A summary of research in the southern Channel Islands of California is presented. This research shows that these islands have been occupied for nearly 10,000 years. Residential structures and the distribution of a type of marine shell bead suggest that sedentism and a regional interaction sphere arose in this region as early as 5,000 years ago. Additional information is presented on chronological trends and the impact of humans on nearshore ecosystems, including fish and shellfish populations. These data are leading archaeologists to reassess the age and origins of marine cultural traditions in southern California.

This paper contains a brief review of coastal residential structures, illustrating their modes of construction and possible uses. This review provides a basis of comparison with residential structures investigated at the Nursery site (CA-SCLI-1215), San Clemente Island. The latter provides new information from the southern Channel Islands, a region that remains largely terra incognita with regard to maritime cultural evolution. The Nursery site data include well preserved architectural features with associated radiocarbon dates. These data show that residential structures similar to those of the northern Santa Barbara Channel were being constructed on San Clemente Island as early as 3,700 radiocarbon years B.P. We also suggest that the appearance of these structures may have been related to important maritime economic trends that affected all of coastal southern California.