Analysis Of The Mission Period Of Northern California

During the mission period of Northern California, specifically around the missions of the Bay Area, there has been a great amount of research done into uncovering the archaeology of the resistance and level of assimilation undergone by the Natives who lived or were involved with the missions at the time. Over course of these investigations much evidence has been found that shows a level of integration for the individual was present in this time period at the missions in order for the native peoples to gain from what the missionaries and missions themselves could provide for them. I propose that through further analysis of the methods, material culture, and greater investigation in the cultural phenomena of paseo, we can attain a more accurate determination as to the level of assimilation, conversely cultural resistance, that the native american neophytes who were converted at the Spanish missions in the Bay Area of Northern California experienced. This analysis of assimilation is crucial to history as it represents the possible inaccuracy of having claimed that the native traditions were completely erased from the world culture due to the imposing nature of the Spanish mission system in California during the mission period, whereas one may discover due to an unknown level of resistance the native neophytes of these missions merely maintained their own culture with new aspects of technology and resources not previously available to allow their own culture to evolve over time, with much less of a focus on the religious conversion but the survival cultural and social culture. …show more content…
I propose that we understand more about the artifacts that the native americans were using and how their methods, be they learned from the missionaries, when applied to cultural problems that existed before the missions and lie inside the scope of native tribal life, show how the natives were not converted but had their own culture evolved as a result of the mission period into something different from before the mission period. Through the analysis of glass beads as a marker for a valued object, as part of the material culture, that was readily available in mission society and the prevalence of these beads as evidenced as having a continued value in the residences of the natives that were living and working on the missions, we can see how …show more content…
Glass beads, an artifact that was valued highly among the local tribes of the Ohlone and Yokuts around the missions of Northern California before the mission period, are found in the thousands at the surrounding region of Mission Santa Clara, which is to imply that these beads retained their value culturally for native americans who were said to have been fully assimilated into the Catholic Spanish culture that the missions were attempting to impose upon them. Now with the prevalence of these beads, in conjunction with their implied consumption as a currency, either continuing with other local tribes for goods and tools but as well as a way of interacting with the missionaries, it becomes obvious that the cultural belief of value was present well into the “extinction” of these tribal groups as they become assimilated into California culture and the mission experience. As Dr. Panich describes in his article “Native American Consumption of Shell and Glass Beads at Mission Santa Clara de Assís”, the native americans on the mission regions obtained these beads