Chert projectile points found on nearby San Miguel island are typical of Paleocoastal tools found in the Channel Islands. (Courtesy Erlandson et al.)
Posted on 06/19/2016 5:35:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
On a rugged island just offshore from Ventura County, archaeologists have turned up evidence of some of the oldest human activity in coastal Southern California.
On Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the Channel Islands, researchers have found three sites scattered with ancient tool-making debris and the shells of harvested shellfish.
The youngest of the three sites has been dated to 6,600 BCE, but based on the types of tools found at the other two, archaeologists say they may be as much as 11,000 to 12,000 years old.
The artifacts are traces of what's known as the Island Paleocoastal culture, descendants of migrants who moved south from Alaska along the Pacific at the end of the last Ice Age.
These ancient seafaring people were some of the earliest inhabitants of California's southern coast, said Dr. Jon Erlandson, an archaeologist with the University of Oregon who reported the new finds...
These ancient islanders left behind no traces of structures, at least that have been found so far, but a subtle abundance of their presence remains, like piles of abalone and mussel shells, unique barbed stone points, and distinctive crescent-shaped tools whose exact purpose remains unclear.
Using these and other clues, Erlandson and his colleagues have discovered Paleocoastal sites not only on Santa Cruz, but have also detected dozens of others throughout the Channel Islands.
Previous research had revealed Ice Age sites on San Miguel and Santa Rosa Islands, he said, and soon a pattern began to emerge among the places where Paleocoastal people left their mark.
The ancient sites tended to have some kind of natural shelter nearby, as well as access to resources like rock and fresh water, and a commanding view of the island's coastline.
(Excerpt) Read more at westerndigs.org ...
Chert projectile points found on nearby San Miguel island are typical of Paleocoastal tools found in the Channel Islands. (Courtesy Erlandson et al.)
Wow. I can’t imagine the hunting trips to the mainland.
Actually, according to the museum on the island, there was a narrow land bridge connecting the Channel Islands to the California coast, so technically the islands were part of the mainland.
Cool!
SoCal ping
Any surfboards?
OK, Mexicans, if you want California back you’ll
have to get in line behind another claimant.
The sea rose ~60m and man survived? Does AlGore know?
Those tools and weapons are not crude. Humans put a lot of effort into shaping them exactly right for their purposes.
Except.....
“What’s for dinner? Not clams again!!!!”
;^)
Maybe Elizabeth Warren should proclaim she belongs to that early tribe and not the Cherokee.
I presume the Obama administration has retroactively fined the oil industry for this travesty.
these are my ancestors, I want a Casino on Catalina Island...
The article says they don’t know what the crescent shaped tools were used for. If they were large enough to be held in the hand I would suspect use for slicing seal and walrus hides, and perhaps the occasional washed up dolphin or whale.
“Oh boy, roast seal with a side of walrus for dinner!! I was getting so tired of clams!”
Some of those points, especially the middle one, 2nd row from left, remind me a lot of Scottsbluff points, approximately the same age. Some of the ones on the right look more like Adena, a later point I think up to about 6000 years old, without digging out my reference book.
The crescent shaped ones in the middle, especially the bottom 2, could have been used by hand fir cutting or scraping hides, or attached to bone or wood handles and used as knives or combination knives and scrapers, and wood shapers for things like making spears. The ones with notches could have been used for making arrow shafts, but that would indicate a much younger age, the bow and arrow are only around 4000 years old. Anything older is a spear point.
Some could have also been used as hafted knives, and some spear points were retrieved form animal kills and resharpened for secondary use, or reshaped for use as knives, drills and scrapers. I can’t see the picture as a reference while posting, so I can’t remember which one, but one of the darker gray ones on the right looks like a possible drill formed from a spear point.
These were ingenious people, they figured out how to not only survive but prosper in a harsh world using only what nature provided. Wood, bones, rocks and animal skins. I’ve seen projectile points made from rocks and petrified wood ranging from over a foot long to a half inch long, and various forms of tools made from both materials for a wide assortment of purposes. I’ve found a bunch myself, including what are usually considered “nutcrackers”, but I’m sure they had other purposes too. These are generally flat rocks with a divot in the middle about the size of a pecan, maybe 1/4 inch deep. Popular opinion is they were nutcrackers, but could have also been used to hold the top of sticks twirled to make fire, or while drilling.
The scrapers in the middle were also sometimes hafted, rather than used in a hand held fashion. Animal tendons and a type of glue made from animal hides was used to fasten it in place. Before pottery was thought up, and after, large skulls like Bison were used as cooking pots. A form of leather bag was also used, as long as it contained plenty water it would not burn.
Interesting, ingenious people, and a fascinating study.
The people of North Louisiana, where I’m originally from, held a yearly trade meeting at a place called Poverty Point, about 25 miles from where I was born. People from all over the country would meet there, and the locals made a form of small clay ball, about the size of a golf ball, with a number of deep indentations. Those were heated and placed in a cooking pot, to heat water for cooking. They would trade these with people from other places for things they couldn’t get locally.
Other groups would bring whatever was abundant in their area, and trade it for what they needed. People in an area with no rocks would get chunks of chert of flint from places like Arkansas where good grades of flint or chert existed. Those from the plains states would make and bring blankets and baskets, and so forth.
Artifacts from as far away as Illinois and Indiana, Florida, and a number of other locations have been found within 20 miles of where i lived 5 years ago. A mound made from dirt brought from up north was just up the road 5 miles, it was found to have been made with dirt from somewhere I think in Missouri, most likely brought one basket full at a time over many years. One of my father’s 1st cousins owns a large agricultural field just across the road. I have no idea how many arrowheads they have found over the past 75 years plowing...My grandparents found them on their property too, about 10 miles away.
A number of campsites are located all over the general area, many were the locations where out of state visitors would camp every year for the meet for hundreds of years. Anywhere you could walk or ride a horse within a few hours was a possible campsite location...I can’t remember all the places they’ve found items from...
This site says it started about 3400 years ago, but some archaeologists believe it could be more like 8000 years old or more. The picture in the middle, just above the stone container with apples, is one of the cooking balls. Most had much deeper decorational grooves, to dissipate more heat. The speaker that described it had several examples we looked at. (This was at a meeting of a local archaeological society in East Texas 20 years ago.)
OK after another look, 4th row bottom looks like a possible start of a drill, some of those look like maybe Wells points too.
A drill would be attached to a wooden rod, and twirled with a small bow or by hand. By adding water mixed with sand, they could shape items as hard as rock. Using bone and other rocks...
I have to wonder, how many people alive today would even think of such things...I know I wouldn’t, if I hadn’t studied it...and as much as I know, I still probably couldn’t survive...
When was that land bridge submerged?
Thanks!
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