...it was abandoned shortly after the British siege of Santa Catalina in 1680. ...Under what exact conditions was Mission Santa Catalina abandoned? Was it a hasty or a well-orchestrated retreat? Did they take everything portable with them, or did they expect to return soon? Was the site left intact, or deliberately torched to keep the supplies away from the hands of the enemy from Charles Town? Were the valuables-like church furnishings-hidden for anticipated return? Or were they taken along by those abandoning Santa Catalina de Guale? Who came to live in the post-1680 Mission Santa Catalina? Were they squatters or settlers? ...So it was that we showed Amy Bushnell many of the so-called archaeological "facts" during her visit to Mission Santa Catalina: the rigid plaza-and-grid system (Did it reflect the idealized Hispanic system for promoting colonization and laying out civil settlements throughout 16th-century Spanish America?), the charred wheat grains from the sacristy ( Were they raw materials for the Eucharist "host"?), the 431 Guale neophytes buried beneath the nave accompanied by a remarkable quantity of grave goods (Did mortuary practices reflect a syncretism between Christian and aboriginal belief systems?), the Franciscan foot font inside the late convento ( Was it secular or sacred in function?), the broken bronze bell cache behind the convento ( Was it still-consecrated scrap, to be cast into new bells?), the food bones left in the mission kitchen (Do they reflect a surprisingly rich diet of the friars?), the mission wells (Did they produce drinking and irrigation water, or were they a source of the Holy water necessary to practice Franciscan Catholicism?). We then led Dr. Bushnell to the clearly demarcated sacristy, built on the Gospel side of the 17th-century church. In this room, the Franciscans presumably stored vestments, linens, candles, processional materials, and other ritual paraphernalia essential to celebration of the Mass. Below the sacristy floor, we found a cache of charred wheat grains (Triticum spp., probably destined to be baked into the "host," the flatbread used in the Eucharist). Although the available archaeological records show that wheat never assumed great dietary importance to Spaniards living in La Florida, this modest cache suggested to us the effectiveness of the Franciscan Order in obtaining the supplies necessary for the proper conduct of Church ritual- even on the most remote northern frontier of the Guale province. The wheat cache also raised a number of larger questions about the practice of religion on the Hispanic frontier: With respect to religious ritual, what specific practices were considered to be adaptable to frontier conditions, which church rituals, observances, and traditions were considered inviolable? What was required to conduct a Mass in Spanish Florida? What substitutions were permitted in the necessities of proper worship? We moved on to the cemetery. Beneath the nave and sanctuary of the mission church at Santa Catalina were buried at least 431 individuals. Qark Spencer Larsen supervised the complete excavation of this cemetery between 1982 and 1986; the extensive biocultural evidence from Santa Catalina has been discussed elsewhere (see Larsen et al., 1990). Clearly, these Guale neophytes had been encouraged to bury their dead in good Christian fashion, according to prevalent church teachings- in unmarked graves beneath the floor of the church, hands crossed on the chest with feet toward the altar. And yet, the campo santo at Santa Catalina also contained a truly astounding array of associated grave goods-obviously not a Christian practice. Among these grave inclusions were crosses, medallions, small medals, finger rings with sculpted Sacred Heart emblems, and a cast figurine depicting the infant Jesus with a cross in one hand and the other raised in a gesture of blessing. Other grave goods included complete majolica vessels, several projectile points, a chunky stone, a rattlesnake shell gorget, glass cruets, mirrors, hawks bells, shroud pins, copper plaques, a clay tablet (with depictions of saints on both sides), and one large piece of shroud cloth. The cemetery also contained literally tens of thousands of glass beads which are currently being analyzed. Most were embroidery beads sewn onto clothing and sashes; others were portions of jewelry and ornaments. Rosary beads were also found in profusion. The remainder of the beads are aboriginal shell beads and lapidary beads. These grave goods-the clear-cut juxtaposition of Christian and "pagan" practices operating in the mission contexts-raised still more questions: (Bushnell SS)