Mission Santa Catalina’s Mondadiente de Plata (Silver Toothpick): Materiality and the Construction of Self in Spanish La Florida

Abstract

In the spring of 1984, a silver toothpick, or mondadiente, was excavated from the central plaza of Santa Catalina de Guale, a Franciscan mission that marked the northern periphery of the Spanish territory of La Florida until its abandonment in 1680 (Thomas, 1988a, b; Figs. 1 and 2). Toothpicks, at the time of Santa Catalina’s settlement (1587–1680), were used as intimate objects of personal hygiene and adornment. Like Dave Jensen’s toothbrush and Kiowa’s hatchet, toothpicks were carried by their owners on journeys to new, unknown, and potentially violent worlds not only for their personal utility, but because they served as expressions of self and home, as tangible embodiments of their owner’s individuality. Objects such as a silver toothpicks can help us to understand individuals in their particularity and cultures writ large. Exploration of the dialectic between people and things allows us as archaeologists to engage with the dynamics of the past and provides a means to tease out the situated meaning of self in daily practice.