Jerry Schaefer - Society for California Archaeology

Figure 8. Fire-affected stones from Room 105 with evidence of polish and ground surfaces (Cat. 4326).
foodways and technology that, even before they first appeared in San Diego, incorporated elements of
Native American and European traditions in the Mexican heartland.
LITHICS AND OTHER ARTIFACTS
Other traditional Native American artifacts included 30 pieces of lithic debitage, a late-stage
biface core, two other cores, a couple of retouched flakes, and one hammer stone. There were no
projectile points. All these items occur in obvious historic contexts. Items of possible Native American
ownership include a Phoenix button (Carrico 1982; Strong 1960, 1975), found on top of one of the
earliest wall foundations at the site. Two perforated silver coins may also be from Native American
ornaments or clothing.
Another object of likely Native manufacture is a ceramic disk with ground edges (Figure 10).
Similar worked Euro-American ceramics come from ethnohistoric-period sites. Although typically
classified as “gaming pieces,” they may also have been used as jar stoppers or had some other utilitarian
use. This one was made from a blue transfer-printed earthenware. The pattern is “English Cities,” made
by Enoch Wood & Sons of Staffordshire, England (1828-1846). Several other fragments of the same
pattern were found nearby in the same context (Unit 26), where a Bandini-era trash deposit occurred
outside of the kitchen and in association with milling tools and Tizon Brown Ware.
One whole Olivella biplicata shell bead and 53 glass trade beads are also likely evidence of
Native Americans (Figure 11). Drawn and Mandrel-wound bead types are found in ethnohistoric-period
Native American sites throughout the Pacific West and in historic sites at which Native Americans were
present, including ranches, presidios, pueblos, missions, and early American cities (Baker et al. 1995:18;
Karklins and Sprague 1972, 1980; Kidd and Kidd 1970; Motz and Schulz 1980; Ross 1976). Most of
these inexpensive beads were not used by Euro-Americans. Among the most common of the 12 types
were short, ground, multisided drawn beads that occur in translucent blue, opaque black, and clear. They
are often referred to as “Russian Beads” because they were widely traded in the northern Pacific, although
they likely derive from Bohemian manufacturers.
So, a few final questions remain. By what economic or cultural process did ceramics in particular
come into the Bandini household? Do they represent Tizon ceramics becoming a commodity and Native
potters finding an economic niche in Old Town trade? The quantity of Tizon in historic contexts
SCA Proceedings, Volume 26 (2012) Schaefer, p. 148