Continuity and Change: 8,500 Years of Lacustrine Adaptation on the Shores of Lake Elsinore

Donn Grenda

Continuity and Change: 8,500 Years of Lacustrine Adaptation on the Shores of Lake Elsinore

Year: 1997

Summary

This report documents data recovery excavations at the Elsinore site (CA-RIV-2798/H) which is located at the mouth of the outlet channel on the northeast side of Lake Elsinore, Riverside County, California. The project was conducted by Statistical Research, Inc., under contract with the Los Angeles District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in order to mitigate the adverse effects caused by the construction of an enlarged outflow channel.

Lake Elsinore is one of the only natural lakes in southern California and is located at the eastern base of the Peninsular Range at the terminus of the San Jacinto River. Following the methodological approach of behavioral archaeology, this report explains how changes in lake level affected the lives of the people that lived on its shores. Identifying changes in site structure in relationship to the natural environment provides one of the keys to the interpretation of the lacustrine adaptations that took place over the past 8,000 years.

Clearly one of the most important aspects of the site is that it holds cultural remains representing the entire prehistory of the region in a stratified context. A total of 138.45 m3 of fill were hand excavated from 27 units in deposits that reached a depth of nearly 3 m. These excavations revealed a large flaked stone assemblage including bifaces, unifaces, projectile points, small flake tools, and 19 crescents; a variety of ground stone artifacts are present as well. Technological, morphological, use-wear, and residue analyses illuminate the chronological and functional placement of the site. Major faunal and floral analyses provide new insights into prehistoric subsistence strategies. Distributional covariation of artifact and ecofact classes serves as the basis for intrasite comparisons and the overall interpretation of the site. The interpretation addresses issues such as site function, activity areas, and the effect of differing lake levels on inhabitants of the site.

The presence of a stable lake during a time of climatic instability was probably the main factor that drew people to its shores. Initially, these people were organized as small bands that presumably moved throughout the area as resources became available in the different environmental zones. However, during the early to middle Holocene transition, we see a change in settlement structure that we associate with a social organizational shift to a family based society. Although our investigations revealed a late Holocene occupation at the site, the structure of the site at this time is fundamentally different from the earlier periods and failed to produce the data necessary to allow for comparable discussion of social change during the late Holocene. The historic component of the site was outside the scope of our investigations.

Cite this Record

Continuity and Change: 8,500 Years of Lacustrine Adaptation on the Shores of Lake Elsinore. Donn Grenda. Technical Series ,59. Tucson, AZ: SRI Press, Tucson, AZ. 1997 ( tDAR id: 425931) ; doi:10.48512/XCV8425931