Shell-bead money and the mission period economy of Alta California

This article investigates basic economic categories that are presupposed by archaeologists to connect archaeological data and to explain the sociocultural patterns and processes of change in past societies. Its topical foci are the concepts of exchange, value, and money; its societal focus is the mission period of Alta California; its goal is to use Marx’s concepts of value and money to articulate the concrete archaeological and historical evidence we use to understand the complicated economy of this era.