Catholic Conversion and Native Burial Practices in the U.S. Southwest

The Spanish established colonies world-wide as part of deliberate efforts to gain territory, access resources, and spread Spanish Catholicism. In what became the U.S. Southwest, the resources the Spanish were interested in were lacking, but the opportunity to convert Indigenous communities existed. This dissertation examines those conversion efforts in the pueblos of Abó, Awatovi, Gran Quivira, Pecos, and Quarai through a comparative analysis of burial patterns in both the pre-Contact and post-Contact periods. Using the framework of hybridity, mortuary theory, and conversion theory and the statistical analyses of burial index scores, chi-square, general linear models, correlation matrices, and survival analysis, I evaluate whether conversion can be seen through changes in how individuals at the five pueblos were buried from before the Spanish to post-missionization. I find that identity and distance from Santa Fe did not affect these changes, while presence of a permanent priest had some support, though minimal.