Using Experimental Archaeology and a Technological Approach to Decode Single Piece Shell Fishhook Production Strategies in the Southern California Bight.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Fishing Technologies: Exploring Manufacturing Techniques and Styles, Traditions, Exchange, Migration and More" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This research uses experimental archaeology and a technological approach to decipher functional linkages between disparate artifact forms and key stages in shell fishhook production strategies on California's Channel Islands and the adjacent mainland coast. The single piece shell fishhook has been recognized as a key subsistence technology in numerous locations around the world and especially in the Southern California Bight. This technology allowed Indigenous anglers to forage marine habitats more efficiently and locally led to an intensified subsistence reliance on fish protein in the late Holocene. Theories surrounding shell fishhook production strategies from the region have been proposed but few researchers have tested these assumptions. Using experimental archaeology and a technological approach, localized shell fishhook manufacturing strategies have now been tested and new insights have emerged.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Fishing Technologies: Exploring Manufacturing Techniques and Styles, Traditions, Exchange, Migration and More

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50837