points, demonstrating the antiquity of this point style. The other samples consistently dated to the Late Holocene (2,200 to 1,200 cal B.P.). Second, dietary isotopes indicate that all individuals had a mixed diet, including C3 plants and large game, as expected, but they also consumed significant quantities of fish, including varying quantities of a 13C-enriched food, likely salmon or Tahoe sucker. Third, serial samples of dentin collagen from one woman near Honey Lake indicate that she was weaned between 3.1 and 3.7 years of age, and had periodic and fluctuating access to this 13C-enriched food resource during later childhood and teenage years, with a periodicity around 3ñ4 years. We attribute this to either a residentially mobile settlement system with exploitation of a key and periodically-abundant resource, or to a structured fiesta system involving regular visits to a location on a major river. Finally, sulfur and oxygen isotopes suggest that most individuals had been living in northeastern California (i.e., were local) for a number of years prior to their deaths.

The Pioneers section of the Journal features personal reflections on major figures in the study of the indigenous cultures of the region. Neither obituary nor memorial, Pioneers shares candid recollections that convey insight into the personalities and the cultural context of anthropology that shaped the scholarship of these pioneers. Pioneers began with the 2015 issue, and in these first few years the focus has tilted toward the Great Basin rather than interior and coastal California. This decision was based on the existence of a similar effort, ìSands of Time,î in the journal California Archaeology that does an admirable job of remembering some of the early scholars of California anthropology. Perhaps it is time to broaden our geographic range for the JCGBA Pioneers section, and to also remind readers that the subject matter is anthropology, not just archaeology. The Pioneers sections in the 2016 issues of the Journal featuring Isabel Kelly and Julian Steward remind us of the intellectual breadth of these pioneers. If you have suggestions regarding a potential Pioneer, and the names and contact information for those who may wish to share a recollection, please contact Steven Simms (s.simms@usu.edu).