EARLY PERIOD RESOURCE USE ON EASTERN SANTA CRUZ ISLAND JENNIFER E. PERRY Department of Anthropology, Pomona College, 420 North Harvard Avenue, Claremont, CA 91711 [email protected] ABSTRACT—Considerable archaeological research has been conducted on Santa Cruz Island, especially with respect to environmental, demographic, and technological transitions from the late Middle to Late Periods (1,500–200 BP). Much less is known about the Early Period (9,500–2,700 BP), with most interpretations based on data from individual sites rather than derived from a regional approach. From 2000–2002, archaeological surveys, site testing, and data analyses were conducted on eastern Santa Cruz Island, focusing on regional site distribution and manifestations of shifting resource priorities through prehistory. Of the 66 sites included in this study, 18 have components radiocarbon dated to the Early Period, of which 14 are dated between 5,000 and 2,700 cal BP, providing sufficient data with which to assess regional patterns in settlement and subsistence within this time frame. These data indicate that Early Period inhabitants were seasonal foragers moving between the coast and interior to rely on abundant, easy- to-procure resources, namely shellfish and plants. Along with the prevalence of California mussel (Mytilus californianus), the abundance of stone bowl mortars and related artifacts as well as the significant number of shell middens situated on coastal terraces and elevated landforms correlate well with Early Period subsistence patterns documented elsewhere. People appear to have moved seasonally based on the prioritization of terrestrial and marine variables, with fresh water, plants, chert, and viewshed being potentially attractive resources at higher elevations. In sum, this research highlights the coastal-interior emphasis of the Early Period and contrasts it with specialized maritime-oriented activities later in time, when exploitation of fish, chert, and exchange opportunities were intensified and the role of shellfish and island plants diminished. Keywords: bowl mortars, chert, Early Period, Santa Cruz Island, settlement-subsistence INTRODUCTION well as fish and sea mammals to lesser, but more variable degree (Erlandson 1988, Glassow 1993, By the Late Period (650–168 BP), major shifts Walker 1996). However, due to their limited in settlement-subsistence strategies in response to availability and diversity on the Channel Islands population-resource imbalances are presumed to relative to the mainland, reliable access to plant have led to the development of complex resources and thereby regional trade was essential socioeconomic and political organization in the to sustaining dense island populations later in Santa Barbara Channel region (Arnold 1992, prehistory, including on Santa Cruz Island (Arnold Kennett 1998, Johnson 2000, Kennett and Kennett 1987, King 1990, Timbrook 1993). As such, the 2000, Arnold 2001). To understand such importance of plant resources, and the groundstone complexity, it is necessary to evaluate the with which to process them, cannot be archaeological manifestations of responses to underestimated in regard to shaping later exchange changing environmental and cultural conditions in activities, as growing island populations became the context of earlier transformations on the islands increasingly invested in trade opportunities, and and mainland. Early Period (9,500–2,700 BP) dependent on mainland products to buffer local adaptations are characterized by complementary shortfalls (Arnold 1987, 1992, and 2001, King emphases on terrestrial and marine resources, with 1990, Timbrook 1993). Significantly, the focus on reliance on plant foods as carbohydrate sources terrestrial resources, as represented by site supplementing protein and fat from shellfish as distribution and artifact assemblages on eastern 44 PERRY Santa Cruz Island and elsewhere, stands in contrast influenced technological and socioeconomic to the settlement-subsistence strategies employed trajectories later in time by providing the cultural during the late Middle Period (1,500–650 BP) and context in which they presumably emerged (Perry beyond when intensive fishing and maritime 2003). On the East End, there are 66 sites with exchange networks formed the basis of island chronological data, of which 18 date to the Early subsistence and socioeconomic activities (Arnold Period, based on a compilation of data yielded 1987, 1992, and 2001, Glassow 1993, Kennett from this study as well as those of Arnold (1987), 1998, Jones and Kennett 1999). Kennett (1998), and Clifford (2001). Nine of the Our current understanding of the prehistory of Early Period sites were tested as part of this the Channel Islands prior to such transformations is research and their general results presented here, limited primarily to excavations of individual sites with two (SCRI-393 and SCRI-406) discussed in along coastlines. Significant insights have been more detail as specific examples of regional gained from archaeological research conducted at settlement and subsistence trends. locales such as Daisy Cave and Cave of the Chimneys on San Miguel Island (Vellanoweth et al. 2000, Rick et al. 2001), Punta Arena on western METHODS Santa Cruz Island (Glassow 2000), and Eel Point on San Clemente Island (Salls 1988, Raab et al. 1995, The East End is defined as the region east of El Garlinghouse 2000). On Santa Cruz Island, inter- Montañon, the prominent northwest-southeast pretations of the Early Period have been derived trending ridge that serves as a major natural barrier from data obtained from Punta Arena and other red between this area and the rest of the island (Fig. 1). abalone middens along the southwestern and The East End encompasses about 2,590 hectares of western extremes of the island. Notably absent have land composed geologically of Santa Cruz Island been comparable studies in areas and at sites not Volcanics and the Monterey Formation, with situated directly on the coast, or from anywhere on intersection of these formations having resulted in the eastern end of the island in general (see Yatsko El Montañon ridgeline. In areas where the contact 2000). Furthermore, regional assessments of zone between these two formations is exposed, prehistoric land and resource use have been limited chert outcroppings are easy to find, easy to access, to individual drainages such as Coches Prietos and typically are easy to work with a few simple (Peterson 1994). Finally, these studies have tended tools. Their importance in prehistory is evident in to be concentrated on more recent periods, particu- the intensive quarrying activities manifested at larly the emphasis on settlement, subsistence, and most chert outcroppings. Because chert quarries exchange intensification (i.e., microdrill and shell and other resources are easily accessible from both bead production) during the late Middle and Late sides of El Montañon, the western flanks and Periods (Arnold 1987, 1992, 2001, Arnold and nearby ridges are included in the sample. The total Munns 1994). area addressed in this study includes about 3,108 In response to the limitations of previous hectares, with 15% of that, or 466 hectares, approaches, eastern Santa Cruz Island (East End) surveyed systematically at 10-m intervals during was selected for a stratified, judgmental survey and fieldwork conducted between February 2001 and site testing to evaluate regional settlement and July 2002 (Perry 2003). subsistence patterns through time. The broader Based on models of optimal foraging theory goals of this study centered on temporal changes in and evolutionary ecology (Bettinger 1991, resource prioritization, with emphasis on how they Winterhalder and Smith 1992), it was assumed that relate to and reflect exchange intensification site placement on the landscape indirectly reflects commencing in the Middle Period, particularly in decision-making strategies through which the form of intensive chert quarrying and particular habitats and/or resources were given microdrill production from the late Middle to Late priority at the expense of others at different times. Periods (Arnold 1987). Early Period land and Compartmentalizing the landscape as different resource use were evaluated with respect to how landforms was determined to be an effective means they differ from such strategies as well as how they of assessing spatial and temporal variability, given EARLY PERIOD RESOURCE USE 45 Figure 1. Santa Cruz Island and the Channel Islands (adapted from D. Lawson and M. Glassow pers. comm.). that their definitions are based on variables that are pine). Edible plants in these habitats, especially but presumed to not have varied dramatically after not limited to grasslands and coastal sage scrub, about 7,000 years ago, notably geological substrate include Santa Cruz Island buckwheat (Eriogonum and topography. The East End was divided into five arborescens), black sage (Salvia mellifera) and red major environmental zones based primarily on maid seeds (Calandrinia ciliata), lemonade (Rhus variation in topography and elevation: beaches (0– integrifolia) and manzanita berries (Arctostaphylos 30 m), canyons (0–150 m), coastal bluffs and sp.), blue dick corms (Dichelostemma capitatum), terraces (30–215 m), upland plateaus or elevated onion bulbs (Allium praecox), island cherries landforms (215–370 m) (see Kennett 1998, Clifford (Prunus ilicifolia), and acorns (several species of 2001), and El Montañon and adjacent interior the genus Quercus) (Timbrook