Santa Cruz Island Reserve

23 Aug, 06 AM - 01 Sep, 08 AM

The archaeology of Santa Cruz Island has focused mainly on coastal sites that represent long periods of permanent occupation on the island, producing many important insights into Chumash society. The island has been an essential source of the data that form our understanding of craft specialization among complex hunter-gatherers. Despite its importance, most of the data have been recovered from the coastal villages. The relationship between the coastal sites and smaller settlements up into island drainages, such as Laguna canyon, has received far less attention. This research on small sites will allow us to understand resource access, craft production, and the use of the island landscape by the Chumash, expanding our knowledge of the ways in which complex hunter-gatherers utilized a variety of terrestrial resources. To understand the function of these sites, the length of occupation, the distinct seasonality of occupation, and the intensity of craft production at such sites must all be investigated. If they contain a significant proportion of remains that indicate seasonal rather than year-round occupation, it may strongly suggest that such sites represent food gathering or processing tied to terrestrial resource exploitation. On the other hand, sites functioning as a part of the broader production system of the island Chumash should contain evidence for craft production. Regardless of their specific function, this project will provide data to better understand the full landscape of Santa Cruz Island. The first important step will be to identify the location and size of sites from the mouth to upper reaches of the canyon. In order to obtain the necessary data, I will perform a survey. The canyon itself will limit the survey area; it is approximately 200m wide on average, with a total length of around 3.5km. I intend to achieve a 40% coverage of the canyon, which will provide a significant sample of sites in the drainage. Transects will be 5m apart to ensure that small sites, common to other canyons on Santa Cruz Island, are not overlooked. At short intervals, we will expose the surface in order to identify cultural materials. Since rock shelters were commonly used for a variety of functions by the Chumash, these will be examined whenever such a place is identified. Once the survey is complete and sites within the drainage are identified, I will use a bucket auger to test selected sites and identify site depth, size, and contents. Bucket augur samples will be taken in 10cm depths to sterile. Once sites have been sampled, the recovered deposits will be fully sorted in the lab. Analysis will focus on the lithic, shell, and bone artifacts. Lithics will be identified based on type and production sequence: shatter, flakes, blanks, drills, and any tools recovered. The bulk material (shatter and flakes) will be size-graded and weighed to determine average flake weight for the purposes of production sequence identification. This will provide data on the craft production taking place across Laguna canyon, based upon the types of tools found and the stages of production identified. Bone will be identified by taxa and genus/species in order to identify the types of fauna being exploited by those living in the canyon. Shell beads and blanks will be categorized by type, and unworked material will be identified by species during lab sorting. This will again help to identify craft production, as shell-working, especially bead-making, is the classic industry known from the island. Its material proxies, if found, will strongly indicate the presence of production of such specialized items. These assemblages related to craft production will be of special interest to help understand the ways economic activities were distributed across the island Chumash landscape.

Visit #28502 @Santa Cruz Island Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 25177 | Research

Island Chumash Land Use and Craft Production in Laguna Canyon, Santa Cruz Island

graduate_student - University of California, Los Angeles

Reservation Members(s)

Scott Sunell Aug 23 - Sep 1, 2012 (10 days)
Group of 3 Volunteer Aug 23 - Sep 1, 2012 (10 days)

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