University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Anthropology ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 11-15-2019 Seventeenth-Century Spanish Colonial Identity in New Mexico: A Study of Identity Practices through Material Culture Caroline M. Gabe University of New Mexico Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons, Chicana/o Studies Commons, Cultural History Commons, Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons, Latin American History Commons, Latin American Studies Commons, Museum Studies Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Gabe, Caroline M.. "Seventeenth-Century Spanish Colonial Identity in New Mexico: A Study of Identity Practices through Material Culture." (2019). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds/184 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Caroline Marie Gabe Candidate Anthropology Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Dr. Emily Lena Jones , Co-Chairperson Dr. Frances Hayashida , Co-Chairperson Dr. Bruce B. Huckell Prof. Christopher Wilson i SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY SPANISH COLONIAL IDENTITY IN NEW MEXICO: A STUDY OF IDENTITY PRACTICES THROUGH MATERIAL CULTURE by CAROLINE MARIE GABE B.A., Department of History, University of Michigan, 2003 B.A., Department of Classical Studies, University of Michigan, 2003 M.S., Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, 2008 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy ANTHROPOLOGY The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico December 2019 ii Dedication For my family: Marvin, Alice, Madeline, Arthur, & especially Chris iii Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of many departments, institutions, and especially individuals. First and foremost, I want to thank my family, starting with Chris for his advice, encouragement, and constant support. I also want to thank Marvin, Alice, Madeline, and Arthur for putting up with a sometimes- absentminded mom for their first years of life while I worked on my degree. Finally, my in-laws were also integral to the process. Thank you Marlene, Joan, and Terry who brought the village to us when we needed the extra help. Next, I want to thank the members of my committee (past and present). This includes Ann Ramenofsky, for helping me to begin my journey; Frances, for taking me on and pushing me towards perfection; Bruce, for being interested in my post-interesting research; Emily, for becoming my colleague, not just my co-chair; and Chris Wilson, for adding in an outside perspective. This dissertation relies solely upon museum collections and archives, so I also owe a debt of gratitude to all the individuals that helped me to access, search, and analyze the collections. The Maxwell Museum graciously opened their collections to me, accommodating my crazy schedule and baby wearing. I would specifically like to thank Catherine Baudoin, Dave Phillips, and Karen Price, as well as the volunteers who processed and accessioned the collections. I was also reliant on the Laboratory of Anthropology and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture up in Santa Fe, including Dedie Snow, who shared her vast knowledge of Spanish colonial archaeology during my visits. iv I also owe a debt of gratitude to the previous researchers who collected the materials and data I incorporated into this dissertation, including Robert K. Alexander, Stanley D. Bussey, Florence Hawley Ellis, Arthur Harris, Frank Hibben, Kenneth Honea, David Kayser, Karl W. Laumbach, Michael Marshall, Billy J. Naylor, Melissa Payne, Ann Ramenofsky, David Snow, Cordelia (Dedie) Snow, Helene Warren. Without their work this dissertation would not have been possible. I have received support for this dissertation, and my graduate career in general, from multiple institutions. The Hibben Foundation helped to support four years of my graduate career through the Junior and Senior Hibben Fellowships, while the Department of Anthropology gave financial assistance through travel and field site development grants. I would also like to thank the SRI Foundation for the Dissertation Research Grant in Historic Preservation and the Center for Regional Studies for a research graduate fellowship to start a tangential project. Various other UNM divisions helped with small grants, including OGS, GPSA, and Career Advancement. Finally, six years as an Interdepartmental Teaching Assistant in the Department of English Language and Literature and another year in the Department of Biology gave me unique teaching experiences, while helping to fund my graduate education. And finally, thank you to all the cohorts that came and went during my time in the Department of Anthropology for inspiration and the random conversations that helped motivate. v SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY SPANISH COLONIAL IDENTITY IN NEW MEXICO: A STUDY OF IDENTITY PRACTICES THROUGH MATERIAL CULTURE by Caroline Marie Gabe B.A., Department of History, University of Michigan, 2003 B.A., Department of Classical Studies, University of Michigan, 2003 M.S., Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, 2008 Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, 2019 Abstract This dissertation explores how seventeenth-century Spanish colonial households expressed their group identity at a regional level in New Mexico. Through the material remains of daily practice and repetitive actions, identity markers tied to adornment, technological traditions, and culinary practices are compared between 14 assemblages to test four identity models. Seventeenth-century colonists were eating a combination of Old World domesticates and wild game on colonoware and majolica serving vessels, cooking using Indigenous pottery, grinding with Puebloan style tools, and conducting household scale production and prospecting. While assemblages are consistent in basic composition, variations are present tied to socioeconomic status. This blending of material culture into a new set of identity markers points to a self-sufficient, household-based settlement pattern linked throughout the region, representing the transition over time from a broader New Spain material culture package to a New Mexico colonial identity package, which eventually developed into the modern Nuevo Mexicano identity. vi Table of Contents Dedication ......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iv Abstract ............................................................................................................................. vi Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ vii List of Figures ................................................................................................................. xiii List of Tables .................................................................................................................. xvi 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................1 2. Nuevo Mexico: Glory, God, and Gold .......................................................................6 Landscape and Environment ..........................................................................................10 Native Populations .........................................................................................................12 The Mission System .......................................................................................................14 Individual Colonists .......................................................................................................16 Community Isolation ......................................................................................................19 The End of an Era...........................................................................................................20 3. Towards a Group Identity: Ethnicity, Ethnogenesis, and Persistence in a Colonial Setting ................................................................................................................23 Identity in the Archaeological Record ...........................................................................24 Identity in the Northern Spanish Borderlands ........................................................................ 26 Seventeenth-Century New Mexican Identity .................................................................29 Regional Scale ........................................................................................................................ 31 Household Scale ..................................................................................................................... 33 Ethnic Persistence Models for New Mexico .......................................................................... 35 Identity Markers: Testing the Models ............................................................................38