Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

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.