Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

In the winter 1978 issue of the Journal of California Anthropology, Hudson (1978:262- 265) discussed an unusual stone effigy from San Clemente Island, which after a comparison with other effigies from that island he concluded to be a Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia hypogaea). Concurrently, as this report appeared in print, the subject of a special exhibit on display at Riverside Municipal Museum in Riverside, California, was an incised, mottled red steatite tablet. Incised lines on the tablet and two holes drilled through the tablet create the appearance of a face suggestive of an owl.