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.

Contenu

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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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