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Boats, Bones, and Biface Bias: The Early Holocene Mariners of Eel Point, San Clemente Island, California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jim Cassidy ,
L. Mark Raab  and
Nina A. Kononenko
Jim Cassidy
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106
L. Mark Raab
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, California State University Northridge, 18111 Nordoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330
Nina A. Kononenko
Affiliation:
Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, 89 Pushkinskaya Street, Vladivostok, 690600, Russia
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Abstract

By 8000 B.P., sea-mammal hunting and open-sea voyages were established at Eel Point, San Clemente Island, California. The early inhabitants of Eel Point depended heavily on sea-mammal hunting and shellfish collecting, rather than the intensive fishing that developed during the Late Holocene along the Southern California coast. Eel Point technological capabilities rivaled those of Late Holocene groups such as the Chumash Indians, including the ability to fabricate sophisticated watercraft. These data question traditional models of progressive maritime cultural development in coastal Southern California, and reveal the need for more empirical methods of assessing the seafaring capabilities of ancient maritime populations.

Resumen

Resumen

Hacia los 8,000 años antes del presente, la cacería de mamíferos marinos y los viajes a mar abierto fueron establecidos en Eel Point(punta Anguila), Isla San Clemente, California. Los primeros habitantes de Eel Point dependíian sobremanera de la cacería de mamíferos marinos y de la recolección de moluscos, más que de la pesca intensiva que se desarrolló durante el Holoceno Tardío a lo largo de la Costa Sur de California. Las capacidades tecnológicas en Eel Point rivalizaban con aquéllas de grupos del Holoceno Tardío tales como los Indios Chumash, incluída la habilidad en la fabricación de embarcaciones sofisticadas. Mientras que tales embarcaciones y las economías intensivamente marítimas han sido consideradas tradicionalmente como desarrollos propios del Holoceno Tardío, los datos en Eel Point subrrayan la importancia de comprender la navegación a lo largo del intervalo temporal completo del asentamientos prehistóricos costero.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 69 , Issue 1 , January 2004 , pp. 109 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2004

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