The Archaeology of Ethnogenesis: Race and Sexuality in Colonial San Francisco sheds light on the genesis of the Californios, a community of military settlers who forged a new identity on the northwest edge of Spanish North America. The Presidio of San Francisco was founded by Spain in 1776 on California’s central coast as its northernmost military outpost in its North American territorial colonies. The fortification was garrisoned by a diverse community of families recruited from settlements in northern Mexico. Classified as castas, or people of mixed race, these families represented Native Am ... More

The Archaeology of Ethnogenesis: Race and Sexuality in Colonial San Francisco sheds light on the genesis of the Californios, a community of military settlers who forged a new identity on the northwest edge of Spanish North America. The Presidio of San Francisco was founded by Spain in 1776 on California’s central coast as its northernmost military outpost in its North American territorial colonies. The fortification was garrisoned by a diverse community of families recruited from settlements in northern Mexico. Classified as castas, or people of mixed race, these families represented Native American, African, and European ancestry. Through historical archaeology conducted during 1993-2005, this study investigates the material practices that formed the basis for cultural identity formation, or ethnogenesis, among these diverse peoples. A close investigation of the landscape, architecture, ceramics, foodways, clothing, and other aspects of material culture traces the shifting contours of race and sexuality in colonial California. The military settlers cast off colonial classifications within only a few decades and adopted a new identity as Californios, an identity that 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.