"In this monograph, we consider the prehistory of one of California's least-known, most isolated, and last-studied estuaries: Morro Bay on the central coast of California in San Luis Obispo County. Morro Bay is a shallow 2000-acre estuary that was occupied by speakers of Northern Chumash at the time of historic contact in 1769. Here we summarize findings from a 14-year project investigating middens in the communities of Los Osos and Baywood Park. The work was undertaken in anticipation of construction of the Los Osos Wastewater Project, a centralized sewage treatment system, the initial planning for which began in the 1980s. Between 2002 and 2016 Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., with support from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo excavated over 200 cubic meters from six prehistoric archaeological sites for this project. These excavations revealed 10 temporally discrete component areas dating from 8000 to 300 cal BP. The rich collection of artifacts and subsistence remains from the components, when combined with findings from previous studies around the estuary, provided an unprecedented opportunity to develop an integrated prehistory for the Morro Bay area"--Provided by publisher.

Some forty scholars examine California's prehistory and archaeology, looking at marine and terrestrial palaeoenvironments, initial human colonization, linguistic prehistory, early forms of exchange, mitochondrial DNA studies, and rock art. This work is the most extensive study of California's prehistory undertaken in the past 20 years. An essential resource for any scholar of California prehistory and archaeology!

"In this monograph, we consider the prehistory of one of California's least-known, most isolated, and last-studied estuaries: Morro Bay on the central coast of California in San Luis Obispo County. Morro Bay is a shallow 2000-acre estuary that was occupied by speakers of Northern Chumash at the time of historic contact in 1769. Here we summarize findings from a 14-year project investigating middens in the communities of Los Osos and Baywood Park. The work was undertaken in anticipation of construction of the Los Osos Wastewater Project, a centralized sewage treatment system, the initial planning for which began in the 1980s. Between 2002 and 2016 Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., with support from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo excavated over 200 cubic meters from six prehistoric archaeological sites for this project. These excavations revealed 10 temporally discrete component areas dating from 8000 to 300 cal BP. The rich collection of artifacts and subsistence remains from the components, when combined with findings from previous studies around the estuary, provided an unprecedented opportunity to develop an integrated prehistory for the Morro Bay area"--Provided by publisher.

Based on detailed excavation data, the author reconstructs the paleography of the Santa Barbara coast ca. 8500 years ago, makes comparisons to other early California sites, and applies his findings to current theories of hunter-gatherers and coastal environments. With an emphasis on paleographic reconstructions, site formation processes, chronological studies, and integrated faunal analyses, the work will be of interest to a wide range of scholars working in shell middens, hunter-gatherer ecology, geoarchaeology, and coatal or aquatic adaptations.

When the Spanish colonized it in AD 1769, the California Coast was inhabited by speakers of no fewer than 16 distinct languages and an untold number of small, autonomous Native communities. These societies all survived by foraging, and ethnohistoric records show a wide range of adaptations emphasizing a host of different marine and terrestrial foods. Many groups exhibited signs of cultural complexity including sedentism, high population density, permanent social inequality, and sophisticated maritime technologies. The ethnographic era was preceded by an archaeological past that extends back to the terminal Pleistocene. Essays in this volume explore the last three and one half millennia of this long history, focusing on the archaeological signatures of emergent cultural complexity. Organized geographically, they provide an intricate mosaic of archaeological, historic, and ethnographic findings that illuminate cultural changes over time. To explain these Late Holocene cultural developments, the authors address issues ranging from culture history, paleoenvironments, settlement, subsistence, exchange, ritual, power, and division of labor, and employ both ecological and post-modern perspectives. Complex cultural expressions, most highly developed in the Santa Barbara Channel and the North Coast, are viewed alternatively as fairly recent and abrupt responses to environmental flux or the end-product of gradual progressions that began earlier in the Holocene.

Recent archaeological research on California includes a greater diversity of models and approaches to the region’s past, as older literature on the subject struggles to stay relevant. This comprehensive volume offers an in-depth look at the most recent theoretical and empirical developments in the field including key controversies relevant to the Golden State: coastal colonization, impacts of comets and drought cycles, systems of power, Polynesian contacts, and the role of indigenous peoples in the research process, among others. With a specific emphasis on those aspects of California’s past that resonate with the state’s modern cultural identity, the editors and contributors—all leading figures in California archaeology—seek a new understanding of the myth and mystique of the Golden State.

This is the only case study available that focuses on the practice of archaeology in California, prehistory coastal adaptations, and cultural resource management. Unique coverage of the Vandenburg region and Santa Barbara Channel not only introduces students to regional archaeology but also allows them to observe the impact of environmental variations on cultural development. Examples included in the study reinforce relationships between fieldwork, data generation and processing, analysis, and interpretation.