Mobile Mounds

Abstract

Modern scholars have long been fascinated by the intensity of Chumash exchange, seeing it as a characteristic of incipient complexity (Arnold 1995, 2001; Gamble 2008; Kennett 2005; King 1976). In order to explain the Chumash system, many models have focused on the role of subsistence resources. As the northern Channel Islands are characterized by a relatively low frequency of terrestrial resources, it has been argued that island elites encouraged the production of shell beads in order to acquire and redistribute mainland subsistence resources, especially acorns (Arnold 1995, 2001; Kennett 2005). This article critically examines the capacity of the Chumash exchange system for conducting trade in bulk foodstuffs. I suggest that the Chumash system can be more accurately described by the prestige exchange of important material goods such as asphaltum, steatite, and plank canoes (<i>tomols</i>). Although some trade in acorns did take place, I suggest that such exchange was likely part of ritual production for elite feasting (Spielmann 2002). Finally, I argue that a lack of sufficient asphaltum, pine pitch, and milkweed on the Channel Islands would have prohibited island elites from constructing <i>tomols</i> without relying on mainland resources, providing the impetus for asymmetrical exchange and the development of social complexity.