Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Although his interpretations of the adaptation represented by the CA-SBA-142 data have been disputed (e.g., Curtis 1965; Warren 1967), to our knowledge Owen's chronology for the site has never been questioned. Our recent research at several early sites of the Santa Barbara Channel (Glassow 1981; Colten 1987; Erlandson 1988a) led us to suspect that aspects of the Glen Annie assemblage derived from a much later occupation. We evaluated this possibility by radiocarbon dating additional shell samples from the site and examining aspects of Owen's data. The results indicate that a number of traits that Owen (1964; 1967), Curtis (1965), and others attributed to the Millingstone (or Early) Horizon probably are associated with occupation dating to the late Holocene. In this paper, we present our evidence for a revised site chronology and examine the implications of the data for understanding early adaptations on the California coast. To place our discussion in perspective, a brief review of the CA-SBA- 142 research and the debate that followed is required.