North America - California (Geographic Keyword)
101-125 (318 Records)
The Sacramento Valley bottom is a rich environment for faunal resources, notably fish, but lacks staple nut crops found elsewhere in interior central California. The absence of key nut resources appears to be the key factor in intensified production of geophytes and the early intensification of small seeds, especially Chenopodium spp. These features are absent in other regions in the rich archaeobotanical record of central California. SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the...
Ethical Consumption and Archaeological Ethics: a case study in the responsible treatment of cultural collections and the resulting lessons learned (2015)
The backlog of curated archaeological collections can be overwhelming; and the notion of taking on another’s "work" can seem very daunting and at times, considering who the "other" might be, down right intimidating. So many variables add to the challenge of assuming the responsibility of a curated collection, but they also offer great potential for personal, academic and professional growth. It is the prospect, after all, of finding the missing piece to the puzzle and making sense of the...
Ethnohistoric Insights Pertaining to the Emigdiano Chumash and Other Southern San Joaquin Valley Indigenous Groups (2015)
The native groups who inhabited the San Emigdio Mountains on the southwestern edge of the San Joaquin Valley are believed to have been speakers of an interior dialect of one of the Chumashan languages, although which one has been open to debate. Certainly the Emigdiano Chumash occupied an important position in the economic exchange system that linked indigenous Kitanemuk and Yokuts groups of the San Joaquin Valley with coastal Chumash peoples. Ethnohistorical study of records kept by...
Evaluating Land Use in the Mojave Sink: Survey Data from Afton Canyon, San Bernardino County, California. (2015)
The primary objective of this research project is to assess the function of sites located on the rim and plateau above Afton Canyon in the Mojave Desert to determine how they fit into regional patterns of subsistence and settlement defined during previous work in the area. Archaeological sites identified during a recent survey include multi-component artifact scatters, lithic reduction areas, and hunting blinds. These sites provide new information on prehistoric use of Afton Canyon. We present...
Evidence of Specialization and Intensification of Small Seed Exploitation on Santa Cruz Island, California (2015)
This paper reconstructs shifts in botanical foraging behavior on Santa Cruz Island, California and quantitatively demonstrates specialization and intensification in the exploitation of small oily and starchy seeds from the terminal Early Period (ca. 3000 cal. BP) through the late Middle Period (ca. 1000 cal. BP). This shift accompanied an increased reliance on terrestrial food resources overall. A recently recognized climatic transition (2800 cal. BP-1800 cal. BP) likely altered the geographic...
Evocative Stones: Variable Obsidian Source Use in Northern California (2015)
Northern California contains multiple, geochemically distinct, high-quality obsidian sources that were quarried in prehistory. However, not all were exploited equally. Instead, selection patterns suggest that some obsidian sources were reserved for manufacture of specific types of objects, while others could be used for more routine tools. The geologic and cultural context of the obsidian source may offer explanations for why differential quarrying and use occurred. Glass Mountain in Siskiyou...
The Evolution of Sociopolitical Organization in Northwestern California (2015)
Northwestern California has long been recognized as a unique area at the margin of both the Pacific Northwest Coast and California. Recent excavations at sites along the Smith River in Tolowa ancestral territory can help us elucidate long-term evolutionary trends among affluent foragers in the region. This paper will examine some of the profound alterations in human organization that occur at Red Elderberry (CA-DNO-26), a site located along a portion of the Smith River known as a highly...
Examination of an archaeological legacy collection from San Fernando Mission, California. (2015)
The 1971 San Fernando Earthquake severely damaged several buildings at San Fernando Mission, which had been established in 1797. In May 1973, the church was slated for demolition and during the course of that activity several burials were encountered. Students and volunteers from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) were asked to assist in the removal of the burials, artifacts, and documentation of features that had been found. I had been one of those volunteers and was the "dig...
Examining the Dietary Ecology of Ancient Channel Island Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and Island Foxes (Urocyon littoralis) Through Compound Specific Isotope Analysis of 13C and 15N from Bone Collagen (2017)
Advancements in gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS) have allowed researchers to examine isotopic compositions for individual amino acids (AAs) comprising protein-based tissues. This method, known as Compound Specific Isotope Analysis (CSIA), has the potential to overcome certain limitations associated with bulk tissue (e.g., bone collagen) isotopic analysis. Specifically, CSIA allows information about organismal ecology to be generated from discrete samples...
Examining the Function of Lithic Crescents as Transverse Projectile Points: An Experimental Approach (2015)
Flaked-stone crescents are an artifact type unique to the western portion of North America, and based on direct obsidian hydration and associated radiocarbon dates this artifact was used between the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene. Previous studies have attempted to uncover the function of this artifact, associated with the earliest inhabitants of western North America, hypothesizing the use of crescents as sickles, ulus or hide scraping tools, among other uses. Recent studies have...
Excavating the Collections: Redefining Archaeological Practice in the 21st Century through Utilizing Existing Assemblages (2015)
The Northridge Archaeological Research Center (NARC), which began as a student club on the campus of San Fernando Valley State College in 1969, was involved in more than 800 cultural resource management projects throughout Southern California before falling inactive in 1996. Accessibility of the collections has been variable over the years. In recent years however, these legacy collections which are now housed at and administered by the Anthropological Research Institute at California State...
Excavations athe Hurdy Gurdy Bridge site (CA-DNO-1028), a Multicomponent Habitation Site in Northwest California (2015)
The Hurdy Gurdy Bridge site (CA-DNO-1028), located 19 kilometers in a direct line and 45 kilometers along the Smith and South Fork rivers from the coast, was excavated because it was within the impact area of the proposed replacement of a bridge over Hurdygurdy Creek by the Federal Highways Administration. Data recovery consisted of geophysical investigations, the excavation of backhoe trenches, shovel probes, and 42 square-meter excavation units. These investigations recovered cultural...
Expedient Stone Tool Analysis from Tule Creek (CA-SNI-25) (2015)
San Nicolas Island is the most remote of the California Channel Islands and has been inhabited since the Early Holocene. The island has an abundant supply of highly indurated sandstones as well as quartzites, metavolcanics, and metasedimentary rocks associated with densely packed conglomerate beds. Although there are no microcrystalline rocks such as obsidians, cherts, and fused shales, the local island toolstone is ideal for expedient tool technologies and for working sandstone. The Native...
Exploring Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Central California through Ethnographic and Ethnohistorical Records (2016)
This paper explores ethnographic and ethno-historical records of Coast Miwok and Kashaya Pomo peoples in Central California to understand 20th century memories or traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of landscape management practices. TEK and traditional resource and environmental management (TREM) practices are entangled with contemporary issues. These include but are not limited to management practices for indigenous communities, state, and federal agencies. Understanding how Native people...
Feasting, Ritual Practices, and Persistent Places: New Interpretations of Shellmounds in Southern California (2016)
Intensive archaeological investigations at the largest extant shell mound in the Santa Barbara Channel area and one of the best-preserved Early Period archaeological sites in the region have produced an array of radiocarbon dates within solid stratigraphic contexts. Approximately 50 house depressions situated in rows on several terraces have been mapped on the eight meter high mound that measures 270 by 210 meters, approximately 5 hectares. Analysis of multiple lines of evidence, including...
Feeding the Ranks: correlating social organization and dietary patterns at the Yukisma Mound (CA-SCL-38) (2015)
The Yukisma Mound (CA-SCL-38), located in Santa Clara County, California, was used by the ancestral Ohlone as a mortuary site between approximately 940 and 230 years BP. Analysis of mortuary contexts within the mound revealed evidence of social differentiation in wealth, prestige, moiety affiliation and power. Special mortuary treatment, artifact abundance, and association with costly artifacts or culturally significant wealth items suggested that some individuals held higher status than...
Fertility in Ancient California: Life History Strategies and Implications for Demographics, Resource Intensification, and Social Organization (2017)
Human behavioral ecology predicts that individuals alter reproductive strategies in response to environmental and social conditions. I consider stable isotope measures (δ15N and δ13C) of weaning age, parental provisioning, and child foraging derived from human tissues as proxies for the reproductive strategies employed by prehistoric hunter-gatherer populations from Central California over a 6,000-year period. Shifts in weaning age and childhood diet over time suggest reduced parental investment...
Fighting the Tigers: Chinese Mobility as Resistance During the Exclusion Era (2015)
During the mid-nineteenth century, Chinese and many other immigrants flooded California’s shores in pursuit of economic opportunities. Over the next several decades, Chinese labor became threatening to national, Euro-American interests and federal and state governments passed a variety of taxes, ordinances, and legislation targeting Chinese communities. The most restrictive of these were the Chinese Exclusion and Geary acts, which barred immigration by Chinese laborers and severely limited their...
Fins, Feathers and Furs: Fish, Bird, and Mammal Remains from a Stege Mound Complex Site, CA-CCO-297 (2015)
During approximately the last thousand years people were at CA-CCO-297 focused upon taking small schools of fishes, aquatic and marine ducks and sea otters. These were obtained from estuarine habitats immediately adjacent to the site. Seasonality profiles for fish/bird/mammal species indicate procurement occurred throughout the year. Harvesting of these taxa was facilitated by the use of watercraft and nets and hunting tactics including mass collection, prey switching and coharvesting....
Fish, Fishing, and Fish Bones on the central California Coast (2015)
In much of Native western North America fish and the aquatic technologies used to exploit them were associated with intensive hunter-gatherer economies and heightened levels of socio-political complexity. Central California, however, is more commonly associated with exploitation of acorns, a resource that also encouraged dense, sedentary, storage-dependent populations The relative significance of fish to these less populous foraging groups has only recently become a focus of systematic study....
Fishing and Ecological Resilience on California’s Channel Islands (2015)
On California's Channel Islands, the Chumash and Tongva relied on a relatively consistent repertoire of small and medium-bodied fish species over a period of more than 10,000 years. Throughout all time periods, the majority of fishes in the archaeological record could have been procured from the near shore waters of rocky intertidal, sandy beach, and kelp forest habitats. There is also limited evidence for offshore fishing for large pelagic fish later in time. I argue that the significant...
Foraging Ancient Landscapes: Seasonal and Spatial Variation in Prehistoric Exploitation of Plant and Animal Food Resources on Santa Cruz Island, California (2016)
In recent years, burgeoning paleoethnobotanical research on the Northern Channel Islands of California has challenged long held assumptions regarding the nature of aboriginal patterns of plant exploitation and helped refine our understanding of prehistoric Chumash subsistence economies. Yet, little effort has been made to systematically integrate paleoethnobotanical analysis and datasets with normative subsistence studies, which tend to focus on the abundant (and highly visible) shellfish...
Forensic Archaeology and Today’s Student: Managing Expectations and Providing Rigor While Maintaining Best Practices (2015)
Fueled by the media and uniformed academic advisors, students are flooding into the field of forensics, often with unrealistic expectations of success and future employment. Although careers in forensic anthropology and archaeology are difficult to attain, today’s practitioners have the responsibility to prepare and train the field’s future members. This paper discusses the 2014 field season of the Unidentified Persons Project, a twenty-three student forensic archaeology field school that took...
Forget Me Nots: Smaller Collections Need Archaeologists Too (2015)
From Native Americans to Spanish and European settlers, Southern California has a rich history. One town in particular, Simi Valley, incorporated in 1969, was home to several Chumash villages, part of the Santiago Pico 1795 Land Grant, and attracted European settlers. CA-VEN-346, the El Rancho Simi Adobe, was occupied during all three eras. It was a Chumash village, home to Santiago Pico, and home to European settler Robert Strathearn and family. When Robert Strathearn purchased the El Rancho...
The Forging of Communities at Colony Ross (1812-1841) in Northern California (2015)
The purpose of this paper is to examine the multiple communities that materialized at Colony Ross, the mercantile outpost administered by the Russian-American Company in northern California from 1812-1841. Archaeological and archival research suggests that several distinctive pluralistic communities, comprised mostly of colonial men and indigenous people, were established at Colony Ross. The paper will examine the dynamic relations of these communities, including how they formed, how they...