Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Replicative experiments provide opportunities to assess aspects of past behaviors that are not materially evident. I replicated the Olivella bead-making process to determine the time required to make the various types of Olivella beads that were common during different times in California prehistory. Beads were made using traditional tools and materials. Methods were based on both ethnographic accounts and analysis of archaeological bead-making evidence. The experimentally-derived measurements quantify the production, conveyance, and consumption of shell beads as measures of the time/energy investments they represent, converting bead counts into a ìcommon energetic currencyî (Rosenthal 2011:85). This provides a means for (1) quantitative economic analyses of bead wealth between different temporal and spatial contexts, and (2) comparisons between non-subsistence behaviors represented by beads, and subsistence-oriented efforts that are generally measured as time/energy expenditures. Converting beads into time-investment opens the door to novel approaches to assessing changes in the past.

In California archaeology, and in many contexts world-wide, few data exist to compare functional differences among traditional ground-stone mortar designs. Here, experimental small-seed and acorn/nut processing rates are reported for three mortar designs (deep bowl, deep conical, and shallow cup) and two grinding slab designs (flat unshaped, and shallow basin). These designs, in various combinations, are common in many plant-based hunting and gathering societies. Results of the grinding experiments are considered in reference to manufacturing costs, mobility, and resource use. Unexpected relationships are demonstrated for bowl and conical mortar shapes and seed processing. In particular, large mortars with deep, broad interiors are highly effective tools for producing flour from both small wild seeds and acorns. Conical mortar shapes are good for acorn processing, but perform poorly for processing small seeds into flour. As expected, shallow mortars are the least productive, but least expensive, tools. Large mortars with broad, bowl-shaped interiors would have been excellent tools for long-term use in settings where multiple types of plant resources were processed into finer particles. Despite their superior performance, steep costs of manufacturing, including the transport of suitable raw materials, may have limited the use and ownership of these mortars.

The use of stable oxygen (?18O) and carbon (?13C) isotopic ratios of marine shell carbonate is a powerful tool for reconstructing past sea surface temperatures (SST) and estimating season of harvest for shells from coastal archaeological sites. While methods for sampling shells and analyzing the resulting data are established, less is known about the effects of anthropogenic activity on the geochemistry of the shells. Through an experimental study in which we heat carbonate powder from Mytilus californianus shells, we show that mussels cooked by boiling or steaming were unlikely to have their isotopic composition altered by the process. Shells heated over coals, however, show evidence of both visible and structural changes and in some cases are depleted in ?13C and/or ?18O. This indicates that archaeologists should use caution in interpreting past SST or site seasonality from burned shells and should instead test intact, unburned shells.

For at least 350 years, remnants of 37 compound arrows made of carrizo (cane) and hardwood have remained in high crevices in a canyon wall in the Colorado Desert of southern California. This paper provides the results of a 2001 study of this phenomenon. Research in museum collections, ethnographic data, early historical texts, and new radiocarbon determinations support the hypotheses that (1) the arrows were shot into the crevices with a bow; (2) the arrows were made by and shot by Kumeyaay people; and (3) the Arrow Site is a result of a single incident rather than repetitive traditional events. Several other instances of arrows placed in out-of-the-way niches and crevices are explored, as well as possible reasons for the creation of the site.

Lithic analysis of a large artifact collection from the Grove Ranch in Pueblo Valley, Oregon, contributes new insights involving a relatively understudied area of the northern Great Basin. The diversity and density of artifacts from the Grove Ranch indicate a consistent use of the site throughout the Holocene, and source provenance analysis elucidates diachronic conveyance patterns. The overall suite of raw materials suggests a localized conveyance zone that included the southern Alvord Basin and areas to the southwest. Late Holocene arrow points from Grove Ranch were made from more diverse sources than middle Holocene dart points. A single Desert Side-notched point is made from Bear Gulch obsidian from 600 km. away in eastern Idaho, and may be related to an influx of people from the Snake River Plain during the latest Holocene. This research demonstrates the value of donated collections and the impact they can have on areas where little previous archaeological research has been conducted.

A large piece of resin, identified as being creosote lac insect resin, was found in a small cave in the Saline Valley in 1931. The piece, now in the Eastern California Museum, is described here and provides some additional information regarding the use of such materials in the Great Basin.

Crescents are enigmatic flaked stone artifacts commonly associated with Western Stemmed Tradition and Paleocoastal complexes in western North America. Despite a number of suggestions, their function remains unclear. It is proposed here that at least some crescents may have been hafted on projectile shafts below (but near) their stone or wooden points as ìspursî to limit the penetration of the projectile into the body of a targeted animal, such as a large bird. This would have served to minimize the post-mortem damage to the prey and increase the chances of recovering both the projectile and the prey. This is the same concept found in some ethnographic bird arrows that have wooden cross members fastened below their wooden tips.

The use of various organic resins as mastics and sealants in prehistoric North America is well documented in the archaeological and ethnographic literature. While the utilization of the creosote lac resin by people in western North America is known, resinous materials discovered in archaeological contexts are most often attributed to genus Pinus without formal analysis, partly due to the difficulty and cost of standard methods of identification. Here, three new techniques for the identification of resinous materials are described that are simpler and more cost effective than previous methods, and which will hopefully lead to the further study and better understanding of this aspect of ancient technology.