Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Paleocoastal Seasonality on California's Northern Channel Islands: Shellfish Harvesting and Isotopic Signatures of Sedentism vs. Mobility

University Of Oregon Eugene, Eugene OR

Investigators

Abstract

The timing and nature of the spread of anatomically modern humans (AMH) out of Africa and around the world-including the peopling of the Americas-are some of the most significant issues facing archaeologists today. There is growing evidence that coastal migrations and maritime adaptations contributed to the spread of AMH into Asia and the Americas. Some of the earliest evidence for seafaring and maritime adaptations in the Americas comes from California's Channel Islands, which were settled by Paleocoastal peoples at least 13,000 years ago. Questions remain, however, about the permanence of Paleocoastal occupation on the islands or the level of commitment to maritime life-ways. By examining Paleocoastal life-ways, settlement, subsistence strategies, seafaring, and island colonization on the Northern Channel Islands, this research will contribute to larger issues pertaining to the antiquity of marine fishing in North America, human impacts on marine ecosystems, and the supposed marginality of coastal and island environments. In this Doctoral Dissertation Grant under the direction of Dr. Jon Erlandson, Mr. Nicholas Jew will use stable oxygen isotope analysis (ä18O) of marine shells from Paleocoastal archaeological sites to test hypotheses related to the seasonality of early human settlement on the Northern Channel Islands. Oxygen isotope analysis will be used to determine the marine water temperature and season of harvest for marine shells from seven Paleocoastal middens on San Miguel Island dated between about 10,200 and 8000 years ago. Evidence for year-round shellfish harvesting would suggest permanent occupation of the islands by Paleocoastal peoples, whereas evidence for more focused harvesting would suggest seasonal settlement. To provide an independent check on 18O results, the isotope data will be compared to artifact and vertebrate assemblages from each site, which vary depending on the length and timing of an occupation. The isotope analysis will also provide valuable information on ancient sea-surface temperatures, which have fluctuated through time and affect the productivity and structure of local marine ecosystems. All these data will be compared to published and unpublished data-including the results of current isotopic research on shells from two Terminal Pleistocene (~12,200-11,400 cal BP) sites on San Miguel and a large residential shell midden on Santa Rosa Island dated to ~8200 years ago-to test general colonization models. The investigators will evaluate hypotheses regarding some of the earliest evidence for island colonization in the New World, generate new hypotheses examining shellfish availability and harvesting, and examine Paleocoastal site function and settlement patterns on the Northern Channel Islands. This research will result in important new archaeological and paleoecological data, provide training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students in anthropology, and contribute to the completion of a PhD in anthropology. Research results will be shared with the public and scholarly community through peer-reviewed publications, public and professional presentations, and a variety of print and electronic media.