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Chronology of Red Abalone Middens on Santa Cruz Island, California, and Evidence for Subsistence and Settlement Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael A. Glassow
Michael A. Glassow*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93 106-3210 ([email protected])
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Abstract

Red abalone middens on Santa Cruz Island, California, are conspicuous because they contain the shells of red abalone, a large marine gastropod, even though mussel shells are the most abundant by weight. Recently obtained radiocarbon dates push back the time interval of the island's red abalone middens to ca. 6200 cal B.C., with the bulk of them dating between 5000 and 3300 cal B.C. Faunal remains from two sites indicate that subsistence on marine resources intensified at the onset of the time interval of the middens. In addition, beginning ca. 3900 cal B.C. the island settlement system became more complex and subsistence on marine resources, particularly with respect to marine mammals such as dolphins, once again became more intensive. Proposed explanations for the subsistence and settlement shift concern the development of possibly more complex watercraft and the adoption of the mortar and pestle for processing plant foods. The expanded time interval during which red abalone middens occur has revealed that cooler sea-surface temperature is only a partial explanation for their occurrence.

Résumé

Résumé

Conchales de abulon rojo en la Isla de Santa Cruz, California, son conspicuos porque contienen las conchas de abulón rojo, un gran gasterópodo marino, aunque las conchas de mejillón son mas abundantesporpeso. Fechas radiocarbdnicas obtenidos recientemente empujan hacia atrás el intervalo de tiempo de las conchales de abulon rojo de la isla a ∼6200 a.C, con la datación mayor entre 5000 a 3300 a.C. Restos de fauna de dos sitios indican que subsistencia en recursos marinas intensificaron en el inicio el intervalo de tiempo de las conchales. También, empezando en ∼3900 a.C, el asentamiento de la isla se convertí más complejo y subsistencia otra vez se convertí más intensificada, particularmente con respecto a animates marinos, como delfmes. Explicaciones propuestas para la subsistencia y el cambio de asentamiento incluyen desarrollo de barcos más complejos y la adopción del mortero y mano para procesar los alimentos de plantas. El intervalo de tiempo durante cual se producian los conchales de abulón rojo ha revelado que la temperatura fria de la superficie del mar es sólo una explicación parcial por su ocurrencia.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 4 , July 2015 , pp. 745 - 759
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2015

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