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Introduction Natural Environment West Coastal Pacific Culture History Slide 2 Introduction Geographically and ecologically defined: The archaeological subarea of California Corresponds roughly with the state of California Includes portions of Extreme western Arizona Adjacent portions of extreme northwestern Mexico (the Mexican states of: Sonora and Baja California del Norte) Note:, within the Estados Unidos Mexicanos two of their states exist on the peninsula of Baja California: Baja California del Sur and Baja California del Norte. Slide 3 Slide 4 Characteristic subsistence Subsistence tended to be dominated by local resource availability Coastal peoples tended to extensively exploit marine and seacoast resources Sea mammals Fish Shellfish Slide 5 Tools reflected Procurement Fishhooks Lances Media (i.e., material) Abalone shell Whale bone, etc. Slide 6 Fish hooks Slide 7 Abalone shell Slide 8 Interior valley Extensively exploited and concentrated upon wild acorns. Acorn utilization: Acorns are a good source of food, but are very rich in tannic acid Thus, prior to consumption, they require a fairly sophisticated set of processes: Shelling Soaking (repeatedly bathed and cleaned to leach out the tannic acid) Drying, Pounding, Cooking Slide 9 Technology for acorn exploitation Pounding stones Nutting stones (stones with hole depressions where nuts are placed so they won't fly off when hit with a pounding stone) Watertight baskets: For soaking and leaching For boiling (using hot stonesstone boiling) For storage Grinding stones: Manos and metates Mortars and pestles Slide 10 Pomo baskets, mortar and pestle Edward Curtis Collection, LOC Slide 11 Northwest California Similar in some ways to the Northwest Coast cultures: Maritime-riverine subsistence Woodworking emphasis Preoccupation with wealth Languages: Athabaskan Algonquin Exemplary culture: Prehistoric: Point St. George Site Ethnographic: Yurok, Karok, Wiyot, Tolowa Slide 12 Prehistoric Fish Traps, CA Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park. http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=23129 Slide 13 These tule blinders were worn by Ajumawi men during night fishing expeditions. They shaded the eyes from torch light and allowed better vision to spear or trap. http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=23127 Slide 14 These basket traps were part of an elaborate kit of fishing materials developed by the Ajumawi. They are preserved in the Field Museum in Chicago. http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=23127 Slide 15 The Ahjumawi stone fish traps are constructed of vasicular basalt rocks from the cold water springs. The walls channel the spawning fish into a series of chambers where eggs are deposited in the crevices of smaller gravel. The spring flow provides beneficial oxygen to the developing eggs. http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=23127 Slide 16 California State Parks is working with native Ajumawi residents to preserve the unique stone fish traps and more fully understand their use. http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=23127 Slide 17 A large boulder of vesicular basalt can be found along the shore at Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park. It has been pitted with scores of small cupules, thought to be a result of ancient religious practices. http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=23133 Slide 18 These tule sandals are preserved in the Field Museum in Chicago. They were collected from Ajumawi fishermen around 1902 by Dr. John Hudson. http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=23127 Slide 19 A complex panel of rock art designs was recorded at the site. The panel measures 253 cm wide and 150 cm from the ground level to the top. A tremendous complexity in motifs and figures is represented. Eel River Archaeology http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23165 Slide 20 Circles, linked diamonds, tally marks and abstract shapes are also very common elements http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23165 Slide 21 Central California Central Valley Many societies sharing social customs Basketry, House form, Technical processes (i.e., acorn processing) Fair amount of cultural sharing with peoples of the Great Basin Languages: Penutian speakers Exemplary culture: Prehistoric: Windmiller Ethnographic: Wintun, Miwok, Yokut Slide 22 Windmiller site and Complex 4,000-2,500 BP Cemetaries with elaborate grave goods, red ochre and shell beads. Sites have manos, metates, bone tools, stone tools and clay cooking balls. Bone remains include deer, elk, pronghorn, rabbit, waterfowl, and salmon. Slide 23 Windmiller artifacts Slide 24 Berkeley pattern artifacts Slide 25 Augustine Pattern Slide 26 Southern California Coastal tradition Marine subsistence Languages: Shoshonean Yuman Exemplary culture: Canalino Culture (Prehistoric) Chumash (Ethnographic) Slide 27 Eel Point, CA Eel Point is located on San Clemente Island in California. It was occupied from 7040 B.C. to 1400 A.D. and was "one of the longest sequences of near-continuous marine resource exploitation on the west coast of North America. Slide 28 How did people get to San Clemente? Located in a deep ocean basin and never closer to the mainland. Watercraft of some kind was used to reach the island, though no evidence of what that may have been. Slide 29 Eel Point Site Slide 30 Slide 31 Slide 32 Slide 33 Morrow Bay: 8,000 years An 8000 year old site at Cayucos containing only mussel and abalone shows us that early inhabitants focused on collecting shellfish from the rocky intertidal zone. People living closer to the newly formed bay began to take advantage of estuarine resources. Fish were commonly caught with hook and line. Various seeds, including grasses, tarweed, and red maids, also contributed to the diet and were ground on flat milling slabs with hand-held manos. Slide 34 Morrow Bay Area, CA Slide 35 Artifacts From Morrow Bay Manos and metates Slide 36 Morrow Bay Milling slab Slide 37 Shell Artifacts from Morrow Bay Shell bead necklace Mussel shells Slide 38 Southern Desert California traditions Shares much with the Southwest: Pottery Maize agriculture Sand painting Slide 39 San Dieguito and the Harris Site Excavations at the Harris Site confirmed Rogers' main conclusions and obtained radiocarbon dates that placed the site's occupation as far back as 8200 B.C. Characteristics suggested for San Dieguito Complex assemblages abundant scrapers, large, percussion-flaked bifaces; flaked crescent stones; Lake Mohave or Silver Lake style projectile points; a scarcity or absence of milling tools (manos and metates); and an absence of small projectile points and pottery. Slide 40 San Dieguito Complex http://www.sdrvc.org/pdfs/Newsletter-MAY-2004.pdf Slide 41 Harris Site http://www.sdrvc.org/pdfs/Newsletter-MAY-2004.pdf Slide 42 Rock Mortars http://www.sdrvc.org/pdfs/Newsletter-MAY-2004.pdf Slide 43 California prehistory and ethnohistory May provide an example of "optimally efficient" hunting-and-gathering societies, capable of sustaining: Dense population levels Sedentary village life Sophisticated "political-economic arrangements of some scale" Slide 44 Analogue to Caldwell's "Primary Forest Efficiency" in the Eastern Woodlands Other intensive foraging societies such as those of the Pacific Northwest Coast (discussed already) They represent optimal examples of what it means to be: "Archaic" in the New World "Mesolithic" in the Old World Slide 45 At the time of Contact California was an ethnic and linguistic patchwork quilt of societies. Spanish accounts speak of sizeable stable villages Villages exhibited social stratification Slide 46