ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE POINT BENNETT PINNIPED ROOKERY ON SAN MIGUEL ISLAND Phillip L. Walker1, Douglas J. Kennett 2, Terry L. Jones3, and Robert DeLong4 1Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (805) 685-8424, FAX (805) 685-8424, E-mail:
[email protected] 2Department of Anthropology, California State University, Long Beach, CA 90840 (805) 965-0262, FAX (805) 893-8707, E-mail:
[email protected] 3Social Science Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 (805) 756-2523, FAX (805) 545-0694, E-mail:
[email protected] 4National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Bldg. 4, 7600 Sand Point Way, N. E. Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 526-4038, FAX (206) 526-6615, E-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT Point Bennett, on the western tip of San Miguel Is- Euro-Americans had on other Pacific Coast pinniped breed- land, California, is the site of one of the largest pinniped ing grounds during the nineteenth century. rookeries on the West Coast of North America. Findings During October of 1996 and 1997, test excavations from late Holocene shell middens situated on and adjacent were undertaken at archaeological sites near Point Bennett. to the modern rookery suggest that the pinniped population Both sites, CA-SMI-602 and CA-SMI-528, suffer from ex- of this breeding area was considerably smaller between 1425 tensive erosion, and the testing was designed to salvage as and 1500 AD than it is today. Archaeological evidence sug- much information as possible from the deposits before they gests that temporal variation in the size and species compo- are lost.