Historical Ecology and Management of Marine Estuaries: Paleoethnobotanical and fine grained constituent results from the Manila Site (CA-HUM-321), Humboldt Bay, Northwestern California

Summary

The Manila site (CA-HUM-321) is a stratified prehistoric midden site with a long history of use by the Wiyot people. This study, the first of its kind from Humboldt Bay, reveals the results of constituent analyses of excavated materials. Fine-grained analysis of dietary residues from Manila reveals the earliest documented (1,309 cal BP) evidence of mass harvested foods, smelt fishing, and intensive shellfish procurement on the North Coast of California. Paleoethnobotanical analysis of seeds and wood charcoal provides evidence for potential range management techniques involving intentional vegetation burning. This is suggested by the diversity and ubiquity of wood taxa commonly selected as fuel sources in the ethnographic record coupled with the high representation of seeds in the grass (Poaceae) and bean (Fabaceae) families. These findings are congruent with ethnographic accounts of intentional vegetation burning by the Wiyot which was done to enhance the availability and productivity of numerous plant and animal resources. The results of this study suggest that intensification of coastal and estuarine environments occurs earlier than previously thought in the region and provides insight into the emergence of landscape management, bulk storage, and mass capture techniques associated with the development of plank house villages in northwestern California.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17640