This paper provides the first radiocarbon date from CA‑LAN-1, also known as the Tank Site. This important prehistoric site, long considered the “type site” for the Milling Stone Horizon (MSH), had never previously been radiocarbon dated. Some six decades after the site was first investigated, we provide the date and its specific context, its conventional and calibrated ages, and discuss the significance of this singular date to southern California prehistory.

The atlatl is one of the oldest and perhaps most universally used weapons in the New World. Evidence for its use in California is found in nearly every region of the state in the form of engaging spurs. Attachable spurs tend to be the least perishable component of this ancient weapon system. Despite their ubiquity in the archaeological record, little has been published on these artifacts since Riddell and McGeein’s 1969 article in American Antiquity. In this paper, we report on a pair of recently excavated bone atlatl engaging spurs recovered from a site in central California. Using these stylistically very different, yet almost contemporaneously dated spurs, we critically examine the application of the existing taxonomic system and present a re nement of White’s 1989 classi cation of California atlatl spurs.

Few items in the archaeological record capture the imagination more than human heads separated from their bodies. Such items are sometimes assumed to indicate warfare practices, where "trophy heads" display power and fighting prowess. Other times, they are interpreted as representing ancestor veneration. Isolated crania are not uncommon in the Early period (ca. 4500-2500 B.P.) in Central California. Some anthropologists interpret them as trophy heads, but isotopic analyses at CA-CCO-548 suggest an alternative interpretation. Strontium isotope analyses on one modified cranium produced values consistent with local individuals, and both headless burials and people buried with extra skulls overlap in carbon and nitrogen isotopes. Further, teeth from two individuals who were buried with extra skulls suggest both were weaned at early ages (before age 2), much earlier than other individuals at the site. Together with contextual information, we argue that the isotopic data are more consistent with the hypothesis that extra skulls and headless burials represent ancestor veneration rather than trophies, shedding new light on Early-period societies in Central California.