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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Local Technology and Shifting Sociopolitics: A Hunter-Gatherer Case Study on Santa Cruz Island, northern Channel Islands, California Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2cv543k1 Author Sunell, Scott David Publication Date 2018 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Local Technology and Shifting Sociopolitics: A Hunter-Gatherer Case Study on Santa Cruz Island, northern Channel Islands, California A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Scott David Sunell 2018 © Copyright by Scott David Sunell 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Local Technology and Shifting Sociopolitics: A Hunter-Gatherer Case Study on Santa Cruz Island, northern Channel Islands, California by Scott David Sunell Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor Jeanne E. Arnold, Chair One of the central and ongoing efforts of contemporary archaeology lies in identifying explanatory mechanisms for change through time in human societies. Details of the pace, impetus, material culture correlates, and sociopolitical context for these changes are often hotly debated. For researchers studying Chumash society of the Santa Barbara Channel region, the archaeological record provides a basis for understanding these dynamics through time, reflected in both settlement systems and labor organization (Arnold 2001a; Perry and Glassow 2015). I analyze Laguna Canyon, a major drainage located on the south side of Santa Cruz Island in the Santa Barbara Channel, where evidence of resource use during the late Middle period (600- 1150AD) reveals a locally focused trajectory of residential tool manufacture, reflecting a nuanced response to contemporary sociopolitical change. Two patterns emerged during this work. First, Laguna was most intensively occupied during the late Middle period with ten sites dating to that span. By contrast, during the Transitional period (1150-1300 A.D.) use of the canyon focused on a single site. The pattern in Laguna is like that of canyons with large permanent villages (Arnold 2001b, Peterson 1994; Perry and Glassow 2015). Second, the occupants of Laguna made microliths from local igneous materials during the late Middle period but imported formal chert microtools during the Transitional period. Locally-oriented systems of occupation and production in the late Middle period were supplanted by regional ones during the Transitional period. In this assemblage I identify change through time that suggests a nuanced process of accommodation with both intra-island and regional dynamics, inflected by cultural ii preferences in lithic procurement and a continuing emphasis on local raw materials that makes the record of Laguna Canyon an important source of data for understanding change through time in Chumash society and among complex hunter-gatherers generally. iii The dissertation of Scott David Sunell is approved. Sarah P Morris Charles S Stanish Jennifer Perry Gregson T Schachner Jeanne E Arnold, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2018 iv To my wife, Hilah, who supports me, and to my family, who inspire me. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1 - Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Project Goals and Results ............................................................................................................ 2 Chapter 2 – Cultural Evolution and Complex Hunter-Gatherers .................................................... 5 Pacific Northwest Coast and Canadian Plateau ....................................................................... 8 Highland Papua New Guinea ................................................................................................ 13 California ............................................................................................................................... 15 Some Effects of Territoriality and Ownership on the Origin of Complexity ............................ 20 Expanding Labor Control as a Mechanism for Sociopolitical Change ..................................... 23 Ownership, Labor, and Lithic Technology ............................................................................... 25 Chapter 3 – Cultural Evolution in the Santa Barbara Channel Region ......................................... 27 Resource Use on SCRI .............................................................................................................. 29 Specialized Labor and Resource Use on the Channel Islands .................................................. 35 Island Life in the Middle Period ............................................................................................... 41 Laguna Canyon ......................................................................................................................... 47 Overview of Work ..................................................................................................................... 51 Chapter 4 – Analyses .................................................................................................................... 54 Assemblage ............................................................................................................................... 54 Worked Shell ............................................................................................................................. 55 Lithics ........................................................................................................................................ 62 Cores ...................................................................................................................................... 62 Microblade Cores .................................................................................................................. 68 Core and flake Tools .............................................................................................................. 69 Bifaces ................................................................................................................................... 74 Debitage and Flakes ............................................................................................................... 76 Microblades ........................................................................................................................... 83 Worked Bone ............................................................................................................................. 85 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 86 Chapter 5 - Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 87 Appendix A - Methods.................................................................................................................. 94 Survey Methods ......................................................................................................................... 94 Subsurface Testing Methods ..................................................................................................... 97 Lithic Analysis Methods ........................................................................................................... 98 Appendix B – Site Descriptions .................................................................................................. 104 Appendix C - Figures .................................................................................................................. 134 Appendix D - Tables ................................................................................................................... 159 References ................................................................................................................................... 239 vi LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1A/B…………….............MAPS OF THE SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL AND SANTA CRUZ ISLAND FIGURE 2A/B ……..…….…..……….MAP OF SITES IN LAGUNA CANYON (DESCRIPTIONS IN CAPTIONS) FIGURE 3…………………………...……..……………………………….………MAP OF SCRI-843 FIGURE 4…………………………………...…..……..PROFILE OF CUT BANK EXPOSURE AT SCRI-843 FIGURE 5…………………………...……………………..……………………….MAP OF SCRI-844 FIGURE 6…………………………………………..……………..…………...…..MAP OF SCRI-845 FIGURE 7…………………..…………….....PROFILE OF NORTH WALL OF UNIT 15E, 27N AT SCRI-845 FIGURE 8…………………..……….…..PROFILE OF NORTH WALL OF UNITS 18E, 18/19N AT SCRI-845 FIGURE 9……..……………………...…..……………………………...…...…….MAP OF SCRI-847 FIGURE 10………………………...………..……………………….……………..MAP OF SCRI-848 FIGURE 11……………………...…………………..……………….……………..MAP OF SCRI-849 FIGURE 12…………………..………..………PROFILE OF WEST WALL OF UNIT 13E, 20N AT SCRI-849 FIGURE 13……………………..……….…...PROFILE OF NORTH WALL OF UNIT 13E, 20N AT SCRI-849 FIGURE 14……………………………………..………………….………...……..MAP OF SCRI-850 FIGURE 15………………………………………..………...……….……………..MAP OF SCRI-851 FIGURE 16………………………………………………...………...……………..MAP OF SCRI-852 FIGURE 17….....PHOTOGRAPHS