How to Incorporate Primary Sources into Your Classroom

Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, California – July 14, 2013

Presented by

RUBEN G. MENDOZA, PhD, RPA, Professor CSU Monterey Bay

It must be stressed that archaeology as the study of the human occupation of the American continent is incompatible with the mission of the schools in the USA.

Material evidence of a non-English, Precolonial past can be permitted only insofar as it appears simple, crude, and a component of nature on the American continent.

Kehoe, 1994: 213

Mission San Juan Bautista

Ehrenberg, 1849

Hutton, 1847

Black, 1854

Historic documents courtesy Diocese of Monterey

North Wall, Granary of 1802Southwest Convento Dig, 1996

Feature 1, Well, 1995

Photos and documents by Ruben G. Mendoza, 1995-2001

Northwest Convento

Photos by Ruben G. Mendoza, 2009

Chapel of 1797 / NW Convento, SJB[Built by soldiers from San Carlos de Monterey]

Royal Presidio Chapel of Monterey, 1771-1795RPC Google SketchUp Model by Ruben G. Mendoza and Jessie Feldmeyer, 2007.

Jose Cardero, 1791

Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad

Identification of altar de La Iglesia de la Mision de la Dolorisima Soledad.

Rediscovery of Soledad Church west wall courtyard doorway and teja-tile footing fill/stucco.

Archaeological investigations included a number of key discoveries regarding architectural practice in the California missions. Among these, the recycling of teja roof tiles as a rodent barrier in adobe walls.

Community Service Learning at Mission Soledad.

Wireless journals were posted daily and in real-time during the course of the excavation day. You may read our wireless posts at http://archaeology.csumb.edu/archlab/

Mission San Carlos Borromeo

Exposed floor areas of the original Serra Library at San Carlos Borromeo del Río Carmelo. Note looters pit cut through floor at left of center. Photo © Ruben G. Mendoza, 2004.

Wireless Technologies Demonstration Project Satellite Pointing, Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Río Carmelo, CA., February 2003. Photo © Ruben G. Mendoza, 2003.

The Wireless Site Catalog Tool and photo import functions a real-time data management and reference tool developed for this project. Photos © Ruben G. Mendoza, 2003.

Internet-based wireless data entry and collections management with a hand-held PDA device at CSU Monterey Bay. Photo © Ruben G. Mendoza, 2003.

Satellite-mediated telecommunications by the PI during torrential downpour at Mission San Carlos. Note fallen canopy destroyed by high winds. Photo © Ruben G. Mendoza, 2003.

La Capilla Real del Presidio de Monterey

The carved stone façade of the Royal Presidio Chapel or San Carlos Cathedral has been designated a registered National Historic Landmark.

Media coverage, including the expert commentaries by Center for Spanish Colonial Archaeology archaeologist Jack Williams, narrowly averted the potential destruction of the 3 rd Chapel of 1772.

By the end of the first day of exploratory exposures of the foundation footings of the 3 rd Chapel, a granite and basalt boulder pavement overlain with Roman Mortar – consisting of a lime, gravel, and sand floor composite – was identified. By the third day, the discovery became a front page media story.

On Monday, July 28th of 2008, the archaeology crew resumed monitoring of the archaeological resources identified with the 3rd Chapel. So much new material was recovered that two crew members were assigned to the excavation of the 3rd Chapel, and two others to monitoring with the assistance of members of the construction crew.

The granite and blue basalt boulder pavement constituting the substrate of the 3 rd Chapel floor included non-native stone that may have been culled from a ship’s ballast stones. The bronze higa (lower right) was recovered from the southeast corner of the pavement so noted.

Artifacts from the Fall 2006 investigations. The 1779 coin was found in direct association with the Terrace 1 feature provisionally dated 1780-1790.

The shale walls of the 4th Chapel of 1791-94 were pockmarked with sockets which putatively anchored the scaffolding used to build the structure. In one such pocket were recovered the remains of a “British” Annular Ware vessel with cabled or wavy lines that dates to the period of 1790-1820.

Maiolica or Majolica was recovered in quantity, and regional variation in style (e.g. Aranama) was not uncommon.

This research has determined that the crypt was constructed some time prior to the 1858 Transept retrofit. A vault or boveda permitted the enclosure of the pre-existing chamber.

Top: Sculpted shale candle stand.

Right: Sculpted shale crucifix.

The unused crypt.

Left: Remains of the plank ceiling consisting of tablas.

Material Cultures

Pest ridden manuscript from the Archives Room at Mission San Juan Bautista, CA. Photo Library of Congress, 2005.

Development of the electronic catalog has greatly enhanced our abilities to track that historical data required for conservation and historic preservation initiatives. Photo © Ruben G. Mendoza, 2006.

CSU Monterey Bay student interns catalog specimens from Old Mission Museum. All such data entry is being facilitated with PastPerfect Museum Software. Photo © Ruben G. Mendoza, 2006.

Anne Mrozielski, of the Ecole de Condé School of Art Restoration in Paris, props a painting of Mary Magdalene. Photo © Ruben G. Mendoza, 2006.

In an effort to develop a visual database, all Mission artifacts and specimens are currently being photographed for the purposes of the documentary record. Photo © Ruben G. Mendoza, 2006.

Project intern Anne Mrozielski holds a bar-coded choclatero, or copper chocolate mug located in the Mission Refectory. Photo © Ruben G. Mendoza, 2006.

During the course of archaeological monitoring, a host of secondary discoveries were made in situ at the Royal Presidio of Monterey. Among such findings, the re-discovery of the 1905 marble commemorative marker that once marked the location of the “Junipero Oak” was paramount.

Acknowledgements

Phil Hudner, JD, Trustee Louise M. Davies Foundation / Charles D. & Francis K. Field Fund

Bishop Richard Garcia and Bishop Sylvester RyanDiocese of Monterey

Reverend Jim Henry Old Mission San Juan Bautista

Father Carl Faria Archives of the Diocese of Monterey

CSU Monterey Bay and Hartnell College Field Crews, 1995-2004

And, my Very Patient Family…Linda, Natalie, and MayaCopyright © Rubén G. Mendoza 2013