Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Geophysical Investigation of Mission San Francisco Solano, Sonoma, California

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Historical Archaeology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recent advances in mission archaeology advocate for studies beyond the mission church and quadrangle in order to better understand their spatial organizations and how they were embedded within the landscapes of indigenous populations. This raises the question of how to implement such studies in areas impacted for years by urban development, which has made it difficult to detect archaeological remains using standard pedestrian-survey methods. This article advocates for the use of geophysical survey as part of the mix of field strategies. Archaeologists undertook fieldwork at Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, California, to assess the potential of employing geophysical-survey methods in contexts characterized by extensive post-mission reuse. The results indicate that ground-penetrating radar and resistivity surveys are capable of detecting earlier mission architectural remains that can be differentiated from the remains of post-mission urban development from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Extracto

Avances recientes en la arqueología de misiones abogan por estudios más allá de la iglesia y del patio interior de la misión con el fin de comprender mejor sus organizaciones espaciales y cómo fueron incrustadas en los paisajes de las poblaciones indígenas. Esto plantea la cuestión de cómo implementar dichos estudios en áreas afectadas durante años por el desarrollo urbano, que ha dificultado detectar restos arqueológicos utilizando métodos estándar de estudios peatonales. El presente estudio aboga por el uso de estudios geofísicos como parte del mix de estrategias de campo. Los arqueólogos emprendieron trabajo de campo en la Misión San Francisco Solano en Sonoma (California) para evaluar el potencial de emplear métodos de estudio geofísicos en contextos caracterizados por una reutilización post-misión extensiva. Los resultados indican que el radar de penetración terrestre y los estudios de resistividad son capaces de detectar restos arquitectónicos de misiones anteriores que pueden ser diferenciados de los restos del desarrollo urbano post-misión de finales del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX.

Resumé

Les progrès récents en archéologie de mission défendent les études en dehors de l’église de la mission et du quadrilatère afin de mieux comprennent leur organisation spatiale et comment elle était intégrée dans les paysages des populations autochtones. Cela soulève la question de l'application de ces études dans les zones touchées pendant des années par le développement urbain, qui a rendu difficile la détection des vestiges archéologiques à l’aide de méthodes normalisées de sondages dans la rue. Cet article préconise l’utilisation d'un levé géophysique dans le cadre de la combinaison des stratégies de terrain. Les archéologues ont entrepris des travaux sur le terrain à la Mission San Francisco Solano, à Sonoma (Californie) pour évaluer la possibilité d’utilisation des méthodes de levés géophysiques dans des contextes caractérisés par une vaste réutilisation après la mission. Les résultats indiquent que les enquêtes de géoradar et les levés de résistivité sont capables de détecter des vestiges architecturaux de mission antérieurs, qui peuvent être différenciés des vestiges du développement urbain postérieur à la mission de la fin du 19e siècle et au début du 20e siècle.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen, Rebecca 1998 Native Americans at Mission Santa Cruz, 1791–1834: Interpreting the Archaeological Record. University of California, Los Angeles, Institute of Archaeology, Perspectives in California Archaeology, Vol. 5. Los Angeles.

  • Allen, Rebecca 2010 Rethinking Mission Land Use and the Archaeological Record in California: An Example from Santa Clara. Historical Archaeology 44(2):72–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen, Rebecca, and David L. Felton 1998 The Water System at Mission Santa Barbara. California Mission Studies Association Occasional Paper 1. Bakersfield.

  • Arkush, Brooke S. 2011 Native Responses to European Intrusion: Cultural Persistence and Agency among Mission Neophytes in Spanish Colonial California. Historical Archaeology 45(4):62–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker, Leo R., Rebecca Allen, and Julia G. Costello 1995 The Archaeology of Spanish and Mexican Alta California. In The Archaeology of Spanish and Mexican Colonialism in the American Southwest, J. E. Ayres, editor, pp. 3–51. Society for Historical Archaeology, Ann Arbor, MI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennyhoff, James, and Albert B. Elsasser 1954 Sonoma Mission: An Historical and Archaeological Study of Primary Constructions, 1823–1913. University of California Archaeological Survey Reports 27. Berkeley.

  • Bernard, Julienne 2008 An Archaeological Study of Resistance, Persistence, and Culture Change in the San Emigdio Canyon, Kern County, California. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California Los Angeles. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI.

  • Bernard, Julienne, David Robinson, and Fraser Sturt 2014 Points of Refuge in the South Central California Colonial Hinterlands. In Indigenous Landscapes and Spanish Missions: New Perspectives from Archaeology and Ethnohistory, L. M. Panich and T. D. Schneider, editors, pp. 154–171. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cannon, Renee 2003 Beneath the Plaza Hotel: In Search of the San Juan Bautista Mission Escolta. Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, California State University Hayward (CSU/East Bay), Hayward.

  • Cohen-Williams, Anita 2005 Archaeological Investigations of the Sunken Gardens of Mission San Luis Rey, California. In Architecture, Physical Environment, and Society in Alta California: Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference of the California Mission Studies Association, Mission San Fernando Rey de España, February 18–20, 2005. California Mission Studies Association, Bakersfield.

  • Conyers, Lawrence B. 2004 Ground-Penetrating Radar for Archaeology. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conyers, Lawrence B. 2012a Advances in Ground-Penetrating Radar Exploration in Southern Arizona. Journal of Arizona Archaeology 2(1):80–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conyers, Lawrence B. 2012b Interpreting Ground-Penetrating Radar for Archaeology. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costello, Julia G. 1989a Santa Inés Mission Excavations: 1986–1988. Coyote Press, Salinas, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costello, Julia G. 1989b Variability among the Alta California Missions: The Economics of Agricultural Production. In Columbian Consequences: Volume 1, Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Borderlands West, D. H. Thomas, editor, pp. 435–449. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costello, Julia G., and David Hornbeck 1989 Alta California: An Overview. In Columbian Consequences: Volume 1, Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Borderlands West, D. H. Thomas, editor, pp. 303–331. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deetz, James 1963 Archaeological Investigations at La Purisima Mission. Archaeological Survey Annual Report 5:161–241.

  • Deetz, James 1978 Archaeological Investigations at La Purísima Mission. In Historical Archaeology: A Guide to Substantive and Theoretical Contributions, Robert L. Schuyler, editor, pp. 160–190. Baywood, Farmingdale, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietz, Stephen A. 1986 Archaeological Investigations of a Mission Santa Cruz Tanning Vat Located at 126 Escalona Drive, Santa Cruz, California. Manuscript, Archaeological Consulting and Research Services, Santa Cruz, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farnsworth, Paul 1987 The Economics of Acculturation in the California Missions: A Historical and Archaeological Study of Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI.

  • Farnsworth, Paul 1989 The Economics of Acculturation in the Spanish Missions of Alta California. Research in Economic Anthropology 11:217–249.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farnsworth, Paul 1992 Missions, Indians, and Cultural Continuity. Historical Archaeology 26(1):22–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farris, Glenn J. 1991 Archaeological Testing in the Neophyte Housing Area at Mission San Juan Bautista, California. California Departments of Parks and Recreation, Resource Protection Division, Sacramento.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farris, Glenn J. 1997 Archaeological Excavation of the “Old Warehouse” and Granary at La Purisima Mission State Historic Park. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 33(4):1–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farris, Glenn J. 2014 Depriving God and the King of the Means of Charity: Early Nineteenth-Century Missionaries' Views of Cattle Ranchers near Mission La Purisima, California. In Indigenous Landscapes and Spanish Missions: New Perspectives from Archaeology and Ethnohistory, L. M. Panich and T. D. Schneider, editors, pp. 135–153. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farris, Glenn J., and John R. Johnson 1999 Prominent Indian Families at Mission La Purísima Concepción as Identified in Baptismal, Marriage, and Burial Records. California Mission Studies Association, Occasional Paper Number 3. Bakersfield.

  • Farris, Glenn J., and Elise Wheeler 1998 The Neophyte Housing and Infirmary at La Purísima Mission SHP: A Review and Mapping of the Site. Manuscript, California Department of Parks and Recreation, Sacramento.

  • Greenwood, Roberta S. 1975 3500 Years on One City Block: San Buenaventura Mission Plaza Project Archaeological Report, 1974. Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Buenaventura, Ventura, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, Roberta S. 1976 The Changing Faces of Main Street: Ventura Mission Plaza Archaeological Project. Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Buenaventura, Ventura, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoover, Robert L. 1979 The Mission San Antonio de Padua in California. Archaeology 32(6):56–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoover, Robert L. 1985 The Archaeology of Spanish Colonial Sites in California. In Comparative Studies in the Archaeology of Colonialism, S. L. Dyson, editor, pp. 93–114. British Archaeological Reports, International Series 233. Oxford, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoover, Robert L. 1989 Spanish-Native Interaction and Acculturation in the Alta California Missions. In Columbian Consequences: Volume 1, Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Borderlands West, D. H. Thomas, editor, pp. 395–406. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoover, Robert L. 2002 Excavations at the Mystery Column: A Wind-Powered Wool Fulling Post Mill in Mission La Purísima State Historic Park. Manuscript, Scott Byram, Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoover, Robert L., and Julia G. Costello 1985 Excavations at Mission San Antonio, 1976–1978. University of California, Los Angeles, Institute of Archaeology, Monograph 26. Los Angeles.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, John R. 1997 The Indians of Mission San Fernando. Southern California Quarterly 79(3):249–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kryder-Reid, Elizabeth 2007 Sites of Power and the Power of Sight. In Sites Unseen: Landscape and Vision, D. Harris and D. F. Ruggles, editors, pp. 181–212. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kryder-Reid, Elizabeth 2010 "Perennially New": Santa Barbara and the Origins of the California Mission Garden. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 69(3):378–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kryder-Reid, Elizabeth 2014 Marking Time in San Gabriel Mission Garden. Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes: An International Quarterly 34(1):15–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lightfoot, Kent G. 2005 Indians, Missionaries, and Merchants: The Legacy of Colonial Encounters on the California Frontiers. University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lightfoot, Kent G. 2014 A Cubist Perspective of Indigenous Landscapes and Spanish Missions In Indigenous Landscapes and Spanish Missions: New Perspectives from Archaeology and Ethnohistory, L. M. Panich and T. D. Schneider, editors, pp. 191–208. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lightfoot, Kent G., Sara L. Gonzalez, and Tsim D. Schneider 2009 Refugees and Interethnic Residences: Examples of Colonial Entanglements in the North Bay San Francisco Bay Area. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 42(1):1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendoza, Ruben G. 2002 This Old Mission: San Juan Bautista Archaeology and the Hispanic Tradition. California Mission Studies Association Boletín 19(2):35–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendoza, Ruben G. 2014 Indigenous Landscapes: Mexicanized Indians and the Archaeology of Social Networks in Alta California. In Indigenous Landscapes and Spanish Missions: New Perspectives from Archaeology and Ethnohistory, L. M. Panich and T. D. Schneider, editors, pp. 114–131. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panich, Lee M. 2010 Spanish Missions in the Indigenous Landscape: A View from Mission Catalina, Baja California. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 30(1):69–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panich, Lee M. 2014 Assessing the Diversity of Mission Populations through the Comparison of Native American Residences at Mission Santa Clara de Asís. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 18(3):467–488.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peelo, Sarah 2010 The Creation of a Carmeleño Identity: Marriage Practices in the Indian Village at Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Río Carmel. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 30(2):117–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peelo, Sarah 2011 Pottery-Making in Spanish California: Creating Multi-Scalar Social Identity through Daily Practice. American Antiquity 76(4):642–666.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanborn Map Company 1888 Sanborn Insurance Map from Sonoma, Sonoma County, California. Sanborn Map Company, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanborn Map Company 1891 Sanborn Insurance Map from Sonoma, Sonoma County, California. Sanborn Map Company, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanborn Map Company 1897 Sanborn Insurance Map from Sonoma, Sonoma County, California. Sanborn Map Company, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanborn Map Company 1905 Sanborn Insurance Map from Sonoma, Sonoma County, California. Sanborn Map Company, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanborn Map Company 1911 Sanborn Insurance Map from Sonoma, Sonoma County, California. Sanborn Map Company, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanborn Map Company 1923 Sanborn Insurance Map from Sonoma, Sonoma County, California. Sanborn Map Company, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanborn Map Company 1941 Sanborn Insurance Map from Sonoma, Sonoma County, California. Sanborn Map Company, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanborn Map Company 1953 Sanborn Insurance Map from Sonoma, Sonoma County, California. Sanborn Map Company, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, Tsim D. 2010 Placing Refuge: Shell Mounds and the Archaeology of Colonial Encounters in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI.

  • Schneider, Tsim D., Sara L. Gonzalez, Kent G. Lightfoot, Lee M. Panich, and Matthew A. Russell 2012 A Land of Cultural Pluralism: Case Studies from California's Colonial Frontiers. In Contemporary Issues in California Archaeology, T. L. Jones and J. E. Perry, editors, pp. 319–337. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, Tsim D., and Lee M. Panich 2014 Native Agency at the Margins of Empire: Indigenous Landscapes, Spanish Missions, and Contested Histories. In Indigenous Landscapes and Spanish Missions: New Perspectives from Archaeology and Ethnohistory, L. M. Panich and T. D. Schneider, editors, pp. 5–22. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smilie, Robert S. 1975 The Sonoma Mission: San Francisco Solano de Sonoma. Valley, Fresno, CA.

  • Sonoma State Historic Park Association 1973 Sonoma California's Mission San Francisco Solano. Century, Sonoma, CA.

  • Thomas, David Hurst 1991 Harvesting Ramona's Garden: Life in California's Mythical Mission Past. In Columbian Consequences: Volume 3, The Spanish Borderlands in Pan-American Perspective, D. H. Thomas, editor, pp. 119–157. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treganza, Adan E. 1956 Sonoma Mission: An Archaeological Reconstruction of the Mission San Francisco de Solano Quadrangle. Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers 14:1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead, Richard S. (editor) 1991 An Archaeological and Restoration Study of Mission La Purísima Concepción. Reports Written for the National Park Service by Fred C. Hageman and Russell C. Ewing. Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, Santa Barbara, CA.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments:

We thank the California Department of Park and Recreation, which made this project possible with its support and advice. We are deeply appreciative of the docents of Sonoma State Historical Park, who volunteered their time and efforts in greatly facilitating our fieldwork at Mission San Francisco Solano. The authors are also deeply appreciative of the constructive comments and editorial assistance that Rebecca Allen and Glenn Farris provided in making this a more readable paper. Finally, we thank Christopher Lowman for drafting his exceptional maps of the historic town of Sonoma.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Archaeological Research Facility, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720-1076, U.S.A.

    Scott Byram, Roberta A. Jewett & Nicholas Tripcevich

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3710, U.S.A.

    Kent G. Lightfoot, Rob Q. Cuthrell & Jun Sunseri

  3. Department of American Indian Studies, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182-6036, U.S.A.

    Peter Nelson

  4. California State Parks, Bay Area and Sonoma-Mendocino Coast Districts, 845 Casa Grande Road, Petaluma, CA, 94954, U.S.A.

    E. Breck Parkman

Authors
  1. Scott Byram
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kent G. Lightfoot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rob Q. Cuthrell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Peter Nelson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jun Sunseri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Roberta A. Jewett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. E. Breck Parkman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Nicholas Tripcevich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Scott Byram.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Byram, S., Lightfoot, K.G., Cuthrell, R.Q. et al. Geophysical Investigation of Mission San Francisco Solano, Sonoma, California. Hist Arch 52, 242–263 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-017-0086-3

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-017-0086-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation