Even though he was not an archaeologist himself, Abelardo Ceseña taught me as much about the study of the past as did any of my professors. Abelardo was a leader of the Paipai community of Santa Catarina in northern Baja California and a well-known cultural authority in the region. Since 2005,1 have been working with Abelardo and other community members to investigate how Native families and individuals negotiated European colonialism at the site of Mission Santa Catalina, which was founded in 1797 near the homelands of groups speaking the Paipai and Kumeyaay languages.