The Archaeology and Historical Ecology of Late Holocene San Miguel Island

Abstract

Angeles that promotes the comprehensive and inter-disciplinary study of the human past. Established in 1973, the Cotsen Institute is a unique resource that provides an opportunity for faculty, staff, graduate students, research associates, volunteers and the general public to gather together in their explorations of ancient human societies.Former President and CEO of Neutrogena Corporation Lloyd E. Cotsen has been associated with UCLA for more than 30 years as a volunteer and donor and maintains a special interest in archaeology. Lloyd E. Cotsen has been an advisor and supporter of the Institute since 1980. In 1999, The UCLA Institute of Archaeology changed its name to the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA to honor the longtime support of Lloyd E. Cotsen.Cotsen Institute Publications specializes in producing high-quality data monographs in several different series, including Monumenta Archaeologica, Monographs, and Perspectives in California Archaeology, as well as innovative ideas in the Cotsen Advanced Seminar Series and the Ideas, Debates and Perspectives Series. Through the generosity of Lloyd E. Cotsen, our publications are subsidized, producing superb volumes at an affordable price.

Detecting Apprentices and Innovators in the Archaeological Record: The Shell Bead-Making Industry of the Channel Islands

“…Some 15 to 20 coastal villages on Santa Cruz Island and two neighboring northern Channel Islands, Santa Rosa and San Miguel islands, participated at a high level of activity Graesch 2001, 2004;Arnold and Munns 1994;Graesch 2004;Kennett 2005;King 1990;Rick 2007). This specialized industry continued exclusively on the islands for many centuries.…”

“…Scholars working with these assemblages have an embarrassment of riches: access to hundreds of thousands of shell-bead specimens recovered from undisturbed and well-dated stratigraphic contexts (see Arnold 2001a;Kennett 2005;King 1990;Rick 2007), both finished and unfinished, in a rich array of types. At least eight variants of beads were made from the Olivella biplicata (purple olive) shell (Fig.…”

Human impacts on ancient shellfish: a 10,000 year record from San Miguel Island, California

“…1;Braje, 2007;Rick, 2007). The island has highly productive nearshore ecosystems, however, with complex food webs fueled by upwelling and expansive kelp forests.…”

“…The island has highly productive nearshore ecosystems, however, with complex food webs fueled by upwelling and expansive kelp forests. At the time of European contact (AD 1542), the Island Chumash lived in sedentary villages and had sophisticated watercraft, intensive fisheries, extensive trade with mainland communities, and an entrepreneurial economy facilitated by the production and use of shell bead money (Arnold, 2001;Kennett, 2005;Rick, 2007). The high population densities and sociopolitical complexity of the Chumash began to collapse after European contact due to the devastating effects of Old World diseases and colonialism.…”

Everything Old Is New Again: Recent Approaches to Research on the Archaic Period in the Western United States

“…101-151;Huckell 1996). Several books have detailed the prehistory of the California coast, especially the Greater Santa Barbara area (Atschul and Grenda 2002;Erlandson 1994;Erlandson and Colton 1991;Jones and Klar 2007a;Rick 2007). Reviews of the Great Plains Archaic include Frison (1991) and Wedel (1986).…”