The Archaeology of Ethnogenesis: Race and Sexuality in Colonial San Francisco

By: Barbara L. Voss

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Synopsis: This groundbreaking work of historical archaeology illuminates the genesis of the Californios, a community of military settlers who forged a new identity on the northwest edge of Spanish North America. Since 1993, Barbara L. Voss has conducted archaeological excavations at the Presidio of San Francisco, founded by Spain during its colonization of California's central coast. Her research at the Presidio forms the basis for this rich study of cultural identity formation, or ethnogenesis, among the diverse peoples who came from widespread colonized populations to serve at the Presidio. Through a close investigation of the landscape, architecture, ceramics, clothing, and other aspects of material culture, she traces shifting contours of race and sexuality in colonial California. The research reveals how these military settlers had cast off colonial classifications within only a few decades, and adopted a new identity as Californios, which in turn naturalized their dominance over Native Californians. An illuminating investigation of one historically significant site in California, the book at the same time shows how historical archaeology can help us understand colonial processes in other settings around the world.