Santa Cruz Island Reserve

07 Sep, 05 AM - 15 Sep, 05 AM

A current assumption used in the study of human coastal diet and foraging strategies is that people used subsistence resources selectively and optimally. The approaches used in the Channel Islands to evaluate this assumption and to measure the degree of foraging selectivity related to the whole array of resources available have been addressed by using regional paleo-environment records (Arnold 1992, Jones et al. 1999, Kennett & Kennett 2000). These regional approaches have the risk of underestimating the role of local environmental variability and ecological processes in human subsistence decisions. In order to evaluate these assumptions of selective and optimal foraging with an ecological baseline, the proposed research will address resource selectivity among coastal foragers in both an archaeological and ecological context. Understanding the ecology of intertidal species in the immediate vicinity of the archaeological settlements is essential for answering diet-breadth and patch-choice questions related to species selection within the array of resources available, and to patch preferences regarding resistance and recovering capacity of the ecological habitats to human predation. Around Santa Cruz Island several rocky intertidal sites have been studied during the last 10 years by a group of researchers affiliated to University of California Santa B?rbara. This group has created a high-quality corpus of data on patterns of abundance and diversity of intertidal species (i.e. Blanchette et al. 2006; Broitman et al. 2001). This type of data is of great value as it includes spatial and temporal characterization of these organisms, which can be compared with the spatial and temporal characterization of archaeological faunal assemblages. More research needs to be done to understand foraging strategies of the coastal inhabitants of Santa Cruz Island through time and space. Chronological information needs to be gathered from shell midden sites to evaluate in a temporal perspective the degrees of intertidal foraging intensity and selectivity by coastal groups around Santa Cruz Island. Several excavations at coastal shell midden sites have been done around the Island (e. g., Arnold 1992, 2001, 2004; Colten 2001; Glassow 1977, 1993, 1999; Olson 1930), but none of them has made use of detailed ecological data from the geographical location of the archaeological sites. To undertake an integrative archaeological and ecological study of coastal foragers around Santa Cruz Island, I propose an approach combining data on shellfish distribution and abundance from intertidal ecological sites and nearby shell midden sites. Through comparison of shellfish assemblages from these two sources, the degree of concordance and the degree of foraging selectivity will be estimated for every shell midden site at different periods of time. Testable explanations for the different degrees of selectivity will be explored based on the comparison between present and past marine conditions and archaeological information about the groups occupying the archaeological sites.

Visit #15847 @Santa Cruz Island Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 10347 | Research

An integrated archaeological-ecological assessment of coastal foragers on Santa Cruz Island, California.

graduate_student - University of California, Santa Barbara

Reservation Members(s)

Carola Flores-Fernandez Sep 7 - 15, 2008 (9 days)
Carola Flores-Fernandez Sep 7 - 15, 2008 (9 days)

Reserve Resources(s) | Create Invoice

Dorm 2 Sep 7 - 15, 2008
Jeep 2 Sep 7 - 15, 2008