Subsistence and Persistence: Indigenous Foodways Within Mission Santa Clara de Asís

ABSTRACT

This study explores the subsistence strategies and dietary practices of Indigenous people who resided in Mission Santa Clara de Asìs (1777–1836). Through the analysis of faunal remains from recent archaeological work of the ranchería, the housing location of Native families, this research reveals the persistence of Indigenous foodways within Mission Santa Clara. While colonization efforts by the Spanish impacted both local environments and traditional foodways, Native Californians continued to procure and utilize a high diversity of traditional wild fauna throughout the Mission Period. These findings provide evidence for the rearticulation and continuation of Indigenous foodways within the Mission despite social and environmental restrictions that limited access to wild resources.

RESUMEN

Este estudio explora las estrategias de subsistencia y las prácticas dietéticas de los pueblos indígenas que residían en la Misión de Santa Clara de Asìs (1777–1836). Atravez de el análisis de los restos faunísticos de los trabajos arqueológicos mas recientes de la ranchería donde se encuentra la ubicación de viviendas de las familias nativas, esta investigación revela la persistencia de las vías alimentarias indígenas dentro de la Misión Santa Clara. Mientras que los esfuerzos de colonización por parte de los españoles impactaron tanto los ambientes locales como las vías alimentarias tradicionales, los nativos de California continuaron adquiriendo y utilizando una gran diversidad de fauna silvestre tradicional durante todo el período de la Misión. Estos descrubrimientos proporcionan evidencia de la rearticulación y continuación de las formas alimentarias indígenas dentro de la Misión a pesar de las restricciones sociales y ambientales que limitaban el acceso a los recursos silvestres.

KEYWORDS:

• Subsistence
• zooarchaeology
• indigenous foodways
• persistence
• Mission Santa Clara de Asís
• San Francisco Bay Area
• pit features
• dietary richness and evenness

Acknowledgments

I thank the Critical Mission Studies for funding the analysis of the faunal remains from Mission Santa Clara de Asís. I am also grateful to Linda Hylkema, who provided me with the opportunity to examine this collection. An additional thank you to my advisor Amber VanDerwarker for her assistance throughout the analysis and writing process. I would also like to acknowledge Tom Wake at UCLA and Sarah McClure at UCSB, who provided important assistance during the laboratory research. I also thank the employees of Albion and students of Santa Clara University who assisted in the Franklin Block 448 excavation and analysis, specifically early faunal studies that provided the foundation for this article. I am very grateful to the reviewers of this article for their constructive and kind comments (which were appreciated), as well as guidance from audiences attending the 2020 Annual Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology and 2021 Annual Meeting of the Society for California Archaeology. Many thanks to fellow graduate student Matt Lobiondo for taking the many pictures of the bones. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude for my undergraduate researchers at UCSB for their contribution to this project.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by a Critical Mission Studies UC Graduate Student Fellowship