House Pits and Middens A Methodological Study of Site Structure and Formation Processes at CA-ORA-116, Newport Bay, Orange County, California

Summary

This report documents data recovery excavations at CA-ORA-116 (ORA-116), a late Intermediate-period (1050 B.C.–A.D. 600) prehistoric site situated near the head of upper Newport Bay, overlooking San Joaquin Marsh, in Orange County, California. Statistical Research, Inc., conducted this project under contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District, which was under contract with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (as well as other federal regulations governing cultural resource protection) during the construction of the Irvine Mega-Laboratory on the site.

Newport Bay is a dynamic wetlands, representing the transition between the salt water brought inland from the ocean by tidal activity and the fresh water flowing toward the ocean through the Los Angeles Basin. ORA-116 is one of many coastal shell-midden sites in the area. In the past, Newport Bay shell-midden studies have focused on changes in subsistence and settlement patterns, and have established general trends in these areas. Internal site structure, however, is a topic that has received little attention; it was felt that much could be learned by investigating ORA-116 with this topic in mind. Research issues approached in this report focus on how many people lived at this type of midden site at any one time, the type(s) of social structure(s) formerly in place, and the types of structures that were built and how they were arranged in space.

Excavations focused on activity areas and structures within the site, and consisted of two phases. The first phase used remote-sensing technologies and involved the excavation of trenches and small units. The second phase used block excavations to more fully investigate features identified during the first phase. In total, 11 structures (i.e., house pits) were located. Excavations produced several material classes that were subsequently analyzed, including vertebrate and invertebrate faunal remains, worked-bone and -shell artifacts, and flaked- and ground-stone tools. Rather than analyzing all of the materials from the site or generalizing about the entire midden deposit from a few samples, materials from features were sampled and inferences were made about the activities relating to each particular feature. In addition, a 1,081-cm core was taken from the marsh and sampled for pollen and ostracods to help reconstruct the environment during site occupation.

Intermediate-period sites are relatively rare in the Newport Bay area, in comparison to the abundance of Millingstone- and Late-period sites. Intermediate- period sites are also smaller on average, suggesting that a smaller population inhabited the area during this period. Environmental conditions do not appear to correspond to settlement patterns during this period. Determining whether demographic changes were reflected in shifts in the settlement system was beyond the scope of this study, but may be revealed in subsequent studies.

Two types of Intermediate-period sites have previously been classified in the San Joaquin Marsh area: habitations and seasonal camps. In this report, we suggest that only one type of site was common in the San Joaquin Marsh during the Intermediate period, the habitation site. Sites in this area—including ORA- 116—have a wide diversity of tools and appear to have accommodated relatively small domestic groups. In addition, certain features and artifacts at these sites, including a sweat lodge found at ORA-116, suggest that not only subsistence tasks were performed at the sites, but also social and religious activities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SRI Press

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: -300 to 700 (Main occupation)

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): SRI Press

Contributor(s): Jeffrey Altschul; Su Benaron; Richard Ciolek-Torello; Christopher J. Doolittle; Gabrielle Duff; Lori L. Erickson; William A. Feld; David D. Ferraro; Robert O. Gibson; Teresa L. Gregory; Donn R. Grenda; Marc Hintzman; Angela H. Keller; David Maxwell; Lewis Somers; Ayse Taskiran

Collaborator(s): U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District

Prepared By(s): Statistical Research, Inc.

Submitted To(s): U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Record Identifiers

Delivery Order (s): No. 3

Contract No.(s): DACW09-96-D-0005

File Information