Zooarchaeological Investigations of a Cultural Keystone Place at Point Conception, Southern California

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

On the southern California coast, Point Conception is highly significant for Chumash peoples and demarcates a critical location of ecological diversity. At this location, the coastline abruptly shifts from a north-south to east-west trending shoreline and marks the ecological convergence of colder northern and warmer southern waters, a biogeographic dividing point for many marine organisms. Point Conception or Kumqaq’ has been a cultural keystone place for the Chumash for millennia, but there are few systematic archaeological investigations of this critical land and seascape. Here, we report on zooarchaeological analysis of a column sample excavated from CA-SBA-4194, a Late Period logistical foraging campsite on the Point Conception sea cliff. Our findings offer the first detailed look into the foraging activities, lifeways, and ecological conditions at Kumqaq’ in the centuries immediately prior to Spanish contact.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36664.0