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Missions, Indians, and cultural continuity

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Abstract

A technique has been devised for measuring the rate and degree of culture change represented in archaeological assemblages from the California Missions. Using this technique on data from excavations at the missions of Soledad, San Antonio, and La Purisima, shows that while there are differences between these missions, the most important result is that the California Indians maintained a high degree of traditional cultural continuity at all three missions. Using a sequence of assemblages from Mission Soledad, changes through the Mission period are evaluated and interpreted in relation to changes in the economic structure of Spanish and Mexican California.

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Farnsworth, P. Missions, Indians, and cultural continuity. Hist Arch 26, 22–36 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374157

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374157

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