California Archaeology

California Archaeology provides a compilation of knowledge for archeologists who are not California specialists. This book explains important cultural events and patterns discovered archeologically.

Organized into 11 chapters, this book begins with an overview of California's historic and ancient environments as well as the evidence of Pleistocene human activity. This text then examines the glacial and other environmental conditions that would have influenced the origins, adaptations, and spread of the earliest North Americans. Other chapters consider how California's past is relevant to a wider understanding of human behavior. This book discusses as well the perceptions of Central Coast and San Francisco Bay region prehistory that have changed rapidly as a result of intensive fieldwork performed to comply with environmental law. The final chapter deals with the data of historical linguistics, which indicate something of the cultural relationships and events that might have occurred in the past.

This book is a valuable resource for archeologists.

List of Figures

List of Tables

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. A Goodly llande: California's Natural Setting

Introduction

Native Cultures

Numbers and Diversity

Subsistence

Trade

Social Organization

Cultural Summary

Environment: Scope and Purpose

Physiography and Geology

Klamath Mountains

Cascade Range

Modoc Plateau

Great Basin

Sierra Nevada

Great Central Valley

Coast Ranges

Transverse Ranges

Mojave Desert

Colorado Desert (Salton Trough)

Peninsular Ranges

Climate

Life Zones and Vegetation Types

Lower Sonoran Zone

Upper Sonoran Zone

Transition Zone

The Upper Zones

Great Basin Types

Historic Transformations

Synopsis of Natural History

2. The First Californians

Introduction

Glaciers and Seas

Peopling America

Pleistocene California

Climate and Water

Rancholabrean Fauna

Summary

Evaluating the Archaeological Evidence

Possible Early Sites

Lake Manix

The Calico Hills Site

Yuha Pinto Wash

The Yuha Burial

La Jolla Shores and Del Mar

Laguna Beach

"Los Angeles Man"

Angeles Mesa

Rancho La Brea

Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands

La Jolla and San Diego

The Farmington Complex

Potter Creek Cave

The Tranquillity Site (Fre-48)

China Lake

Summary and Conclusions

3. Early Cultures

Introduction

Environments

The Fluted-Point Tradition

Introduction

Tulare Lake

Borax Lake (Lak-36)

China Lake

Other Fluted-Point Discoveries

Summary

Faunal Extinctions

The Western Pluvial Lakes Tradition

Introduction

Nomenclature

Characteristics and Origins

Lake Mojave Complex

San Dieguito: The C. W. Harris Site

Buena Vista Lake (Ker-116)

The Mostin Site (Lak-380/381)

Burns Valley (Lak-741, -742)

WPLT Summary

A Paleo-Coastal Tradition?

Introduction

Rancho Park North (SDM-W-49)

Diablo Canyon Sites

Summary

Early Sites in West-Central California

Conclusions

4. Southern Coast Region

Introduction

Environment

Native Cultures

Early Archaeology

Explorations

Culture Change

Prehistoric Reconstructions: Santa Barbara Subregion

Topanga Canyon

Coastal Sites

Summary

Channel Island Prehistory

The Santa Barbara Sequence Revisited

Coastal Phases

Coastal-Inland Relationships

Social Status and Mortuary Patterns

Channel Prehistory: An Integrated Chronology

Prehistoric Reconstructions: San Diego Subregion

La Jolla Complex

The Pauma Complex

Sayles Complex

Late Prehistory

Regional Syntheses

Summary and Conclusions

5. The Central Valley Region

Introduction

Environment

Native Cultures

Early Archaeological Work

Origins of a Central Valley Sequence

The Delta Sequence

The Central California Taxonomic System

Central California Horizons

Chronology

Further Investigations

San Joaquin Valley

Sacramento Valley

Rethinking the Central Califomia Sequence

Central California Patterns

Windmiller Pattern

Berkeley Pattern

Augustine Pattern

Summary and Conclusions

6. San Francisco Bay and Central Coast Regions

Introduction

Natural History

San Francisco Bay Region

Central Coast Region

Native Cultures

Exploratory Archaeology

Introduction

Central Coast Region

The San Francisco Bay Region

Summary and Discussion

Regional and Local Prehistories

Introduction

The Central Coast Region

San Francisco Bay Region

Summary and Conclusions

7. The Sierra Nevada

Natural History

Native Cultures

Early Archaeology

The Northern Sierra

Lake Tahoe Vicinity

The West Slope

Summary

The Central Sierra

Mortuary Caves

Yosemite National Park

North-Central Sierra Nevada

South-Central Foothills

Summary

The Southern Sierra

Kings and San Joaquin Uplands

Sequoia-Kings Canyon Locality

Far Southern Sierra

Discussion

8 The Desert Region

Environment

Native Peoples of the California Deserts

Early Archaeology of the California Deserts

Later Archaeology of the California Deserts

Northeastern Mojave Desert

Owens Valley and Northwest Mojave Desert

Western Mojave Desert

Southeastern Mojave Desert

Mojave River Valley

Colorado Desert and Peninsular Ranges

Synthesis

Introduction

Pinto Period (5000-2000 B.C.)

Gypsum Period (2000 B.C.-A.D. 500)

Saratoga Springs Period (A.D. 500-1200)

Protohistoric Period (A.D. 1200-Historic)

Summary

9. Northeastern Cahfornia

Introduction

Environment

Ethnographic Setting

The Archaeological Record

Exploratory Archaeology

Chronology and Culture History

Problem-Oriented Archaeology

Public Archaeology: Adverse and Beneficial Impacts

Conclusions and Prospectus

10. The North Coastal Region

Introduction

Environment

Native Cultures

The Northwest Coast Subregion: Archaeology

The Gunther Pattern

Interior Archaeology

The Eel River Subregion: Archaeology

Culture Chronology

Settlement Pattern Studies

The Russian River Subregion: Archaeology

Early Investigations

Language and Archaeological Assemblages

Local Sequences

Summary

Summary and Conclusions

11. Linguistic Prehistory

Introduction

Linguistic Models

California's Native Languages

Hokan Stock

Yukian Stock

Penutian Stock

Algic Superfamily

Athapascan Family

Uto-Aztecan Family

Prehistoric Language Shifts

10,000-6000 B.C.

6000-4000 B.C.

4000-2000 B.C.

2000 B.C.-A.D. 1

A.D. 1-1000

A.D. 1000-1850

Appendix 1: Common and Scientific Names of Plants and Animals

Plants

Mollusks

Fishes

Reptiles

Birds

Mammals

Appendix 2: County Abbreviations Used in Site Designations

Glossary

References

Author Index

Subject Index