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Missionization and Economic Change in the Pimería Alta: The Zooarchaeology of San Agustín de Tucson

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Abstract

Spanish missions were important support bases for colonization; Native American labor provided both food and commodities to support regional colonial expansion. Zooarchaeological remains from Mission San Agustín, located in present-day southern Arizona, offer a unique perspective on livestock use at missions, and engagement with regional economic networks through secondary animal products. Despite decades of resistance to livestock, the O’odham became the primary labor force in an economic system based on livestock ranching, particularly of cattle. The transition to cattle ranching was likely influenced by a number of factors including pressure from missionaries, population growth, and, perhaps most importantly, the regional demand for secondary livestock commodities such as hide and tallow.

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Acknowledgments

Identification and analysis of zooarchaeological remains from Mission San Agustín was funded by Desert Archaeology, Inc. The authors are grateful to Desert Archaeology, Homer Thiel, and Jonathan Mabry for the opportunity to examine these materials. Many thanks also to Homer Thiel, Betsy Reitz, Tom Sheridan, and Mary Stiner for their comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. We are very grateful to Jonathan Driver, Elizabeth Scott, and an anonymous reviewer for their thoughtful and constructive reviews of this article. Dale Brenneman (Office of Ethnohistorical Research) provided much appreciated assistance in navigating the ethnohistorical literature. The authors also wish to acknowledge Rachel Diaz de Valdez and Felicia Coppola-Pavao for their assistance in this project. Figures drafted by Ashley Blythe (Fig. 1) and Western Mapping, Inc. (Fig. 2), and modified by the authors. Versions of this paper were presented at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology, and the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

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  1. Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210026, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210030, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman & Vincent M. LaMotta

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  1. Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman
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Correspondence to Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman.

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Pavao-Zuckerman, B., LaMotta, V.M. Missionization and Economic Change in the Pimería Alta: The Zooarchaeology of San Agustín de Tucson. Int J Histor Archaeol 11, 241–268 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-007-0030-x

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