Three Paleocoastal Lithic Sites on Santa Cruz Island, California

Abstract

Paleocoastal sites, dated between ∼13,000 and 8000 cal yr BP, are relatively abundant on California's Northern Channel Islands but rare on the largest island of Santa Cruz. Here we describe three lithic sites containing chipped-stone crescents and, in one case, a stemmed Channel Island Barbed point fragment. Elsewhere on the islands, datable sites containing crescents are either terminal Pleistocene or early Holocene in age. Two of the lithic sites produced no datable organic remains, but one contains a small patch of intact shell midden dated to ∼8650 cal yr BP. These three sites add to the growing number of Paleocoastal sites on Santa Cruz and the other Northern Channel Islands.

Keywords:

• California Channel Islands
• Santarosae
• chipped stone crescents
• Channel Island Barbed points

Acknowledgements

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and our home institutions supported this research. At TNC, we thank Scott Morrison, Jennifer Baker, Christie Boser, David Dewey, John Knapp, and John Randall. Support also came from Lyndal Laughrin, Brian Guerrero, and the University of California's Santa Cruz Island Research Station. We are indebted to Bob Peterson for bringing the CA-SCRI-811/920 collection to our attention, and Torben Rick, Todd Braje, Adriane Dorrler, and Gil Unzueta for help in the field. We also thank Nicholas Stadille for his help with Figure 1, as well as Ted Goebel, Terry Jones, and two anonymous reviewers for assistance in the review, revision, and publication of this paper.