| In this dissertation, I provide an archaeological overview of Native American social and environmental history in coastal southern California from 8,000 years ago to just before European contact. I focus on the many ways that Native people adapted to past marine environments. Using macroregional and diachronic perspectives, I examine land use strategies, subsistence and settlement choices, technological developments, trade patterns, and interaction networks, relating these to environmental fluctuations, variations in resource availability, and demographic and social factors.; This dissertation is a compilation of specific research problems written up in journal format. Each chapter is a separate article that relates to the culture history of southern California's Native cultures. Topics include: Early Holocene perishable technologies, including bone and shell artifacts; Middle Holocene land use and settlement, subsistence, and trade; and Late Holocene technological, social, and political developments. Data used in this research include my archaeological excavations on San Nicolas and San Miguel islands and the Santa Barbara mainland coast and previously excavated materials from sites throughout southern California, western Nevada, and south central Oregon.; Although I explore a variety of topics in this dissertation, common themes bind the articles together. For instance, shell midden analysis, the ecology of maritime hunter-gatherers, and the development of southern California's distinct Native cultures are treated throughout. Another common theme examines the roles of adaptive diversity and resource availability in explaining variation and change in the archaeological record. The environmental and social landscapes are viewed as dynamic systems fundamentally related to each other. A change in one system has a corresponding effect on the other so that humans are seen as interacting with and incorporating certain elements of the environment into their everyday social, political, and spiritual lives.; This dissertation contributes to our understanding of southern California's past maritime cultures. It clarifies temporal ambiguities in the archaeological record, adds to the growing picture of coastal adaptations, and provides new data on paleoenvironments, subsistence and settlement, resource intensification and management, technology, and trade and interaction. This dissertation includes my previously published and co-authored materials. |
