John Fitchís (1972) report on CA-SLO-2 is perhaps the single most iconic study of fish remains in California. The site was excavated by Roberta Greenwood in 1968, and Fitch devoted over 900 hours to the analysis of (mostly) otoliths from a single column sample, leaving non-otoliths from the column and other remains from the rest of Greenwoodís excavations unexamined. For this study, we analyzed the previously unidentified remains (consisting primarily of vertebrae) and compared the results with those from Fitchís otolith study and Greenwoodís 6 mm. excavation units. Not surprisingly, we found additional and smaller fishes in the micromesh samples. Since Fitchís report is the only one in California that we are aware of that has identified remains of the wolf-eel (Anarrhichthys ocellatus), we sought to determine if the identification of this species was credible. We conclude that prickleback (Xiphister sp.) teeth were misidentified as wolf-eel, and consequently that wolf-eel has yet to be documented as a fish used by Native Californians. This is consistent with the general lack of evidence for the exploitation of large and/or pelagic fishes along the central California coast. Furthermore, all three samples suggest that rockfishes (Sebastes spp.) and northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax) were consistently important to the Diablo Cove fishers. Other small schooling fishes, including herrings (Clupeidae), night smelt (Spirinchus starksi), and New World silversides (Atherinopsidae), were important as well, but comparisons between methods and the use of micromesh samples do not necessarily indicate the relative importance of small versus large fish. Diachronic comparisons from all three samples indicate that fishing increased during the Middle Period. Two of the three data sets suggest that fishing then declined at Diablo Canyon during the Late Period.

Consistent with previous archaeological studies, Sacramento perch (Archoplites interruptus) represented the greatest proportion of native fish remains among the nearly 49,000 elements identified in five large Central Valley freshwater samples (CA-SAC-15/H, CA-CCO-548, -647, -767, and CA-SJO-3) when individual species are considered. Further, we provide evidence that there is a bias in California’s zooarchaelogical record that may be due in part to differential decomposition rather than the fishing habits of native peoples. Distinctive skeletal features of the single sunfish species (Centrarchidae) in this assemblage also may account for the elevated numbers of Sacramento perch. Representatives of Centrarchidae and Cyprinidae were buried for over seven years and the remains then excavated and assessed for decomposition. We further discuss issues in which either locally abundant fishes are not represented as expected or the ethnographic record appears to be at odds with the California archaeological record.

An 8,000-year sequence of sh remains from Morro Bay, a shallow, 8.1km.2 coastal estuary in San Luis Obispo County, has been compiled during recent investigations. The sample, obtained from nine sites and 14 components (total excavation volume=275.86 m.3), includes 19,226 sh elements recovered via 1/8-inch dry-screening and 718 elements from 1/16-inch water-screened columns. The archaeological ndings are generally consistent with species inventories from the 1970s, although northern anchovies are under-represented in the prehistoric record. Remains show a consistent focus on the netting of small schooling shes in the calm backwaters of the bay. A signi cant decrease in bat rays is attributed to a shift in seasonality, although overexploitation cannot be ruled out. Remains show only modest changes between 8,000 and 950 cal B.P., but a dramatic spike in NISP/m.3 and sh/deer+rabbits during the Middle- Late Transition suggests an increased focus on marine prey during droughts of the Medieval Climatic Anomaly, when Morro Bay apparently served as a refugium. Fishing declined relative to terrestrial resources during the Late Period, when acorns and other plant foods increased in importance.

We report the identification of nearly 4,000 fish bones from archaeological sites on Cedros Island, Baja California, Mexico, that range in age from approximately 10,010 cal B.C. to 1630 cal A.D. Wrasses were the most represented group of fishes, followed closely by sea basses, tilefishes, and croakers. Of the individual species identified, ocean whitefish, California sheephead, and white croaker were the most abundant. Comparisons to fishes from modern surveys and to fishes specific to particular marine habitats suggest that the diversity of fishes was very similar to that found today, and are most closely associated with kelp bed/rocky reefs and nearshore soft-bottom areas. We also compare the Cedros Island archaeological fishes to those from archaeological excavations on islands of the Southern California Bight. We infer that the fishery of the native peoples of Cedros Island and other California islands was primarily inshore in predictable locations.

Now extinct, Thicktail chub (Gila crassicauda) was endemic to central California and was a key component of local fisheries before the 1800s. Little is known about their biology, behavior, ecology, or role in precontact Native American fisheries. Archaeological sites contain large numbers of thicktail chub bones and represent a key source of data to fill our considerable gap in knowledge. We developed regression equations to convert thicktail chub skeletal elements to estimates of standard length (SL). Bones from two contemporaneous precontact Late Period (ca 700 -200 cal BP) sites, CA-CCO-138, and CA-CCO-647, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, show that precontact thicktail chub achieved a maximum standard length (SL) of 306 mm. Bone size distributions suggest spearing was the most likely capture technique, likely during a spring-summer nearshore fishery. The results contribute vital information to thicktail chub historical ecology and their key role in precontact Indigenous fisheries.