Ritual as performance in small-scale

societies

Kathleen L. Hull

Abstract
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

Although archaeological study of ritual as performance has garnered increasing attention in recent years,
such research has primarily focused on large-scale, complex societies and, therefore, on the relation of
performance to politics and power. In contrast, this paper explores archaeological assessment of public
performance within small-scale societies, considering especially the significance of specific practices to
social integration, identity, and historicity. This analysis is informed by emerging interdisciplinary theory
on ritual, dramatization, and performance, and draws on archaeological evidence of cyclic communal
mourning rites in coastal southern California that reveal aspects of performance including item manufac-
ture, burning, pigmentation, sequential fragmentation, and structured deposition in ‘persistent places’.

Keywords

Ritual; performance; small-scale societies; mourning; California.

Introduction

After several decades of thoughtful scholarship on performance by cultural anthropologists and

archaeologists – often drawing on diverse disciplinary perspectives – there is strong consensus
that performance is a critical aspect of ritual (e.g. Bell 1992, 1997). Likewise, the notion that
ritual – or ritualization (Bell 1992) – encompasses a range of activities from mundane acts of
daily life to episodic or unique spectacles is also widely accepted by both cultural anthropol-
ogists and archaeologists (Inomata and Coben 2006a). As one surveys archaeological literature
on ritual performance, however, it is clear that interest has leaned heavily toward formal
performances within complex, hierarchical societies rather than ritual as performance within
small-scale hunter-gatherer groups (e.g. Inomata and Coben 2006b). Certainly ritual has not
been ignored by archaeologists studying hunter-gatherers – particularly with respect to mortuary
practices and the creation of, or depictions within, rock art – but the performative aspects of

© 2014 Taylor & Francis ISSN 0043-8243 print/1470-1375 online

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2013.879044
 2 Kathleen L. Hull

communal rituals and even individual ritualization have rarely been explored in detail (e.g. Hill
2011; Randall 2011; Robinson 2004; Yates, Golson and Hall 1985).
Such neglect may be due in part to the difficulty of identifying ritual spaces and acts in the
archaeological record of small-scale societies beyond the bounds of rock-art panels or mortuary
practices. The focus on complex hierarchical societies, however, may also reflect an understand-
able fascination with power relations and the central political and ideological aims that ritual
performance is often thought to have entailed within ancient state-level societies, in particular.
Contemplation of large-scale social, political, and ideological contestation is indeed alluring, while
also in keeping with the broader ‘postmodern turn’ in anthropology. In contrast, previous func-
tional perspectives on small-scale societies such as those of Durkheim (2001) stressed the
integrative nature of ritual, although later anthropological scholarship has viewed even this aspect
of ritual as more dynamic and perhaps contested (e.g. Turner 1986). In fact, all ancient societies
lacking writing systems probably depended upon ritual – and especially the performative aspects
of ritual – as one means within a relatively limited repertoire of media through which values,
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

meaning and identity could be created, expressed, reinforced and negotiated (see Bell 1997, 73;
Inomata and Coben 2006a, 25, 33). And, while small-scale, and perhaps even so-called ‘inter-
mediate’ (sensu Arnold 1996), hunter-gatherer societies would have facilitated direct, face-to-face
interaction between many, if not all, individuals of a group on a regular basis, the arena of ritual
performance provided distinctive opportunities for engagement of people, ideas and history within
and beyond the group even in such intimate contexts.
With these observations as a backdrop, this paper examines evidence of performance in
cyclical (e.g. annual) mourning ceremonies carried out by hunter-gatherers in the Los Angeles
basin of southern California for more than 2,500 years. These rites were distinct in timing,
location and practice from mortuary rituals, and most likely addressed relations among the
living rather than focusing on interaction with the dead. Although archaeological evidence of
mourning ritual was first identified in this area more than sixty years ago (Walker 1952),
sufficient data have only recently become available to address the actions, intent and experience
of both the performers and audience. Lithic and spatial analyses of several well-defined
concentrations of variously fragmented, burned, pigmented and buried objects – primarily
large ground-stone implements such as milling tools and vessels – have revealed practices
consistent with ethnographically documented mourning rituals (Hull, Douglass and York 2013).
This examination opens with a brief discussion of how this study is situated within current
theory on ritual and performance and of how new studies of mourning features in coastal
southern California provide data directly applicable to analysis of performance. Ethnographic
and ethnohistoric data on cyclical mourning rites in the greater Los Angeles area are then
summarized as a guide to more ancient practices, with particular reference to the communal,
performative aspects of such rituals. Finally, spatial and artifactual data from several mourning
features identified at archaeological sites are discussed to address the potential experience and
implications of, and interplay between, the performers and their audience as part of these rites.

Ritual, performance and experience

Garnering the attention of anthropologists almost since the discipline was first established, ritual
has been described as ‘the performance of a complex sequence of symbolic acts’ (Turner 1986,
 Ritual as performance in small-scale societies 3

75). As reviewed by Inomata and Coben (2006a; see also Bell 1992, 1997), however, anthro-
pological and, to a lesser extent, archaeological studies of such activity have changed signifi-
cantly over the last century. Early concern with symbolic meaning and emphasis on the thoughts
of the actors has given way to more recent focus on action, experience and how – rather than
what – rituals communicate to the participants. This is an especially welcome shift for archae-
ologists, given the growing appreciation that ritual meanings may be variously understood and
contested by the participants (Inomata and Coben 2006a, 18). That is, the search for specific
symbolic meaning within ancient rituals may be even more elusive – or, at least, more
complicated – than asserted by a generation of skeptical processual archaeologists (e.g. Binford
1965). In contrast, many aspects of physical movement and sensory experiences constitutive of
ritual – including the visual, auditory, olfactory, thermal, gustatory and tactile aspects of the
interaction of people and things – may be more readily accessible for archaeological study given
material genesis and consequences. Moreover, initial focus on the performance rather than the
meaning of rituals may ultimately shed light on messages transmitted via rites in particular
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

social and historical circumstances.

By definition, performance entails bodily action and, in the context of ritual as well as many
other types of performance, either an actual or imagined audience to witness and otherwise
participate in such efforts. Therefore, ‘performance-centered research takes as...its subject
matter...the experiencing body [of both the performers and audience members] situated in
time, place, and history’ (Conquergood 1991, 187). With respect to ritual, several key elements
of performance pertain to this perspective (Bell 1997, 74–5): (1) the ‘physical and sensual
aspects of ritual activity’; (2) the interpretive ‘framing’ of actions and sensations through speech
or other modes of communication during rites; (3) the capacity of the performance to ‘create,
effect, or bring about [a desired end]...by virtue of its dynamic, diachronic, and physical
characteristics’; and (4) the opportunities afforded for reflection on self and/or society by such
activities. The ‘experiencing body’ of ritual is ‘at the same time bodily, emotional, and mental’,
so analysis of performance addresses ‘the active creation of meaning, identities, cognitive
models, and social relations through the experience of seeing [and hearing, smelling, tasting,
touching, etc.] and doing’ (Inomata and Coben 2006a, 19).
Archaeological study of ritual viewed through the lens of performance, then, must consider
form, process and context (Inomata and Coben 2006a, 21). Grimes (1982) provided an
extensive list of questions that help flesh out these mutually constitutive and integrated dimen-
sions of ritual performance for the analyst, although only a few will be considered here given
the focus on small-scale societies and reliance on archaeological, rather than ethnographic, data.
With respect to form, dimensions include the number, social identity (e.g. by age, gender, etc.)
and cultural affiliation of the performers and audience; the postures, gestures and utterances (e.g.
speech, song) of the participants; the size, shape, material, utility, manipulation and alteration of
objects by the participants; the foodstuffs consumed; and the physical space in which people and
things move and interact as the ritual unfolds, including aspects such as size, shape, visual field
and proxemics. Process highlights the dynamic qualities of ritual performance, including the
preparation of people, things and space before the ritual, as well as the sequence of actions,
series of sensual and cognitive perceptions or emotions and initiation, interplay and termination
of various sensory experiences during the performance. Context encompasses both time and
space at various scales, from moments of enactment within the ritual space and lives of the
participants to the regional and historical relations impinging upon and informing the
 4 Kathleen L. Hull

perceptions and experiences of participants at that particular time and place. Thus, thorough
archaeological study of ritual performance necessitates a combination of artifactual and spatial
data encompassing a range of temporal and spatial scales. The current study, however, focuses
only on the immediate space and objects of the ritual performance.
The data considered herein derive primarily from one large and one small feature excavated at
CA-LAN-63 (Features 587 and 11, respectively) and another large feature (Feature 2) at
CA-ORA-263 (Hull, Douglass and York 2013; hereafter ‘CA-’ will be omitted), which were
discovered when sediments of the entire site areas were systematically removed by a grader.
These and numerous other features at both sites date to the Intermediate Period (3000–1000 BP),
a time when ritual mourning first appeared and societies may be confidently identified as small-
scale relative to social organization that prevailed among hunter-gatherers of this region at the
time of European contact. Additional, less detailed, data come from ten features at seven other
sites excavated more than sixty years ago (Fig. 1) (Hull 2012), the youngest of which may be
only c. 1,000 years old.
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

Feature 587 measures approximately 5m in diameter and 50cm deep, although the densest
artifact concentration is confined to a 2-by-2m area (Fig. 2). Encompassing more than 600
flaked and ground-stone objects, rare cremated human remains and whole and fragmentary
faunal bones and shell, this feature is dominated by fragmentary milling equipment, broken
vessels and unmodified cobbles. Feature 11 is a single pit measuring 40 by 60cm and 30cm

Figure 1 Location of sites with mourning features in the greater Los Angeles area (after Hull, Douglass and
York 2013, fig. 1).
 Ritual as performance in small-scale societies 5
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

Figure 2 Map of Feature 587 at CA-LAN-63 (from Hull, Douglass and York 2013, fig. 5).

Figure 3 Map of Feature 2 at CA-ORA-263 (from Hull, Douglass and York 2013, fig. 7).

deep, with more than thirty whole and fragmentary lithic artifacts, as well as small fragments of
faunal bone and shell. Feature 2 is nearly identical in size to Feature 387 (Fig. 3), and includes
135 ground-stone tool fragments, more than 700 stone and shell beads, faunal bone, abundant
cremated human remains and rare fossils and flaked stone tools. While the ground stone was not
 6 Kathleen L. Hull

as densely concentrated as in Feature 587, the distribution of vessel fragments, cremated

remains and beads revealed distinct clustering All three of these features were centrally located
within the sites at which they were discovered, and in situ mapping of constituents during
hand excavation provides detailed intra-feature spatial data. Likewise, lithic analysis included
recording attributes of artifact morphology, technology, material, damage (e.g. fragmentation,
burning) and other alteration (e.g. pigmentation), as well as artifact refitting that revealed
sequences of intentional fracture (Hull, Douglass and York 2013). This array of spatial and
artifactual data is directly applicable to discerning form, process and context in the performance
of mourning ritual.

Performance of cyclical mourning ritual in coastal southern California

Ethnographic and ethnohistoric information provide a picture of the form and process of cyclical
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

communal mourning ritual within traditional hunter-gatherer societies of coastal southern

California (see Hull 2011). Such rites were performed once a year or every few years to
commemorate some or all individuals within the group who had passed away during the
preceding period. A roughly oval sacred space (yoba – Gabrielino/Tongva – or vanquech –
Juaneño/Ajáchmeyam, Luiseño/Qechyam; Kroeber 1925, 628) – used for this and other cere-
monies – was centrally located within the village, adjacent to both an open dance area and the
chief’s house. The yoba was prepared for the mourning ritual by constructing or reconstructing a
perimeter wall of wooden posts and other freshly cut vegetal material. Accounts vary regarding
the size of this space, which may have been as small as 4m in diameter or as large as 11 to 17m
in maximum dimension. Regardless of size, a wall measuring 1 to 1.5m high was built in an arc
around half of the circumference of the oval, while a row of low, upright sticks extending no
more than 5cm above the ground bounded the other half of the oval (see Hull 2011). Thus,
individuals could easily enter and exit the space over this low ‘wall’ and, presumably, other
people could witness all or most activities carried out within the yoba when outside the structure
on this same side. This low side probably faced the adjacent dance area.
The high wall was often embellished with feathers, and Reid (1968, 41) noted that four poles
‘some ten feet in length...[were] placed upright [at the cardinal directions of the structure] with a
string at the end, on which feathers were filed, forming a sort of banner’. Likewise, a pole or
effigy may have been positioned inside the yoba close to the high wall, and a large hearth and
one or more pot rests may have been located in the center of the yoba (see Hull 2011). Given the
apparent dimensions of this sacred space and potential interior features, the yoba may have
accommodated as few as ten (small oval) to more than 200 (large oval) people. As noted above,
however, many more individuals positioned outside the low side of the structure may have
viewed or otherwise participated in ritual activities that were centered within the yoba. The
maximum number of such spectators or participants would depend on the size of the dance area
and activities in which these people engaged.
As these data suggest, significant preparation was required for mourning rituals. When first
established, the dance area may have required leveling of the ground. Such cyclical rites also
required construction or reconstruction, decoration and consecration of the yoba ‘in a succession
of different ceremonies’ (Reid 1968, 21) by specialists when the structure was (re)built. It is
unknown if this process was performed before an audience, if construction was simply
 Ritual as performance in small-scale societies 7

witnessed informally by villagers as they went about other activities or if villagers were
prohibited from viewing certain aspects of construction or consecration. Preparation is also
clear in the retention of items from among the possessions of the deceased – perhaps including
some objects previously exposed to fire during mortuary rites at the time of death – for use in
the mourning ritual. Other items may either have belonged to the mourners or were made
specifically for the communal mourning ritual. For example, ethnographic reports note the
weaving of baskets for this purpose (Merriam 1955a, 78, 1955b, 90). Regalia or other forms
of body ornamentation used by at least some of the participants (see below) were also likely to
have required preparation beforehand. Finally, feasting that took place in conjunction with
mourning ceremonies would have necessitated amassing sufficient food to feed numerous
people within and beyond the community who gathered for the occasion over a number of days.
The mourning ritual itself minimally consisted of the destruction of objects by burning or
other means, and burial of the remnants of these ruined items within the yoba. Reid notes that
only ritual performers such as ‘seers and captains, adult male dancers, the boys in training for
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

that purpose, and female singers’ (1968, 21) were permitted inside the yoba, although it is
unknown if all these performers were necessary for all or only a part of the mourning ceremony.
In addition, it seems that close relatives of the deceased entered or remained inside the yoba
during communal mourning rituals (Reid 1968, 21).
Reid provides the most detailed account of the performative aspects of the mourning
ceremony:

When a church [i.e. yoba] feast was held – for instance in commemoration of the dead – they
rehearsed with the tiros [i.e. novices] for eight days previous, in unconsecrated place of
worship [see also Reid 1968, 21]. All being ready, the seers took an entire day to consecrate
the church; this done the fast [feast] commenced on the second day. The singers (women)
were seated in a circle around the church, leaving only the doorway free. The men and
children, adorned with eagle and hawk’s [sic] feathers, and a plentiful supply of paint laid on
the face, neck, arms, and upper part of the body, proceeded to dance, being governed in the
operation by numerous gestures, both of hands and feet, made by the seers. Each dancer
represented some animal in his movements; but the growl given simultaneously at the end of
each verse, was for the Bear.
....Food was furnished the performers in abundance, at short intervals, and this continued
six days and nights. They sung songs in praise of the deceased, and sung others to the
destruction of his enemies. They danced to his memory, and did the same to the destruction
of his foes. On the eighth day the church was more adorned than before. When no more
feathers could be stuck around, they placed them on their persons in profusion. The old
women were employed to make more food than usual, and when the sun was in its zenith it
was distributed, not only among the actors, but to the spectators likewise. After eating, a deep
hole was dug, and a fire kindled in it, when the articles reserved at the death of relatives were
committed to the flames; at the same time, baskets, money, and seeds were thrown to the
spectators....During the burning process, one of the seers, reciting mystical words, kept
stirring up the fire to ensure the total destruction of the things. – The hole was then filled
up with earth and well trodden down. The feast was over.
(Reid 1968, 40–2)
 8 Kathleen L. Hull

Ethnographic information suggests that the mourning ritual and activities leading up to and
coincident with it – including elements noted in Reid’s account – may have become more
elaborate at or after Spanish colonization (Hull 2011, 36). It is not known whether a procession
or other formal act opened or closed the mourning ceremony (and, thus, brought together and
disbanded the audience and performers), although such practice is recorded for some other rites
(Boscana 1978, 58).
In summary, ethnographic and ethnohistoric data reveal aspects of form and process that are
useful for archaeological assessment of mourning ritual performance in coastal southern
California. The establishment and ornamentation of a centrally located, relatively intimate
sacred space probably served to focus both the activities of the performers and the attention
of the audience during the ritual performance since it was distinct from its surroundings.
Likewise, the significant preparation and consecration required in constructing the yoba – as
well as the extended rehearsal time of the performers – may have built anticipation for the
performance by both the actors and the audience in the days leading up to the ceremony. Over
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

the previous year or longer cycle, retention of objects associated with the deceased or manu-
facture of new items for use in the rite may have further heightened such anticipation. A few
hundred spectators and performers were most likely involved over a number of days.
The ‘stage’ and other visual aspects of the mourning rite included the embellished yoba,
adorned performers moving in orchestrated ways and objects and foodstuffs introduced and
consumed during the ritual. Auditory elements would probably have included the sound of
voices (i.e. speech, song) of the performers, possibly musical instruments, dancing (i.e. footfalls
on the ground) and perhaps impacts during object fragmentation and the sound of the fire
destroying items. Tastes of food and the smells of freshly cut vegetation, food, smoke and living
bodies may have been variously sensed, while tactile experiences may well have included the
handling of objects of different sizes, shapes and materials that varied in density and texture.
Since both performers and audience members were moving in many different ways either as part
of the rite or into and out of spaces, individual bodily experiences, sensations and emotions
would have varied over the course of the ceremony.

Archaeology of performance in mourning ritual

Evidence from several archaeological sites in the greater Los Angeles area – including LAN-63
and ORA-263 – indicates that many elements of native mourning ritual recorded by early
European settlers and later ethnographers have significant time depth in the region (Hull 2012;
Hull, Douglass and York 2013). Thus, ethnographic data that initially served to identify
mourning feature function based on constituents and structure (Hull 2011, 2012) also provide
a useful analog with which to explore the performative aspects of these traditional rites. While
only some of the embodied experiences of ancient actors and their audience suggested by
ethnographic data can be assessed with archaeological remains, thorough analyses of the three
recently excavated mourning features in the Los Angeles basin (Hull, Douglass and York 2013)
provide substantial information on several aspects of ritual performance form and process.
Lithic analyses, in particular, document many actions that contributed to the creation of such
features, apparently over many decades if not centuries.
 Ritual as performance in small-scale societies 9

Since ritual (and other) structures in this area were made of organic material, the absence of
evidence of a yoba enclosing each archaeologically identified mourning feature is not surprising.
The concentration of artifacts comprising such features provides a clue to structure size,
however, and such tight concentrations argue for the presence of such a well-defined space.
As noted above, the large features at LAN-63 and ORA-263 – which represent multiple
pit deposits – measure approximately 5m in diameter, consistent with ethnographic data.
Several mourning features at other sites are of comparable size (Hull 2012). Feature 587 has
one central 2-by-2m concentration of objects and a surrounding 2m-wide ‘halo’ of more diffuse
material (see Fig. 2). Feature 2 at ORA-263, on the other hand, has two primary concentrations
about 1.5m apart (see Fig. 3), so it is more difficult to define the consecrated space in this case.
These data suggest a circular ritual area measuring at least 20m2, which accommodated a small
assembly of fewer than fifteen people (i.e. a single ring of spectators or singers around the
margin and a few dancers and other performers in the center). If we assume instead that the
feature area was used only by performers (i.e. dancers, spiritual leaders) and that spectators and
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

singers were arrayed in a circle immediately beyond this space, perhaps more than fifty
individuals, including at least ten performers, could be accommodated. Based on the distribution
of all types of feature at both sites, there was certainly sufficient unobstructed space immediately
surrounding, and centered on, both large mourning features to have accommodated a structure
measuring up to 10m in diameter. Whether tending to the larger or smaller end of the estimated
range, these data suggest that the performance space was intimate, interactions were close and
spectators inside the yoba had unobstructed views of most, if not all, actions of the performers.
The distribution of other features (e.g. hearths) within proximity to the mourning features at
both LAN-63 and ORA-263 also suggests there was an adjacent large, centrally located, flat,
open dance space, as expected based on ethnographic data. This is clearest at LAN-63, where an
approximate 15-by-20m area was situated north-east of Feature 587 (Fig. 4). Given its size, this
area may have accommodated as many as 300 additional spectators, although the number would

Figure 4 Location of possible dance area relative to Features 11 and 587 at LAN-63 (after Hull, Douglass
and York 2013, fig. 2).
 10 Kathleen L. Hull

have been smaller if individuals were sitting rather than standing. A large whale bone and area
of burned soil identified on the south-west side of Feature 587, away from the adjacent open
space, support the conclusion that the ritual space was open to the north-east. These finds may
indicate that special activities were carried out near the inferred back wall of the structure, at
greatest distance from the dance area, consistent with the ethnographic observation of a pole or
effigy in this area. As result, spectators outside the structure may have had more difficulty
viewing all activities in the consecrated space, and other sensory experiences (e.g. sounds,
smells) also probably differed somewhat from those of the spectators within the yoba.
Although postures, gestures and sounds of the participants are unknown, the objects depos-
ited within the features provide some insight into the bodily experiences of the performers and
spectators. The stone vessels and milling equipment that make up the majority of the objects
deposited in the pits – whether intact or fragmentary – were often large and heavy. If intact,
manipulation (and even introduction) of such items prior to or during the performance probably
required the efforts of two or more people working together. Such large size would have
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

facilitated observation of objects – and even fragments of objects – by the spectators, perhaps
even by those individuals in the adjoining dance area. Made of granite, vesicular basalt, schist
and sandstone, these objects had distinctive shapes, colors and textures that would have made
for diverse visual and tactile experiences for the audience and performers, respectively.
Likewise, pigments of various colors were evidently applied to some objects during the ritual,
while some other objects were discolored or otherwise altered by burning either before or during
the rite, evoking additional visual and tactile experiences for the participants.
The process of ritual performance included manufacture, ordered fragmentation, pigmenta-
tion, possible burning and structured deposition of objects within the consecrated space, and the
cyclical nature of such performances created a ‘persistent place’ that was likely to have evoked
communal memories as these residues accumulated over decades or centuries (Hull, Douglass
and York 2013, 39). As ethnographic information suggests and archaeological data confirm, the
ritual process began with preparation or retention of items for the rite. Some objects appear to
have been made specifically for the mourning ritual, including milling equipment of soft stone
unsuitable for food processing and very large objects of non-local materials impractical for
everyday use (Hull, Douglass and York 2013). The best example of the latter are pieces of a
1.4m-long schist pestle found in Feature 11. Some objects were also exposed to fire before
introduction into the ritual space, since evidence of in situ burning is generally lacking but
objects are charred. The latter items may have been retained from mortuary ritual at the time of
death.
The interaction of actors – presumably spiritual leaders or mourners rather than singers or
dancers – with objects during the performance was probably a dynamic process. For example,
large ground-stone objects were broken either prior to or during the ritual. Given the original
size of some stone vessels found in these features, fragmentation may have required movement
of the performer relative to the object rather than manipulation of the vessel relative to the
performer to break it in the desired way. Some objects reveal the sequence of fractures, perhaps
intended to produce a desired number of fragments or include or exclude specific portions such
as vessel rims. Such intention is revealed by consistent patterns of fragmentation (see Hull,
Douglass and York 2013).
Likewise, ochre or asphaltum was applied to some intact or fragmentary objects in distinct
ways during the performance, and specific gestures or postures may have been used to facilitate
 Ritual as performance in small-scale societies 11

audience perception of these acts. Again, the large pestle from Feature 11 demonstrates such a
sequence of acts, as it was first broken in half, the proximal half was subsequently covered with
ochre, and both halves were then fractured into three pieces (Hull, Douglass and York 2013,
fig. 4). Given the size of the object and extent of modification, this sequence of actions was very
likely visible from some distance. The application of asphaltum, on the other hand, was
restricted to particular fractures or applied in patterns rather than over the entire object surface.
The items so treated were often smaller, and the specific patterns produced may have been
visible only to individuals within the yoba. For example, one short and two long parallel stripes
were drawn on the bottom of a small steatite vessel placed face down before burial, perhaps to
leave the markings visible to the immediate audience and performers. The width and rounded
termination of the stripes suggests they were applied with fingers (Hull, Douglass and York
2013, fig. 6). Thus, application of either ochre or asphaltum to objects could well have
discolored the hands or fingers of individuals who carried out these acts, and such visual
residues of recent performative acts may have been obvious to spectators until the ritual
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

concluded.
Pits were dug either before or during the ritual, and treated and/or retained objects were
placed in one or more of these pits, perhaps following strictures regarding how many and what
type of objects should be placed together. For example, vessels missing a portion of the rim
were apparently often paired with rim fragments from another vessel, and there may have been a
preference for deposition of objects in multiples of four (Hull 2012; Hull, Douglass and York
2013). In the close quarters of the yoba, such deliberate elements of performance were readily
visible. At greater distance, spectators may have recognized only the act – rather than the
sequence or portions – of fragmentation, pigmentation, and burial. Therefore, such actions may
have been accompanied by explanatory speech or song to ensure the audience was aware of
such details even at a distance.
While there are few data on foods consumed during the ritual, faunal remains recovered from
all mourning features at both LAN-63 and ORA-263 suggest fish were an element of feasting or
deposited as part of the rite. Thus, the smell of raw or cooked fish may have contributed to the
sensory experiences of the participants, while fish also added an additional visual prompt.
Dietary mammal bone was also present in some features. No other organic remains that might
indicate tastes or smells have been preserved.
Consistency in the form and process of communal mourning, documented over nearly 2,500
years by mourning features at more than a dozen sites in the Los Angeles area, suggests
carefully scripted performances – that is, a ‘stereotypical sequence of actions performed by
actors who play conventional roles...[and] represent a fixation of form in cultural process’
(Palmer and Jankowiak 1996, 250–1). Such enduring elements carried out by performers and
witnessed by as many as 300 people provided physical and sensual experiences fundamental to
any performance, as well as ‘framing’ through which participants could understand ritual actions
and experiences (Bell 1997, 74). Thus, the performative aspects of rites undoubtedly fulfilled at
least two goals common to any ritual (Bell 1997, 74–5) – the opportunity for self-reflection and
the achievement of one or more desired communal ends through a dynamic physical process
that created a heightened, focused sensory experience and entailed the reiteration of enduring
themes as cognitive and emotional cues on a cyclical basis.
The archaeological evidence suggests that the form and process of this intimate, multi-
sensory experience built anticipation within the community over days or months, brought
 12 Kathleen L. Hull

hundreds of people together, focused the energies and attention of the participants, recalled both
the immediate past, through objects that referenced individuals who had recently passed away,
and the more distant past, through the reuse of the consecrated space, and very likely evoked
sensory, cognitive and emotional responses based on the meaning of specific acts of fragmenta-
tion, pigmentation, burning and deposition. The full range of such experiences may have been
greater for individuals within the yoba (i.e. performers and audience members, including
relatives of the deceased), since more detail of actions would be visible in this intimate space,
and olfactory, auditory and tactile engagement was also probably more intense.
The immediate contexts of such performances were small-scale, village communities within
larger networks of ethnic affiliation, very possibly forged, maintained and reworked through
such communal rites (see Hull, Douglass and York 2013). In this, performance played a critical
role, since group ‘solidarity is seen to derive not from the formulation and communication of
coherent beliefs held in common by participants but from the activities of ritual’ (Bell 1992,
187, emphasis in original). The more elusive question, however, is the regional context in which
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

this practice first appeared and endured. As suggested elsewhere (Hull, Douglass and York
2013, 43), regional demographic shifts may have contributed to the appearance or elaboration of
such rites. Given the persistence of such ritual over millennia, however, the social context(s) in
which cyclical communal mourning continued to play a part may have changed significantly. In
this respect, viewing ritual as performance rather than simply as a culture historical trait
(e.g. Sutton 2011) or a behavioral adaptation (e.g. Hildebrandt and McGuire 2002) may be a
more fruitful avenue of archaeological inquiry.

Conclusion

Detailed archaeological data from the Los Angeles basin on materials, manufacture, alteration
and deposition of objects reveal performative aspects of cyclical mourning rites that have
relevance to ancient small-scale societies within and beyond this region. When viewed through
the lens of performance, the types of information available through archaeological, as opposed
to ethnographic, studies add greatly to our knowledge of the bodily experiences of the
participants in communal ritual. Such information is especially important, since ‘the work of
ritual (and ritual does “work,” as many tribal and post-tribal etymologies indicate) is partly
attributable to its morphological characteristics. Its medium is part of its message’ (Turner 1986,
93). This medium is not simply the objects and spaces of ritual performance, but the embodied
experiences of the participants, some of which can be inferred from the nature of objects
and types of spaces constituting archaeological features. Preparation, fragmentation, burning
and pigmentation seen archaeologically – as well as dance, song, oration and other practices
beyond the reach of archaeology which nonetheless had sensory effects – created ‘reflexive
occasions for the participants...[to] stand back and consider their identities, actions and ideas’
(Inomata and Coben 2006a, 21). The current study has highlighted how the form and process of
ritual performance – from preparation for to termination of the rite – heightened experiences
through engagement of multiple senses over an extended time, thereby accentuating and perhaps
reinforcing connections among people within and beyond the community. Although individuals
in small-scale societies had frequent, perhaps daily, interactions within their group, ritual
 Ritual as performance in small-scale societies 13

performances provided a distinct medium and contingent space (see Cossu 2010) for contem-
plation and action that transcended the interpersonal and created rather than reflected meaning.

Kathleen L. Hull
School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts
University of California, Merced
khull3@ucmerced.edu

References

Arnold, Jeanne E., ed. 1996. Emergent Complexity: The Evolution of Intermediate Societies. Ann Arbor,
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

MI: International Monographs in Prehistory.

Bell, C. 1992. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bell, C. 1997. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. New York: Oxford University Press.
Binford, L. 1965. ‘Archaeological Systematics and the Study of Culture Process.’ American Antiquity 31:
203–10.
Boscana, G. 1978. Chinigchinich: A Revised and Annotated Version of Alfred Robinson’s [1846] Translation of
Father Gerónimo Boscana’s Historical Account of the Belief, Usages, Custom and Extravagancies of the Indians
of this Mission of San Juan Capistrano Called the Acagchemem Tribe. Banning, CA: Malki Museum Press.
Conquergood, D. 1991. ‘Rethinking Ethnography: Towards a Critical Cultural Politics.’ Communications
Monographs 58: 179–94.
Cossu, A. 2010. ‘Durkheim’s Argument on Ritual, Commemoration and Aesthetic Life: A Classical
Legacy for Contemporary Performance Theory?’ Journal of Classical Sociology 10: 33–49.
Durkheim, E. 2001. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grimes, R. L. 1982. Beginnings in Ritual Studies. Washington, DC: University Press of America.
Hildebrandt, W. R. and K. R. McGuire. 2002. ‘The Ascendance of Hunting during the California Middle
Archaic: An Evolutionary Perspective.’ American Antiquity 67: 231–56.
Hill, E. 2011. ‘Animals as Agents: Hunting Ritual and Relational Ontologies in Prehistoric Alaska and
Chukotka.’ Cambridge Archaeological Journal 21: 407–26.
Hull, K. L. 2011. ‘Archaeological Expectations for Communal Mourning in the Greater Los Angeles
Basin.’ Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 31: 25–38.
Hull, K. L. 2012. ‘Communal Mourning Revisited: A New Appraisal of Old Evidence.’ California
Archaeology 4: 3–38.
Hull, K. L., J. G. Douglass and A. L. York. 2013. ‘Recognizing Ritual Action and Intent in Communal
Mourning Features on the Southern California Coast.’ American Antiquity 78: 24–47.
Inomata, T. and L. S. Coben. 2006a. ‘Overture: An Invitation to the Archaeological Theater.’ In
Archaeology of Performance: Theaters of Power, Community, and Politics, edited by T. Inomata and
L. S. Coben, 11–46. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press.
Inomata, T. and L. S. Coben, eds. 2006b. Archaeology of Performance: Theaters of Power, Community,
and Politics. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press.
Kroeber, A. L. 1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
 14 Kathleen L. Hull

Merriam, C. H. 1955a. ‘The Ko-too-mut Ke-hi-ah or Fiesta for the Dead: A Mortuary Ceremony of the
Tong-va of Tejon.’ In Studies of California Indians, edited by R. F. Heizer, 77–86. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Merriam, C. H. 1955b. ‘The Luiseño: Observation of Mission Indians.’ In Studies of California Indians,
edited by R. F. Heizer, 87–92. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Palmer, G. B. and W. R. Jankowiak. 1996. ‘Performance and Imagination: Toward an Anthropology of the
Spectacular and the Mundane.’ Cultural Anthropology 11: 225–58.
Randall, A. 2011. ‘Remapping Archaic Social Histories along the St. Johns River, Florida.’ In Hunter-
gatherer Archaeology as Historical Process, edited by K. E. Sassman and D. H. Holly, 120–42. Tucson:
University of Arizona Press.
Reid, Hugo. 1968. The Indians of Los Angeles County: Hugo Reid’s letters of 1852, edited by R. F. Heizer.
Los Angeles: Southwest Museum Papers No. 21.
Robinson, D. W. 2004. ‘The Mirror of the Sun: Surface, Mineral Applications and Interface in California
Rock-Art.’ In Soil, Stones, and Symbols: Cultural Perceptions of the Mineral World, edited by N. Boivin
and M. A. Owoc, 91–106. London: UCL Press, London.
Downloaded by [Kathleen Hull] at 12:49 24 January 2014

Sutton, M. Q. 2011. ‘The Del Rey Tradition and its Place in the Prehistory of Southern California.’ Pacific
Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 44: 1–54.
Turner, V. 1986. Anthropology of Performance. New York: PAJ Publications.
Walker, E. F. 1952. Five Prehistoric Archaeological Sites in Los Angeles County, California. Los Angeles:
Southwest Museum.
Yates, R. J. and Golson and M. Hall. 1985. ‘Trance Performances: The Rock Art of Boontjieskloof and
Sevilla.’ South African Archaeological Bulletin 40: 70–80.

Kathleen L. Hull is an Associate Professor of Anthropology in the School of Social Sciences,

Humanities and Arts at the University of California, Merced. Her research interests include
archaeological study of ritual, identity, demography and the impacts of colonialism on hunter-
gatherers of the American West.