Jerry Schaefer - Society for California Archaeology

Figure 10. Worked transfer-printed English ceramic.
throughout Old Town suggests persistent and well-established methods of procurement. Was it a barter
system, a currency system, or a combination? Does the appearance of Native American artifacts represent
the product of the social and economic relationships of the household staff with potters, perhaps even
relatives, who continued to practice their craft and who lived in rancherias around Old Town? The
historical record provides no answer. Up to now, no record exists of Tizon vessels being sold in stores, as
occurred for the marketing of Quechan pottery in Yuma (Schaefer 1993; Trippel 1889). Nor is there a
record of Kumeyaay women selling pots in the open markets that characterize many Mexican towns. Did
Old Town even have open markets? I presume they did in the early period, but probably not in the
American period. If some sort of market for Tizon pots existed, perhaps Kumeyaay women, or their
agents, peddled their wares directly to each household in Old Town, or on the street, as was common for
Tohono O’odham potters in Arizona (Fontana et al. 1962). I expect that somewhere a record exists, but
for now we must content ourselves with the rich archaeological record of Native Americans in the life of
Old Town.
SCA Proceedings, Volume 26 (2012) Schaefer, p. 150