Tradition and Trade Beads: The Early Sobaipuri O’odham–Spanish Contact Period at San Xavier Del Bac, Arizona

Abstract

Our paper investigates aspects of initial contact between the Sobaipuri O’odham and Spanish missionaries at San Xavier del Bac in the late 1600s to early 1700s. Cultural contact and change are of enduring interest to anthropologists, and our recent research on the San Xavier District provides important new data on this subject. Specifically, we investigate the degree of indigenous adoption of European material culture and religious teachings at this remote outpost of the Spanish empire after contact with Father Kino in 1692. We use archaeological data from a Protohistoric-early Historic period locus northeast of the San Xavier Mission to investigate our research topic. Through our excavation results and comparative data from other Sobaipuri sites and publications, we demonstrate that the Sobaipuri villagers at Bac initially exhibited indifference to the presence of the Spanish until the mid-1700s when they began to participate in more active forms of resistance to Spanish domination.

Nuestro artículo investiga algunos aspectos del contacto inicial entre los Sobaipuri O’odham y los misioneros españoles en San Xavier del Bac desde los últimos años del siglo XVII hasta el principio del siglo XVIII. Tanto el contacto cultural como el cambio son de interés perdurable para los antropólogos, y nuestra investigación reciente sobre el Distrito de San Xavier proporciona importantes datos nuevos sobre este tema. Específicamente, exploramos hasta qué nivel se adoptaron entre los indígenas la cultura material y las enseñanzas religiosas europeos en este asentamiento remoto del imperio español después del contacto con el Padre Kino en 1692. Para investigar este tema, utilizamos datos arqueológicos de un sitio del período protohistórico – de la historia temprana que se ubica al noreste de la Misión de San Xavier. A través de los resultados de nuestra excavación y de los datos comparativos obtenidos de otros sitios y publicaciones de Sobaipuri, demostramos que, al principio, los aldeanos de Sobaipuri en Bac se mostraron indiferentes a la presencia de los españoles hasta que, a mediados del siglo XVIII, comenzaron a participar en formas más activas de resistencia ante el dominio español.

KEYWORDS:

• Sobaipuri O’odham
• domination and resistance
• Spanish colonial period
• San Xavier del Bac
• early historic period
• glass trade beads

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Jon Czaplicki (Reclamation), Peter Steere (Tohono O’odham Nation THPO), Garry Cantley (U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs), and all of the members of the San Xavier District who welcomed us onto their homeland during the fieldwork. The San Xavier District and Mr. Steere also allowed us to publish this paper and we are deeply grateful and honored. Robert Stokes directed the project with the assistance of Linda Schilling, Kristin Fangmeier, and Andrea Gregory in the field. We would also like to thank Sarah Herr, Jon Czaplicki, and Deni Seymour for commenting on earlier versions, and the anonymous Kiva reviewers for their helpful and candid thoughts that improved it tremendously. Dr. Mary Ayala, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at ENMU, translated the abstract into Spanish.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Churches or missions are larger, more-or-less permanently manned places of worship whereas visitas were one- or two-room structures used on occasion by visiting priests (O’Mack and Klucas 2004).

2 Seymour (2011a, 2011b) and others (e.g. Lyons 2004) have noted that Di Peso incorrectly identified the sites of Baicatcan and Gaybanipitea, which may be Jose Solaz Ruin and AZ EE:8:15(ASM) respectively, with AZ EE:8:283(ASM) being Gaybanipitea just to the south of Di Peso’s excavations; additionally, AZ EE:8:15(ASM) may be a Classic period Hohokam site.

Additional information

Funding

The fieldwork was funded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to Archaeological Consulting Services [Contract No. 1425-01-CS-32-0110]. No funding was received for producing this article.