Contextualizing Late Holocene Subsistence Change on California’s Northern Channel Islands: A Middle Period Case Study from Santa Cruz Island

ABSTRACT

The complex relationship between sociopolitical complexity, natural climatic change, and subsistence strategies on California’s Northern Channel Islands has long been a topic of archaeological inquiry. One period of particular interest to researchers is the Middle-to-Late Period Transition (MLT, 800–650 cal BP), during which Chumash hierarchical sociopolitical organization is thought to have solidified. Multiple models of sociopolitical change have been proposed, all of which acknowledge the relationship between growing populations, shifting dietary patterns, climatic events, and sociopolitical structure. Considerable debate remains, with some pointing to the importance of events during the late Middle Period (∼1,500–800 cal BP) or earlier. While these models partly rely on dietary data from late Middle, MLT, and Late Period (650 cal BP–AD 1542) archaeological sites, research at late Middle Period sites has often been more limited than work at later sites, leaving an imbalance in our understanding of subsistence shifts and changing cultural and environmental dynamics. Here, we present faunal and dietary data from two well-dated Middle Period sites on Limuw (Santa Cruz Island) that document an intensification of finfishing in the Middle Period, supporting models that see the evolution of Island Chumash complexity as a more gradual phenomenon.

RESUMEN

La relación entre la complejidad sociopolítica, el cambio climático natural y las estrategias de subsistencia en las Islas del Canal del Norte de California ha sido durante mucho tiempo un tema de investigación arqueológica. Un período de particular interés para los investigadores es la Transición del Período Medio al Tardío (MLT, 800–650 cal BP), durante el cual se cree que se solidificó la organización sociopolítica jerárquica de Chumash. Se han propuesto múltiples modelos de cambio sociopolítico, todos los cuales reconocen la relación entre poblaciones en crecimiento, patrones dietéticos cambiantes, eventos climáticos y estructura sociopolítica. Sigue existiendo un debate considerable y algunos señalan la importancia de los acontecimientos ocurridos a finales del Período Medio (∼1,500-800 cal BP) o antes. Si bien estos modelos se basan en parte en datos dietéticos de sitios arqueológicos del Período Medio Tardío, MLT y Tardío (650 cal BP-AD 1542), la investigación en sitios del Período Medio Tardío a menudo ha sido más limitada que el trabajo en sitios posteriores, lo que deja un desequilibrio en nuestra comprensión de los cambios de subsistencia y de las dinámicas culturales y ambientales cambiantes. Aquí, presentamos datos sobre fauna y dieta de dos sitios bien fechados del Período Medio en Limuw (Isla Santa Cruz) que documentan una intensificación de la pesca con aletas en el Período Medio, respaldando modelos que ven la evolución de la isla Chumash. La complejidad como un fenómeno más gradual.

KEYWORDS:

• Northern Channel Islands
• Santa Cruz Island
• Limuw
• sociopolitical complexity
• climatic change
• subsistence strategies
• Middle-to-Late Period Transition
• Chumash

Acknowledgments

Thanks to three anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript and the editors of California Archaeology for their constructive comments and assistance through the review and publication process.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Field and laboratory work for this project was supported by the Nature Conservancy, our home institutions, and a National Science Foundation grant (Co-PIs Rick and Braje, BCS:2115154).