The Diablo Canyon Fauna: A Coarse-Grained Record of Trans-Holocene Foraging from the Central California Mainland Coast

Abstract

Decades ago the Diablo Canyon site (CA-SLO-2) on the central California mainland revealed one of the oldest and longest sequences (ca. 9400 radiocarbon years ago to contact) of coastal occupation on the shore of the northeastern Pacific. The artifacts from these important deposits were reported in detail by Greenwood (1972), but only a fraction of the site's faunal collections was analyzed in the original site report. Acquisition of 30 additional radiocarbon dates and analysis of the complete vertebrate fauna have produced a coarse-grained record of human foraging on the California mainland from 8300 cal B.C. to cal A.D. 1769. The temporally controlled faunal matrix, constituting one of the largest trans-Holocene records from western North America, speaks in a meaningful way to two significant issues in hunter-gatherer prehistory: early Holocene foraging strategies and economic intensification/resource depression over time. The site’s earliest component suggests a population invested in watercraft and intensely adapted to the interface of land and sea along the northeastern Pacific coastline. While boats were used to access offshore rocks, terrestrial mammals (e.g., black-tailed deer) were also of primary importance. Dominance of deer throughout the Diablo occupations is inconsistent with recent generalizations about big-game hunting as costly signaling in western North American prehistory. Diachronic variation, correlated with superimposed burials that show growth in human populations through the Holocene, includes: (1) modest incremental changes in most taxa, suggesting resource stability and increasing diet breadth; (2) gradual but significant variation in a few taxa, including the flightless duck which was hunted into extinction and eventually replaced by sea otters; (3) punctuated, multidirectional change during the late Holocene related to historic contingencies of the Medieval Climatic Anomaly and protohistoric disruptions.

Explaining prehistoric variation in the abundance of large prey: A zooarchaeological analysis of deer and rabbit hunting along the Pecho Coast of Central California

“…The earliest middens dating to the Millingstone Period frequently occur on the coast or show some connection with the coast (i.e., the presence of shellfish). While some sites show an emphasis on marine resources, others suggest an emphasis on terrestrial prey; when all the Millingstone assemblages in the region are examined together, subsistence ap pears diverse including shellfish, birds, mammals, fish, seeds and other plant resources (Jones et al, 2007(Jones et al, , 2008a. Milling equipment including slabs and hand stones are ubiquitous and pro jectile points occur less frequently than during later time periods.…”

“…The first systematic work was performed by Pilling (1951), who surveyed the area and described some of the surface findings. Since that time, various test excavations have provided informa tion on temporary camps (e.g., Breschini and Haversat, 1988), how ever, only three residential sites have been excavated extensively enough to produce significant faunal assemblages: CA-SLO-2, CA SLO-9, and CA-SLO-585 (see Jones, 2006, 2007a;Codding et al, 2009;Greenwood, 1972;Jones et al, 2008aJones et al, , 2009). Greenwood (1972) excavated six sites in preparation for the con struction of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in 1968.…”

“…Greenwood (1972) excavated six sites in preparation for the con struction of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in 1968. Two of these sites (CA-SLO-2, -585) provided substantial trans-Holocene faunal assemblages that were not analyzed until recently (Jones et al, 2008a. Each of the Diablo sites has produced diverse artifact assemblages indicating that they functioned as residential bases, with no substantive evidence for changes in site function through time (Jones et al, 2008a).…”

“…Two of these sites (CA-SLO-2, -585) provided substantial trans-Holocene faunal assemblages that were not analyzed until recently (Jones et al, 2008a. Each of the Diablo sites has produced diverse artifact assemblages indicating that they functioned as residential bases, with no substantive evidence for changes in site function through time (Jones et al, 2008a). The Coon Creek site (CA SLO-9) was excavated between 2004 and 2007 in order to salvage a portion of the midden that was eroding into the Pacific Ocean (Codding and Jones, 2007a;Codding et al, 2009).…”

“…1983; Delpech, 1998,2003;Grayson et al, 2001; Predictions derived from the resource depression hypothesis sug jochim, 1976, 1998), the Mediterranean Basin (e.g., Stiner, 2001 , gest that the prolonged acquisition of large prey negatively impacts 2006; Stiner and Munro, 2002 ;Stiner et al, 2008;Stutz et al, their populations (although, see Whitaker, 2008Whitaker, , 2009, leading for 2009) and Western North America (e.g. Bayham, 1979; agers to shift to smaller prey which is archaeologically identified by 2002 ; Broughton and Bayham, 2003 ;Broughton et al, 2008;Butler, (PI a) a reduction in proportion of larger prey to smaller prey (e.g., 2000; Butler and Campbell, 2004;Byers and Broughton, 2004;Broughton, 1994;Stutz et al, 2009) and (PI b) changes in age struc Byers and Ugan, 2005 ;Cannon, 2000Cannon, , 2003 ture oflarger prey (e.g., Stiner, 2006), both of which may either influ Codding and jones, 2007a;Hildebrandt and McGuire , 2002; ence, or be influenced by forager settlement and mobility, (PIc) Hildebrandt et al, 2010;Hockett, 2005 ;janetski, 1997 ; resulting in changes in the processing and transport of skeletal Codding, 2010;jones et al, 2008a elements from large prey (Cannon, 2000(Cannon, , 2003(Cannon, ). 2005McGuire et al, 2007;Whitaker, 2009).…”