Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Excavations at CA­SMI­161 provide insight into Middle Holocene human subsistence strategies and exploitation of kelp forest and rocky intertidal habitats on San Miguel Island. Faunal data from two red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) middens dated to ca. 4,400 cal B.P. and an earlier deposit dominated by sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus spp.) dated to 5,800 cal B.P. demonstrate variability in the use and availability of different marine shell sh through time. Some of these data come from one of the youngest red abalone middens reported on the Northern Channel Islands and suggest that by 4,400 cal B.P. red abalone was still highly abundant (approximately 48 –73% by weight) in some San Miguel Island middens, but declined to 24% by 4,000 cal B.P. at CA­SMI­603 and to just 7% by 3,600 cal B.P. at CA­SMI­261. When compared to Late Holocene sites from Cuyler Harbor, the CA­SMI­161 data document a broader decline in red abalone, with n sh and California mussels (Mytilus californianus) dominating subsistence resources after about 3,000 cal B.P.These trends may relate to growing Late Holocene human population densities and the higher biomass provided by n shes.