ANT-309 Elements of Archaeology Lecture Outline Monday January 14, 2008

Terms  from field trip:

Shell midden                   Mussels (Mytilus californianus)

Faunal Remains             Bedrock mortars (Features)

Turban snail                     Pestles

Chiton                               Open rocky coast

Limpet

Olivella Shell

Chert                    

Debitage              

Flake                    

Lithic technology

Lithic:  Derived from Greek word meaning stone or pertaining to stone.

Flaked stone tool: A tool formed by controlling the fracture of an objective piece. Flaked stone differs from ground stone which are made by grinding  (e.g., portable moprtar).

Core (objective piece):  A nucleus or mass of rock that shows signs of detached piece removal.  A core is often considered an objective piece that functions primarily as a source for detached pieces.

Flake (detached piece): A portion of rock removed from an objective piece by percussion or pressure.  These are often referred to as flakes, spalls, chips, and debitage.

Hertzian cone of force: The cone formed as a result of conchoidal fracture in brittle solids.

Hammerstone:  A rock used as a percussor to detach flakes from an objective piece.  These usually show signs of impact damage such as crushed edges.

Striking platform: The surface area on an objective piece receiving the force to detach a piece of material (flake).  This surface is often removed with the detached piece so that the detached piece will contain a striking platform at the point of applied force.

Bulb of force: The bulbar location on the ventral surface of a flake that was formed as a result of the Hertzian cone turning toward the outside of the objective piece.

Cortex:  Chemical or mechanically weathered surface on rocks.

Debitage:  Detached pieces that are discarded during the reduction process.

Conchoidal fracture: The production of smooth convexities or concavities, similar to those of a clamshell, when fractured.

Chert:  A compact cryptocrystalline or microcrystalline variety of quartz originating from a sedimentary context.

Obsidian:  A volcanic rock formed into natural glass.  This rock is usually black but may be found in greenish and reddish colors or banded.

Percussion flaking: A method of striking with a percussor to detach flakes from an objective piece.  Different methods of percussion flaking using different kinds of percussors tend to produce distinctive detached pieces.

Pressure flaking: The removal of a detached piece (flake) from an objective piece by pressing rather than by percussion.

Stone tool: An artifact that has been intentionally modified by retouch or unintentionally modified by usewear.  Examples of stone tools are projectile points, unifaces, scrapers, and microliths.  Debitage would not be considered tools, but would be considered artifacts.

Biface:  A tool that has two surfaces (faces) that meet to form a single edge that circumscribes the tool.  Both faces usually contain flake scars that travel at least halfway across the face.

Ethnohistoric perspectives on the archaeological record

The people who were present in most of San Luis Obispo County at the time of the arrival of the Spanish in 1769 are known as the Chumash, although the  -- northernmost part of San Luis Obispo County was inhabited by the Salinan.  These names actually refer to the languages spoken by these people as coined by early anthropologists.

The Chumash were hunter-gatherers, or foragers who made their living by collecting wild foods (plant foods and shellfish) hunting wild game, and fishing. The ethnohistoric record of these people is very incomplete. We know about them from early historic accounts and accounts written by Spanish missionaries and a little bit from the archaeological record.  There is a great deal more known about the Chumash-speaking people who lived in the Santa Barbara Channel -- who had a very different economy than the northern Chumash or Obispeño.

A Chumash ethnohistory

1 Introduction

a Language : Possibly Hokan

b Territory

c Population

i Kroeber  1925 Entire Chumash area: 8-10,000

ii Cook and Heizer 1965 18,000- 22,000 Channel alone-

iii King 1965 Total Chumash population 17,000

2 Sources of Information

a Observations of California Indians made by the earliest explorers and recorded in diaries

b Mission records (Including answers to the Interrogatorio

c Salvage ethnographies recorded by the first anthropologists

d The archaeological record

3 Chumash of the Santa Barbara Channel

a Sources: Many

i High population density

ii Large villages

iii Maritime Economy

iv Used the tomolo or plank canoe

4 Obispeno Chumash

a Historic Accounts

i Cermeño 1595

ii Portola 1769

iii Mission records

iv Interrogatorio of  1814

b J. P. Harrington from Rosario Cooper who died in 1917

c Inferences

i Smaller population

ii Smaller communities

iii Mobile not sedentary

iv No plank canoes

v Fairly omnivorous

(i) Shellfish

(ii) Fish

(iii) Acorns

(iv) Grass seeds

(v) Deer

VI Archaeology and Prehistory

A History of Research

1 Early Work

a Whale Rock Reservoir

b Clemmer’s site at Morro Bay

c Pico Creek

d Little Pico Creek

2 Modern Research

a Diablo Canyon (Roberta Greenwood)

b Pico and Little Pico Revisited

c CA-SLO-165 at Morro Bay

B Regional Culture History

1 Paleoindian? Paleocoastal?

2 California Milling Stone Culture 8500-3500 B.C

3 Hunting Culture 3500 B.C.- A.D. 1250 (Early Period 3500-1000 B.C., Middle Period 1000 B.C.- A.D. 1250)

4 Canalino (Obispeno) A.D. 1250-1769 (Late Period)