When no technology is the best technology

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.

Ichthyofaunal data indicate an increased exploitation of small bodied intertidal fish along the shore of Central California during the Late Holocene Period. Fish including pricklebacks (Xiphister spp.) were unlikely caught with known types of pre-colonial fishing technology used by indigenous Californians but were rather captured by hand. Foraging experiments suggest that hand capturing small intertidal fish is associated with reduced caloric payoffs when compared to larger fish caught with hook and line or small schooling fish procured with nets. In fact, caloric return rates for small intertidal fish is comparable to low-ranked shellfish species such as turban snails and small crabs, which also increase in frequency within the Late Holocene archaeological record. It is argued here that increased reliance on low return-rate methods and taxa is the result of regional trends that included resource intensification and territorial circumscription. In addition, the minimal technological investments and reduced risk associated with hand capturing fish in the intertidal zone presumably appealed to an expanded demographic of foragers including women (specifically mothers), children, the elderly, and others with reduced mobility.

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): 50888