http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 720 https://escholarship.org/uc/ucmercedlibrary_jcgba/rss Recent eScholarship items from Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology Fri, 15 May 2026 09:45:27 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9xz0d0wd Studies of toolstone procurement and conveyance in the Great Basin have generated an extensive database of obsidian and fine-grained volcanic (FGV; e.g., andesite, dacite) geochemistry and provenance over the last few decades. By comparison, our current knowledge of chert provenance remains poor. Here, I present compositional data obtained using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for chert geological specimens and artifacts from Mooney Basin Quarry (MBQ) and Mahoney Canyon (MC) in eastern Nevada. Analysis of these data indicates that MBQ cherts are compositionally distinct from MC cherts, facilitating the sourcing of chert artifacts from nearby archaeological sites. I conclude that sourcing studies of chert artifacts, when pursued as a complement to sourcing studies of obsidian and FGV artifacts, promise to enrich our understanding of prehistoric socioeconomic and lithic technological organization in the region. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9xz0d0wd Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Newlander, Khori https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9x66x61g Archaeologyís Footprints in the Modern World https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9x66x61g Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Schiffer, Michael Brian Jazwa, Kyle A. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9w60779t The function of pitted stones, one of the most common artifacts on the central coast of California, has never been clear. Suggested functions have included use as a hammer or anvil to crack nuts, process acorns, open shellfish, or reduce cobble cores, but most researchers favor a function related to processing coastal resources. Here we report multiple lines of evidence to suggest that the primary use of pitted stones along the coast was to crack open California sea mussels and occasionally turban snails. An evaluation of their spatial distribution showed that pitted stones are concentrated on open rocky coasts, and are under-represented inland and at estuaries. An experiment involving processing mussels with a hand-held stone and anvil showed a remarkable similarity between the experimental anvil and archaeological pitted stones. Finally, we point out that most accounts of food consumption in native California emphasize soups, gruels, and stews prepared for groups. Mass processing... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9w60779t Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Cook, Emma F. Jones, Terry L. Codding, Brian F. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9w21z8ns Regional Settlement Demography in Archaeology https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9w21z8ns Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Drennan, Robert D. Berrey, C. Adam Peterson, Christian E. Tremblay, Anna https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9v89r28c Spirit in the Rock: The Fierce Battle for Modoc Homelands https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9v89r28c Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Compton, Jim Barker, Pat https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9rd022qt Front Cover https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9rd022qt Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9mk2c7nn This article presents an overview of the Paíipai community of Santa Catarina, Baja California, from observations made during preliminary field visits that contributed to an ongoing ceramic study. Previous ethnoarchaeological investigations were dedicated to observing the ìancestralî paddle and anvil ceramic technology, and characterizing vessels as either ìtraditionalî or ìnon-traditionalî based on how closely they resembled early (pre-contact) forms. More recent ceramic objects came to be viewed by anthropologists as ìcontemporary artî or the result of an ìevolutionî of an ancient tradition. My proposal reframes anthropological notions of time and space to account for observed elements of both continuity and change in current forms, and to merge past and present, local and global contexts. Semi-structured interviews with ceramists revealed the importance of memory in ascribing meaning to the forms they produce. Exploring the significance of recent objects for the first time meant... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9mk2c7nn Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Graham, Michelle D. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9h49q5m9 Kumeyaay Ethnobotany: Shared Heritage of the Californias https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9h49q5m9 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Wilken-Robertson, Michael Hoppa, Kristin M. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9gf9581t Animal Bones and Archaeology:A Reply to Gobalet https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9gf9581t Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Tushingham, Shannon Hopt, Justin https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9bv4h5b7 A Stratigraphic Profile: Claude Warren's Desk https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9bv4h5b7 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Schneider, Joan S. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9bm966nm Volume 38 Issue 1 Front Cover https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9bm966nm Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9bg8m6kq Shellfish for the Celestial Empire: The Rise and Fall of Commercial Abalone Fishing in California https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9bg8m6kq Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Braje, Todd J. Van Bueren, Thad M. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/941821gn Kim Holanda Carpenter (1967ñ2019) https://escholarship.org/uc/item/941821gn Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 King, Jerome McGuire, Kelly Whitaker, Adrian https://escholarship.org/uc/item/93r4g95x The use of various organic resins as mastics and sealants in prehistoric North America is well documented in the archaeological and ethnographic literature. While the utilization of the creosote lac resin by people in western North America is known, resinous materials discovered in archaeological contexts are most often attributed to genus Pinus without formal analysis, partly due to the difficulty and cost of standard methods of identification. Here, three new techniques for the identification of resinous materials are described that are simpler and more cost effective than previous methods, and which will hopefully lead to the further study and better understanding of this aspect of ancient technology. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/93r4g95x Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Burnell, Taylor A. Sutton, Mark Q. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9247r6t2 The C.W. Harris site, type site for the early Holocene San Dieguito complex in San Diego County, has a long history of investigation, much of it driven by culture-historical and typological questions. We deviate from this pattern by describing the Warren and True (1961) chipped stone assemblage and documenting the San Dieguito inhabitantsí organization of lithic technology. Technological and high-power usewear analyses reveal that the biface and flake tool dominated assemblage consists almost entirely of manufacturing rejects and/or unused specimens. This and other evidence indicates that C.W. Harris functioned primarily as a non-residential, special-purpose workshop for biface (mostly Type 1 bifaces) and flake tool (mainly scrapers) manufacturing, with a possible secondary campsite function. Bifaces and scrapers are common in toolkits used to kill and process game, and imply that as a lithic workshop C.W. Harris was a feeder for new tools critical to sustaining a mobile lifeway. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9247r6t2 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Knell, Edward J. Becker, Mark S. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8tp0g9qv This paper presents two more radiocarbon dates derived from CA-LAN-1 (also known as the Tank Site), located within the Topanga Cultural Preserve in Topanga State Park. Building upon the first date (published in this journal in 2015), the new dates derived from the collections held at the Phoebe Hearst Museum confirm the age of the early component at the site yet suggest the existence of probable bioturbation that has potentially obscured the age of the presumably younger ìTopanga IIIî component. Specific information on the contexts of these dates, their conventional and calibrated ages, and a discussion of their significance relative to the rest of the site deposit and to the region as a whole is presented below. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8tp0g9qv Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Green, Scott J. Fitzgerald, Richard T. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8sp3v9z2 Memories of Claude N. Warren (1932-) https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8sp3v9z2 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Simms, Steven R. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8s94v1f4 Front Matter and Table of Contents https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8s94v1f4 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8s1270kb This paper uses ëcommunities of practiceí as an analytical framework to investigate the ways in which Chumash basket weavers reconstituted themselves and persevered during and after the colonial period in south-central California. Specifically, we focus on two distinct and chronologically-sequential Chumash basket weaving communities, including one group of weavers who lived at Mission San Buenaventura in the early 1800s and another group who fashioned baskets for the global market at the turn of the twentieth century. A detailed examination of baskets produced by these weavers and curated in museum collections reveals both similarities and distinct differences in manufacturing techniques and design styles. We suggest that during a time of cultural and political upheaval, the existence of basket weaving communities played a large part in the perseverance of Chumash cultural identities in these two historically-distinct contexts. Interviews with contemporary indigenous basket weavers... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8s1270kb Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Brown, Kaitlyn M. Timbrook, Jan Bardolph, Dana N. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8rv7t99b Sex & Death on the Western Immigrant Trail: The Biology of Three American Tragedies https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8rv7t99b Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Grayson, Donald K. Scott, G. Richard https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8qs4v46p From Colonization to Domestication: Population, Environment, and the Origins of Agriculture in Eastern North America https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8qs4v46p Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Miller, D. Shane Morgan, Brooke M. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8kc5m727 We present results from excavations at several shell midden sites in the region of Bajamar-Jatay, along the northwest coast of Baja California, Mexico. The morphology of stone cooking features is discussed in connection with potential uses and associated faunal remains, which indicate a diet based on the exploitation of nearshore marine resources. Under the assumption that differential consumption of harvested food resources may have influenced the type of heated stone structures used for cooking and processing, we suggest that the morphological differences between heated stone features are not random. The structure and style of a heated-rock cooking feature may be related to the types of foods that were prepared and the methods used to cook them. Ethnographic information supplements the archaeological data provided here and further supports our interpretations. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8kc5m727 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Ibarra, Enah M. Fonseca Ainis, Amira F. GuÌa-RamÌrez, Andrea https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8b84t1np Native Californians collected and consumed wild plants and animals even as they encountered colonial programs. Persistent interaction with native plant and animal communities can usually be inferred from colonial documents or by their presence as archaeological remains collected at missions, ranchos, or other colonial sites. Growing interest in the archaeology of spaces beyond the walls of colonial sites encourages expanded perspectives on indigenous foodways and the natural environments that may have supported resilient traditions, even as both transformed. In this article, we assess the persistence of indigenous foodways at CA-MRN-202, the site of a mid-nineteenth century trading post on Toms Point in western Marin County. Analysis of zooarchaeological and paleoethnobotanical assemblages suggests native people continued to collect and consume wild foods. They also selectively incorporated new foods and new technologies, we argue, to maintain connections to meaningful places. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8b84t1np Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Schneider, Tsim D. Janzen, Anneke Deantoni, Georgeann M. Hill, Amanda M. Apodaca, Alec J. Cuthrell, Rob Q. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/87m5t8v7 Contrary to long-held perceptions of rapid upheaval of Native Californian lifeways instigated by the establishment of Spanish missions in coastal southern California, archaeological and ethnohistorical research in the greater Los Angeles basin highlights the persistence and autonomy, as well as the transformation, of Native Californians in a missionized socio-political and economic landscape. Mission-period GabrieliÒo (Tongva) established post-contact communities that reinforced indigenous ideology, religion, and practice. At the same time, these communities also successfully navigated the environmental, social, and economic challenges created by colonial institutions. The successful persistence of many GabrieliÒo (Tongva) cultural rituals and subsistence practices for approximately 40 years after the establishment of Mission San Gabriel was due to the continuance, and transformation, of these long-lived native communities. This study looks broadly at evidence from both La Ballona,... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/87m5t8v7 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Reddy, Seetha N. Douglass, John G. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/84z9213h A collection of 2,185 bird bones recovered from twelve sites was analyzed to determine how the Fremont people made use of birds and their remains. Although bird bones are present at many of the Fremont sites that have been excavated in the last few decades, bird remains are rarely studied by archaeologists. The relative abundance of bird taxa and the contexts of bird bones suggest how some bird families were used by the Fremont people. We combine data from our bird-bone assemblage with data provided by Parmalee (1980) to determine which bird families are most commonly found as dietary remains or as raw materials for manufacturing artifacts. GIS data suggest that waterfowl were hunted primarily at wetland sites, while the Fremont people at open desert sites focused their bird hunting efforts on grouse. We found that the Fremont people used birds for a variety of purposes, including as food sources and as raw materials for tools and artifacts involving bones and feathers. Contextual... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/84z9213h Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Lambert, Spencer F. X. Bryce, Joseph A. Bischoff, Robert J. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8191b9wj People and Culture in Ice Age Americas: New Dimensions in Paleoamerican Archaeology https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8191b9wj Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Su·rez, Rafael Ardelean, Ciprian F Gusick, Amy E. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7zf1g6wp Don Tuohy: My "Boss" for Nearly 30 Years https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7zf1g6wp Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Dansie, Amy https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7rb5x0sc On Heizer https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7rb5x0sc Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 OíConnell, James F. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7nw981mm Randall Theodore Milliken: A Focused Life (19 September 1946–2 January 2018) https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7nw981mm Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Johnson, John R. Hughes, Richard E. Mikkelsen, Patricia https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7mt5b08w Plainview: The Enigmatic Paleoindian Artifact Style of the Great Plains https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7mt5b08w Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Holliday, Vance T. Johnson, Eileen Knudson, Ruthann Rosencrance, Richard L. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7kg523vj Multiple investigations on the Santa Clara University campus have revealed important archaeological finds dating from the Spanish and Mexican colonial periods. From early May 2012 through August 2015, the Universityís Cultural Resources Management program and Albion Environmental, Inc. investigated the site of the Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History Building and Parking Structure. Through this mitigation process, archaeologists stratigraphically excavated 61 significant features associated with the Indian rancherÌa (CA-SCL-30/H), occupied between 1781 and 1840. The archaeological record confirms that members of the diverse indigenous population continued to incorporate traditional forms of material culture into their daily practices. However, differences exist in the ways in which these objects were made, traded, and used during colonial times. These changes enhance our understanding of how a diverse group of indigenous peoples living within the mission negotiated not only cultural... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7kg523vj Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Peelo, Sarah Hylkema, Linda Ellison, John Blount, Clinton Hylkema, Mark Maher, Margie Garlinghouse, Tom McKenzie, Dustin D'oro, Stella Berge, Melinda https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7h31g73s Disturbing Bodies: Perspectives on Forensic Anthropology https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7h31g73s Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Crossland, ZoÎ Joyce, Rosemary Gardner, Karen https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7fb557x3 There are few existing studies of contemporary Yuman ceramics in Baja California, and past research has primarily focused on how the craft has been ìwesternizedî since the Spanish mission period. Although innumerable ceramic traditions were practiced in Mexico prior to the arrival of the Spanish, it is not usually possible to trace the persistence of this craft through the transition from a semi-nomadic subsistence pattern to a more sedentary lifestyle; it is possible with Yuman ceramics. The author has developed a new method employing the vesicular or Egyptian rectangle to measure vessels and demonstrate diachronic and synchronic changes in the relative height and variety of forms. The associated theory holds that these changes correspond to the decreasing mobility, or increased sedentism, of Yuman peoples. Independent of the undeniable western influences on Yuman ceramics, this method shows that the proportional height of vessels increased with the persistence of this craft... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7fb557x3 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 MicheliniI, Antonio Porcayo https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7br4t8ck Message from the Editor https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7br4t8ck Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/78m9159n Archaeologist Nels C. Nelson was active during much of the first half of the twentieth century. His career began in the heyday of ìmuseum anthropologyî and ended just at the dawn of the processual era. Typically acting on behalf of more senior figures, such as Alfred Kroeber and Clark Wissler, he had a deep personal involvement in the culture of American archaeology at a time of transition. The complex politics and personalities that shaped regional institutions, as well as Nelsonís own circumstances, are particularly well-documented in associated archival materials. This paper discusses these themes in the context of Nelsonís fieldwork in Southern California between 1908 and 1912, with reference to the longer arc of his engagement with the profession. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/78m9159n Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Snead, James E. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/72d545m3 Historical Archaeology in the Cortez Mining District: Under the Nevada Giant https://escholarship.org/uc/item/72d545m3 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Obermayr, Erich McQueen, Robert W. Hardesty, Donald L. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6wn4j427 Volume 38 Issue 1 Back Matter https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6wn4j427 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6pj2d2j8 We report new stable isotope and radiocarbon data on a small set of human remains representing seven individuals from three archaeological sites in northeastern California, CA-MOD-205 (Franklin Creek site; n = 2), CA-LAS-989 (Bare Cave; n=4), and an unrecorded site near Honey Lake (n =1). Results reveal several points of interest for dietary reconstructions, mobility patterns, and the antiquity of Northern Side-Notched points. First, one of the samples from LAS-989 produced a calibrated radiocarbon date in excess of 7,800 cal B.P., one of the oldest human bones dated in northern California. This sample is associated stratigraphically with Northern Side-Notched projectile points, demonstrating the antiquity of this point style. The other samples consistently dated to the Late Holocene (2,200 to 1,200 cal B.P.). Second, dietary isotopes indicate that all individuals had a mixed diet, including C3 plants and large game, as expected, but they also consumed significant quantities of... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6pj2d2j8 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Eerkens, Jelmer W. Talcott, Susan D. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6ms6r9dq Formation Processes of Maritime Archaeological Landscapes https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6ms6r9dq Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Caporaso, Alicia Moore, James https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6jh2b677 Zooarchaeology and Field Ecology: A Photographic Atlas https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6jh2b677 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Broughton, Jack M. Miller, Shawn D. Dombrosky, Jonathan https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6h10n84z The following list of dissertations, all of which have appeared since a similar list was published in Vol 29, No. 2, 2009 a decade ago, is intended to call attention to significant new scholarship that might be relevant to a readerís particular research interests but might otherwise be overlooked. Some works on the list have since been published in one form or another, though most have not. Summaries can be found in ProQuest: Dissertation Abstracts, which is readily available online, and many can also be obtained in the form of complete texts. Readers are urged to bring any relevant dissertation that may have been inadvertently left off the list to the attention of the editors. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6h10n84z Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Blackburn, Thomas https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6gb4f2m8 Claude Warren: He Kick-Started my Career https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6gb4f2m8 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Jenkins, Dennis L. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6g99d65w The Legacy of Emma Lou Davis: A View from the Bleachers https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6g99d65w Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Basgall, Mark E. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6cs2c1xj The study of ethnographic-period basketry disproportionately focuses on decorative baskets or utilitarian ones associated with the subsistence economy, and does not consider basketry technology from a behavioral-ecology perspective. The present study examines cross-cultural variation in basketry cradles in Central California, proposes a model of pre-contact diffusion of cradle technology across the Great Basin and California, and considers cradles as both a form of reproductive investment and a technology that attenuated foragingopportunity costs for mothers of breastfeeding infants. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6cs2c1xj Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Greenwald, Alexandra M. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6bb653j2 Volume 37 Issue 2 Front Matter and Table of Contents https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6bb653j2 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/66n6j1kn Crescents are enigmatic flaked stone artifacts commonly associated with Western Stemmed Tradition and Paleocoastal complexes in western North America. Despite a number of suggestions, their function remains unclear. It is proposed here that at least some crescents may have been hafted on projectile shafts below (but near) their stone or wooden points as ìspursî to limit the penetration of the projectile into the body of a targeted animal, such as a large bird. This would have served to minimize the post-mortem damage to the prey and increase the chances of recovering both the projectile and the prey. This is the same concept found in some ethnographic bird arrows that have wooden cross members fastened below their wooden tips. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/66n6j1kn Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Sutton, Mark Q. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6248d8tn Mukatís Last Gift: Mortuary Customs Among the Cahuilla Indians https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6248d8tn Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Bean, Lowell J. Gamble, Lynn H. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/61j883s8 Foragers on Americaís Western Edge: The Archaeology of Californiaís Pecho Coast https://escholarship.org/uc/item/61j883s8 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Jones, Terry L. Codding, Brian F. Raddle, Hugh D. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5r93q480 Lovelock by Moonlight https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5r93q480 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Napton, Lew https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5np1f12n Energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis of geological obsidian samples from three localities in the southern Birch Creek drainage revealed that the vast majority of nodules represent the Walcott Tuff, a widespread toolstone-caliber volcanic glass in eastern Idaho. XRF data generated from analysis of over 500 obsidian artifacts from four archaeological sites in the Birch Creek Valley document the reliance of prehistoric peoples on Walcott Tuff obsidian. Data from newly documented Walcott Tuff exposures lead us to conclude that people who frequented the Birch Creek Valley could have acquired obsidian from proximate Walcott Tuff exposures without having to travel over 100 km. south to the American Falls area. These results underscore the importance of documenting, and geochemically analyzing, locations of artifact-quality ash-flow tuff obsidians prior to advancing archaeological conclusions about obsidian conveyance and population mobility. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5np1f12n Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Arkush, Brooke S. Hughes, Richard E. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5h84h2n3 The use of stable oxygen (?18O) and carbon (?13C) isotopic ratios of marine shell carbonate is a powerful tool for reconstructing past sea surface temperatures (SST) and estimating season of harvest for shells from coastal archaeological sites. While methods for sampling shells and analyzing the resulting data are established, less is known about the effects of anthropogenic activity on the geochemistry of the shells. Through an experimental study in which we heat carbonate powder from Mytilus californianus shells, we show that mussels cooked by boiling or steaming were unlikely to have their isotopic composition altered by the process. Shells heated over coals, however, show evidence of both visible and structural changes and in some cases are depleted in ?13C and/or ?18O. This indicates that archaeologists should use caution in interpreting past SST or site seasonality from burned shells and should instead test intact, unburned shells. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5h84h2n3 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Jazwa, Christopher S. Jantz, Samuel https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5gf9t5b6 Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats: Extinct Mammals and the Archaeology of the Ice Age Great Basin https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5gf9t5b6 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Grayson, Donald K. Wolfe, Allison L. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5g35s12h In 1846, an arborgraph drawn on a cottonwood tree near Kern River was recorded by a member of the FrÈmont party; it may well be the only such record still extant. The scene depicted appears to involve vaqueros roping tule elk, and possibly represents a traditional native response to initial contacts with Euromericans. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5g35s12h Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Blackburn, Thomas https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5f29r7gq California recently experienced its first discovery of pre-contact ice-patch archaeology. In late 2014, a juniper bow stave was found partially embedded in remnant glacial ice at an elevation of over 3,700 meters. This stave is one of only a few juniper bow staves ever recovered from an archaeological context within the western Great Basin. The bow stave offers a unique insight into the bow manufacturing process, bow-stave tree selection, and variation in lateperiod bow technology. Combining the study of archaeologically recovered bow-staves with replicative studies, as well as a focused examination of bow-stave tree scarring, provides complementary data that could better detail the totality of pre-contact bow production. This should result in greater numbers of bow-stave trees being identified and a greater understanding of the human component, from tree selection to the patterning evident in remnant scarring. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5f29r7gq Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Haverstock, Gregory J. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/57s7b7m5 For at least 350 years, remnants of 37 compound arrows made of carrizo (cane) and hardwood have remained in high crevices in a canyon wall in the Colorado Desert of southern California. This paper provides the results of a 2001 study of this phenomenon. Research in museum collections, ethnographic data, early historical texts, and new radiocarbon determinations support the hypotheses that (1) the arrows were shot into the crevices with a bow; (2) the arrows were made by and shot by Kumeyaay people; and (3) the Arrow Site is a result of a single incident rather than repetitive traditional events. Several other instances of arrows placed in out-of-the-way niches and crevices are explored, as well as possible reasons for the creation of the site. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/57s7b7m5 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Schneider, Joan S. James, Steven R. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/56s3p0qz Fierce and Indomitable: The Protohistoric Non-Pueblo World in the American Southwest https://escholarship.org/uc/item/56s3p0qz Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Seymour, Deni J. Black, Marielle https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5158p17f Indigenous Persistence in Colonial California https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5158p17f Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Schneider, Tsim D. Panich, Lee M. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4sg3092g Integrative Approaches in Ceramic Petrography https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4sg3092g Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Ownby, Mary F. Druc, Isabelle C. Masucci, Maria A. Trusty, Debra A. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4qm1193q Editor's Special Feature Introduction https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4qm1193q Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Whitaker, Adrian https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4nn3195p Two coprolites recovered from the excavations at Chapman Caves 1 (CA-INY-1534A) were analyzed to determine their origins, and if possible to obtain data on human resource use at the site. Both specimens were determined to probably be canid in origin, but their presence within the cultural deposit may suggest they were from dogs belonging to the human occupants of the site. In addition, the results of protein residue analysis from three other coprolites found on the surface of the site are reported. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4nn3195p Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Lapierre, Kish Suttton, Mark Q. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4km215dr Ave Claudius https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4km215dr Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Pavesic, Max G. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4g4279tx Prehistoric Games of North American Indians: Subarctic to Mesoamerica https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4g4279tx Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Voorhies, Barbara Ebert, Claire E. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4c72v4kw Paleoarchaic studies in western North America comprise often competing frameworks of subsistence, technology, work organization, and gender. An alternative approach recognizes the vast energetic and bio-geographic potential of geophytes, particularly cattail (Typha latifolia), as well as the most important tool used in their procurement, the digging stick. The manufacture and maintenance of digging sticks requires flaked stone implements, primarily simple edge-modified flake tools that are ubiquitous in most early-dating assemblages. Together, this approach allows us to re-imagine the foundations of Paleoarchaic subsistence-settlement; how flaked stone technologies were organized with regard to the work efforts of both men and women; and how these groups may have expanded into unfamiliar environments. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4c72v4kw Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 McGuire, Kelly R. Stevens, Nathan https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4828m6cc Olivella-shell grooved rectangular beads, or N series beads as classified by Bennyhoff and Hughes (1987), are the oldest Olivella wall beads in central California, dating to a narrow time-frame during the mid-Holocene. This bead type, thought to have originated in the southern Santa Barbara Channel islands, has been identified across a wide geographical area, including most of central and southern California and portions of Nevada and southeastern Oregon. Used by some to argue for a Middle Holocene Uto-Aztecan socioeconomic interaction sphere, we demonstrate that their broad geographical range is simply a barometer of the widespread transmission of cultural knowledge and the establishment of extensive trade networks circa 5,000 years ago. We also present new isotopic data that suggest that at least some of these beads were manufactured from shells obtained north of Point Conception, beyond the greater Santa Barbara Channel region. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4828m6cc Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Fitzgerald, Richard T. Rosenthal, Jeffrey S. Eerkens, Jelmer Nicholson, David Spero, Howard J. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/454588f0 Excavated in 1961, CA-SLO-239 at Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo County produced a large but undated assemblage of stone, shell, and bone artifacts. The first radiocarbon dates obtained from faunal samples (n =5) complement temporal diagnostics that indicate the site was occupied primarily during the early Middle and Middle-Late Transition periods. A single E2 Thick-Lipped Olivella bead suggests some minimal site use during the Late Period, but the lack of Desert Side-notched and Coastal Cottonwood projectile points suggests the site was largely abandoned after 700 cal B.P. Limited provenience data constrain our ability to define components more precisely. Faunal remains show an emphasis on marine animals for the entire span of occupation. Lack of evidence for occupation during the late Middle Period (ca. 1,550ñ900 cal B.P.) is consistent with other findings from the Morro Bay area, while a focus on marine fauna is consistent with previous findings for the Medieval Climatic Anomaly.... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/454588f0 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Jones, Terry L. Knight, David A. Porcasi, Judith F. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/43r334d5 Talking Stone: Rock Art of the Cosos https://escholarship.org/uc/item/43r334d5 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Goldsmith, Paul Bedford, Clare https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4253x3t6 Breaking New Ground: A Story of Native American Archaeologists Working in Their Ancestral Lands https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4253x3t6 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Gross, Phil McGuire, Kelly R. Hildebrandt, William Young, D. Craig Nelson, Peter A. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4158q779 Llewellyn L. Loud is an iconic figure in California and Great Basin anthropology, a man who made significant contributions to the field but whose path was as unique as he was. He made his way from Maine to U.C. Berkeley, and after holding a number of positions, including as guard and janitor, worked as a senior preparator and then went on to excavate some of the most important archaeological sites in the region. As described by his supervisor A. L. Kroeber, Loud was a singular individualósolitary, stubborn, independent, and loyaló as well as being a humanist and open socialist at a time when such beliefs were far from mainstream. Six newly discovered studio photographs recently found at Washington State University are revealing of Loudís unique character. The details of this coincidental discovery are discussed here, along with relevant background information about Loud and early twentiethcentury studio portraiture. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4158q779 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Lantier, Harrison Tushingham, Shannon https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3tf673qg A large piece of resin, identified as being creosote lac insect resin, was found in a small cave in the Saline Valley in 1931. The piece, now in the Eastern California Museum, is described here and provides some additional information regarding the use of such materials in the Great Basin. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3tf673qg Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Sutton, Mark Q. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3rg5c4cw Allika Ruby (1969–2017) https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3rg5c4cw Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Gilreath, Amy J. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3mr189ng Back Matter https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3mr189ng Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3k7589s2 In 1988, Wilke described juniper trees in the Great Basin from which bow staves had been removed, and suggested the method that had likely been employed to do so. Based upon our own knowledge of tree growth and responses to wounding, we question certain of his assumptions, and offer modifications to Wilkeís proposal as to how prospective staves might have been removed. Further research and experimentation is encouraged. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3k7589s2 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Millar, Constance I. Smith, Kevin T. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3hv7d88d In the Eastern Fluted Point Tradition: Volume II https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3hv7d88d Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Gingerich, Joseph A. M. Smith, Geoffrey M. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3ht6s9p8 The Fifth Beginning: What Six Million Years of Human History Can Tell Us About Our Future https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3ht6s9p8 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Kelly, Robert L. O'Connell, James https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3h89c5jh This study integrates several lines of evidence to assess temporal trends in the persistence of indigenous village communities in the San Francisco Bay-Delta area after the arrival of the Spanish in 1776 C.E. Baptismal records indicate that more than half of the Native American village communities in the region persisted as independent entities for at least another 25 years or longer. Archaeological evidence and radiocarbon and obsidian hydration results from post-contact native settlements are spatially patterned in a manner consistent with the archival record. Material indicators of the Mission Period (such as European material culture and non-native plant and animal resources) are also present at many radiocarbon-dated post-contact native settlements, indicating at least a limited movement of goods but also highlighting how these data sets are poor indicators of indigenous persistence during the early colonial era. The results provide a foundation for future research into initial... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3h89c5jh Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Byrd, Brian F. Dearmond, Shannon Engbring, Laurel https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3cw6x4j0 Memories of Donald R. Tuohy (1926–2012) https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3cw6x4j0 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Simms, Steven R. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3bh62064 The Last House at Bridge River: The Archaeology of an Aboriginal Household in British Columbia during the Fur Trade Period https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3bh62064 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Prentiss, Anna Marie Caporaso, Alicia https://escholarship.org/uc/item/38g2h3rd Volume 37 Issue 2 Back Matter https://escholarship.org/uc/item/38g2h3rd Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/38b6811f Back Matter https://escholarship.org/uc/item/38b6811f Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/35s9n7g2 Back Matter https://escholarship.org/uc/item/35s9n7g2 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3541w9s2 Volume 39 Issue 2 Front Matter and Table of Contents https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3541w9s2 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3502t3sn A Zoologistís Perspective on Presenting Archaeological Faunal Data https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3502t3sn Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Gobalet, Kenneth W. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3443j7m9 Island of the Blue Dolphins: The Complete Readerís Edition https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3443j7m9 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Schwebel (editor), Sara L. O'Dell (author), Scott Ainis, Amira F. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/32h2x408 This paper formally reports the Jess Valley obsidian source, presents its trace element composition, and sketches what we currently know about the time/space distribution of archaeological examples in northeastern California. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/32h2x408 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Hughes, Richard E. Howe, Mark L. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/30m3f4m0 Mortar and pestle technology has long been considered prima facie evidence for the intensive use and storage of acorns in pre-contact California. The relatively late adoption of this technology has commonly been interpreted as a direct measure of population pressure and?due to the presumed low caloric return rate of acorns?declining foraging efficiency. Conversely, hand-stone and milling-slab technology was used throughout the Holocene, and was equated with the non-intensive processing of small seeds. Here we decouple these erroneous assumptions by demonstrating that acorns are among the most productive native plant foods widely available in California, and small seeds are among the least productive. Archaeobotanical data also show that the regular use of acorns in central California began early in the Holocene when hand-stones and milling-slabs were the only milling technology used. Bowl mortars and pestles first appear in some parts of central California by 7,000 years ago.... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/30m3f4m0 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Rosenthal, Jeffrey S. Hildebrandt, William R. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/30f373pk Purple Hummingbird: A Biography of Elizabeth Warder Crozer Campbell https://escholarship.org/uc/item/30f373pk Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Warren, Claude N. Schneider, Joan S. Perry, Jennifer E. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2zg2h1p2 Front Matter and Table of Contents https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2zg2h1p2 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2z25k7nr Message from the Editor https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2z25k7nr Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Hildebrandt, William R. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2vw956bc Introduction to Special Feature on Experimental Archaeology https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2vw956bc Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Whitaker, Adrian https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2vh3p469 Tushingham and Christiansen (2015) recently reviewed data from 22 fish assemblages from coastal archaeological sites in northern California and southern Oregon. They characterized the assemblage from the Chetco Indian village of Tcetxo (35-CU-42) as dominated by nearshore littoral fish including rockfish, surfperch, and greenlings, drawing from Ricksí (2012) analyses reported in Minor (2012). Our recent analyses of fine-screened samples from Tcetxo reveals that both surf smelt and northern anchovies were abundant, but only in materials recovered using 1 mm. mesh screens. This demonstrates the importance of analyzing fine-screened materials to document Native American fishing practices along the Pacific coast, especially to find the remains of forage fish, which form the foundation of entire marine ecosystems. Overall, our data support Tushingham and Christiansenís thesis that Native Americans living along the coast of northern California and southern Oregon focused substantial... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2vh3p469 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Moss, Madonna L. Minor, Rick Page-Botelho, Kyla https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2qf0h6c8 An experiment reported by Cook et al. (2017) demonstrated that there was a strong morphological similarity between a stone used to crack open California sea mussels and archaeological pitted stones. Based on these findings, the authors concluded that the primary function of pitted stones was to process mussels. The use of pitted stones to crack open turban snails was also suspected but was not evaluated experimentally. Here we report the results of an experiment in which we processed 572 turban snails using two flat, fist-sized cobbles, one as a hammer and the other as an anvil. As in the Cook et al. (2017) study, we found that cracking open these mollusks also produced a pitted morphology on the anvil stone virtually identical to that of archaeological pitted stones. From this, we conclude that pitted stones were almost certainly used to crack open turban snails as well as mussels along the central coast of California. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2qf0h6c8 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Webb, Jack Jones, Terry L. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2m22v2q5 Front Cover https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2m22v2q5 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2j61b68w Yuki Grammar, with Sketches of Huchnom and Coast Yuki https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2j61b68w Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Balodis, Uldis Spence, Justin https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2h62v4bt Lunch with Davey, The Original Feminis Archaeologist https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2h62v4bt Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Whitley, David S. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2g36r97c Looking for the Paleo-Grocery Store: My Recollections of Emma Lou Davis https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2g36r97c Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Kaldenberg, Russell L. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2fh9z593 John Fitchís (1972) report on CA-SLO-2 is perhaps the single most iconic study of fish remains in California. The site was excavated by Roberta Greenwood in 1968, and Fitch devoted over 900 hours to the analysis of (mostly) otoliths from a single column sample, leaving non-otoliths from the column and other remains from the rest of Greenwoodís excavations unexamined. For this study, we analyzed the previously unidentified remains (consisting primarily of vertebrae) and compared the results with those from Fitchís otolith study and Greenwoodís 6 mm. excavation units. Not surprisingly, we found additional and smaller fishes in the micromesh samples. Since Fitchís report is the only one in California that we are aware of that has identified remains of the wolf-eel (Anarrhichthys ocellatus), we sought to determine if the identification of this species was credible. We conclude that prickleback (Xiphister sp.) teeth were misidentified as wolf-eel, and consequently that wolf-eel has... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2fh9z593 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Gobalet, Kenneth W. Jones, Terry L. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2dx1t8fj Old Magic: Lives of the Desert Shamans https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2dx1t8fj Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Clapp, Nicholas Robinson, David Wayne https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2c1895x0 Volume 39 Issue 2 Back Matter https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2c1895x0 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/28g372v5 Volume 38 Issue 1 Front Matter https://escholarship.org/uc/item/28g372v5 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2841m5g0 Differences between the northern and western Great Basin have long been recognized, based on technological attributes such as lithic procurement networks and distinctive basketry traditions. A detailed look at knotted-net manufacture in the northern and western Great Basin is presented using archaeological samples from Nevada and Oregon museum collections, and drawing upon the ethnographic record to inform our analysis of net types and their uses. Metrics were recorded for 89 nets and net fragments to identify any apparent differences in construction and to investigate whether distinctive patterns in net-making might also distinguish these areas. Recorded metrics do indeed show a statistically significant difference in net construction between the northern and western Great Basin. Direct AMS dates are reported for sixteen of the sampled nets. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2841m5g0 Wed, 5 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Connolly, Thomas J. Kallenbach, Elizabeth A. Barker, Pat McCabe, Susan J.