Papers by Antoinette Martinez
15. A Testament to Kent Lightfoot’s Academic Legacy
Berghahn Books, Dec 31, 2024
Daily Practice and Material Culture in Pluralistic Social Settings: An Archaeological Study of Culture Change and Persistence from Fort Ross, California
American Antiquity, Apr 1, 1998
This paper presents an archaeological approach to the study of culture change and persistence in ... more This paper presents an archaeological approach to the study of culture change and persistence in multi-ethnic communities through the study of daily practices and based on a crucial tenet of practice theory-that individuals will enact and construct their underlying organizational principles, worldviews, and social identities in the ordering of daily life. The study of habitual routines is undertaken in a broadly diachronic and comparative framework by examining daily practices from a multiscalar perspective. The approach is employed in a case study on the organization of daily life of interethnic households composed of Native Californian women and Native Alaskan men at the Russian colony of Fort Ross in northern California. Recognizing that different opportunities and choices existed for household members in this colonial setting, we explore how they constructed their own unique identities by examining the spatial layout of residential space, the ordering of domestic tasks, and the structure of trash disposal. We argue that trash deposits and middens in built environments, which often accumulate through routinized tasks, present great promise for examining the processes of culture change and persistence in archaeology.
California archaeology, Dec 1, 2009
An archaeological study of change and continuity in the material remains, practices, and cultural identities of Native Californian women in a nineteenth century pluralistic context
UMI eBooks, 1998
Cultural Contact: Archaeological Approaches
Elsevier eBooks, 2001
The focus of culture contact, as currently defined, is the study of culture change within the con... more The focus of culture contact, as currently defined, is the study of culture change within the context of contact situations involving different cultures. Much of the recent effort in this field has been on early encounters of indigenous peoples with Europeans in colonial contexts. The current archaeological approach integrates lines of evidence from archaeology, ethnography, ethnohistory, linguistics, biological anthropology, and native oral traditions. Beginning with ‘acculturation,’ the article alludes to subsequent theoretical and methodological trends. While no single theoretical position captures the field, certain ubiquitous issues include: (A) world economy and the intensification of regional exchange and innovations in material culture; (B) demographic collapse, lethal epidemics and changing natural landscapes; and (C) implications of demographic collapse for social disruption and reformulation including native responses of resistance, domination, and cooperation. A discussion of how issues relating to culture contact articulate with the greater theoretical agendas that dominate anthropology today leads to the recognition of methodological issues or problems as well as future directions involving historical anthropology and an increased interest in the development and negotiation of status hierarchies, ethnic identities, and gender relations in pluralistic colonial communities.
Feeding the Ranks: correlating social organization and dietary patterns at the Yukisma Mound (CA-SCL-38)
Reconsidering Stable Isotope Analysis of Bone Collagen for the Interpretation of Prehistoric Breastfeeding and Weaning Practices: A Case Study from Santa Clara Valley, California
An archaeological study of change and continuity in the material remains, practices, and cultural identities of Native Californian women in a nineteenth century pluralistic context
scahome.org
Breast-feeding and weaning are a part of childhood in all human populations, but the exact timing... more Breast-feeding and weaning are a part of childhood in all human populations, but the exact timing of these milestones varies between groups. As infants incorporate the nutrients from breast milk into their growing bones, chemical evidence is captured in the form of higher stable nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values. This study interprets δ15N values in the bone collagen of children (n= 24) buried at the Yukisma Mound (CA-SCL-38), in Santa Clara County, California. Radiocarbon dates for this site span 2200-250 BP, but primarily fall ...
Breastfeeding and weaning practices of the ancestral Ohlone Indians of California: A case study using stable isotope analysis of bone collagen
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2018
Social Identity and Disability in Prehistoric Central California: evidence for community support, accommodation, and care at the Yukisma Mound (CA-SCL-38)
Paleodietary analysis of a San Francisco Bay Area shellmound: stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of late Holocene humans from the Ellis Landing site (CA-CCO-295)
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2013
Abstract The late Holocene archaeofaunal record of the San Francisco Bay Area demonstrates tempor... more Abstract The late Holocene archaeofaunal record of the San Francisco Bay Area demonstrates temporal declines in the abundance of low-cost, high-ranked marine and terrestrial resources. During later periods of occupation, faunal assemblages are often dominated by lower-ranked, higher-cost resources, suggesting an increase in diet breadth through time. Archaeological resource intensification models argue that this marks a late Holocene decline in foraging efficiency in the Bay Area, driven by human-induced harvest pressure. This study examines dietary change in the region using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from 65 human burials, spanning two temporal components (cal AD 55–890 and cal AD 762–1550) at the Ellis Landing site (CA-CCO-295). The strong linear relationship between collagen carbon and nitrogen isotope values reflects both marine and terrestrial food consumption, with individuals showing a high level of dietary variability at the site. No temporal trend or meaningful sex differences were found in isotope values. The widening of diet breadth predicted by the archaeofaunal record occurred prior to the occupation of the Ellis Landing shellmound site. The trend in exploiting a greater amount of terrestrial resources during the Middle and Late Period in central California was supported by isotopic evidence.
Breast-feeding and weaning are a part of childhood in all human populations, but the exact timing... more Breast-feeding and weaning are a part of childhood in all human populations, but the exact timing of these milestones varies between groups. As infants incorporate the nutrients from breast milk into their growing bones, chemical evidence is captured in the form of higher stable nitrogen (δ 15 N) isotope values. This study interprets δ 15 N values in the bone collagen of children (n = 24) buried at the Yukisma Mound (CA-SCL-38), in Santa Clara County, California. Radiocarbon dates for this site span 2200-250 B.P., but primarily fall during the Late period (740-230 B.P.). In the one probable mother-infant pair available for study, a 2.9 per mil enrichment of δ 15 N values was observed, consistent with the expected trophic level enrichment of breast-feeding infants. δ 15 N values of children under seven years old suggest the introduction of weaning foods between 1.5 and 2 years of age, and cessation of breast-feeding by 3 to 3.5 years of age. These results differ from the practices reported in the ethnohistoric literature. This paper includes photos of human remains, taken during excavation at CA-SCL-38 by Ohlone Family Consulting Services, the CRM arm of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe (which also served as the Most Likely Descendant tribal group for this project). The images were provided to the authors by the tribe, and specific permission was granted to include them in this publication.
Frontiers and Boundaries in Archaeological Perspective
Annu Rev Anthropol, 1995
Most archaeological studies of frontiers and boundaries are informed by a colonialist perspective... more Most archaeological studies of frontiers and boundaries are informed by a colonialist perspective of core-periphery relationships. In this review, we identify three problems with colonialist models of territorial expansion, boundary maintenance, and homogeneousc olonial populations. These problems are (a) insular models of culture change that treat frontiers as passive recipients of core innovations, (b) the reliance on macro scales of analysis employed frontier research, and (c) the expectation of sharp frontier boundaries visible material culture. In the final section, we reconceptualize frontiers as zones of cross-cutting social networks based largely on our research on fur-trade outposts in western North America. Our approach considers the study of diverse and overlapping segmentary or factional groups that cross-cut traditionally perceived colonial-indigenous boundaries on the frontier at different spatial and temporal scales of analysis.
Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology, 2011
Annual Review of Anthropology, 1995
... 36:145), in considering the problems of defining tribal boundaries in California, argue that ... more ... 36:145), in considering the problems of defining tribal boundaries in California, argue that ... approach are many, but similar to the world systems perspective its unfettered ... Canadians, eastern Europeans, Euro-Americans, Metis and other "mixed bloods," eastern Native Americans ...
American Antiquity, 1998
... and comparative framework by examining daily practices from a multi-scalar perspective. ... i... more ... and comparative framework by examining daily practices from a multi-scalar perspective. ... in the Americas, these studies present unique opportunities to examine Native American encounters with ... Martinez, and Ann M. Schiff Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, CA ...
Breast-feeding and weaning are a part of childhood in all human populations, but the exact timing... more Breast-feeding and weaning are a part of childhood in all human populations, but the exact timing of these milestones varies between groups. As infants incorporate the nutrients from breast milk into their growing bones, chemical evidence is captured in the form of higher stable nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values. This study interprets δ15N values in the bone collagen of children (n= 24) buried at the Yukisma Mound (CA-SCL-38), in Santa Clara County, California.
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Papers by Antoinette Martinez