Remains of house structures, refuse heaps, and activity areas within a coastal Chumash village are examined in this paper in order to describe the internal organization at a Late Period archaeological site in southern California. Methods of analysis include visual inspection of the distribution of artifact types and features, contingency tests, and examination of graphs resulting from standardization and other processes. All feature types are described in detail. Then, with the aid of ethnographic analogy and the use of historic records, activity areas are delineated. Activities that occurred within houses are distinguished from those that took place outside houses. In addition, specific activity loci are defined, such as basketmaking areas.

Knowledge about the relationships among artifacts and features within a site is important in understanding the uses of artifacts. The distribution of different artifact types often indicates the locations and types of activities that occurred at a site. Although houses in the Chumash area have been excavated, little is known about the organization of activities within houses. Archaeological evidence from the Pitas Point site, located in the Santa Barbara Channel region, offers an excellent source of data for addressing these problems.

Using the available data, I will attempt to demonstrate that there was a non-random distribution of artifact types at the Pitas Point site. Certain areas excavated are believed to be inside house structures on the basis of stratigraphic evidence. It is proposed that there are expectable differences between the types of artifacts occurring within as opposed to outside these structures. By using simple quantitative statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, this hypothesis will be tested. Once the range of activities performed inside house structures has been determined, features within these structures such as hearths or clusters of tarring pebbles will be identified. Ethnographic and historic data in conjunction with the archaeological record will be used to suggest the types of activities that took place at the site. Other activities described in the ethnographic record undoubtedly occurred at the Pitas Point site, but will not be discussed until more data have been examined.

The primary objective of this paper is to examine archaeological, ethnographic, and ethnohistoric information on Chumash houses and sweatlodges. Detailed archaeological accounts describing the attributes of Chumash houses and sweatlodges are rare in the published literature. Even when archaeological information on structural remains is presented, sweatlodges and houses are not always clearly identified as such (Harrison 1965). An extensive survey of published and unpublished archaeological examples of houses and sweatlodges, with attributes of each type of structure listed, was presented in an earlier work (Gamble 1991:48-176) that contains more detailed information. This paper is a synthesis of that more comprehensive examination of the subject, and only selected archaeological examples of structures are included in this discussion. It is hoped that as a result of this analysis, archaeologists will become more aware of structural remains and attempt to identify them in the archaeological record. In the past 20 to 30 years, very few structural remains have been identified in the Chumash area, particularly in contract archaeology. This situation is the result of a number of factors, including the emphasis on excavating small units (1 x 1 m.) for purposes of testing as part of the Environmental Impact Report process. In addition, there has been a positive emphasis on the recovery of small remains, such as bone and beads, which has required a shift to smaller mesh screening. Because processing time for these smaller remains increases dramatically, there has been a tendency to reduce the number and size of units in contract archaeology. This tendency for increased analysis of small remains should not be discouraged, but archaeologists, especially those involved in data recovery or mitigation, should attempt to look for architectural remains. If structural remains are observed at sites, analyses on subjects such as spatial patterning, activity areas, and features will be more meaningful. Other impediments to identifying architectural remains in the Chumash area include bioturbation, plowing, and other activities that make it very difficult to observe sites from surface indications. House pits are observable on the Santa Barbara Channel Islands; however, most site areas on the islands are not under threat, nor are they under the auspices of contract archaeology. Through increased awareness of the types of features associated with Chumash structures, hopefully a new trend will develop where greater emphasis is placed on the recognition of architectural features.

Archaeological Investigations at CA-SBA-1809, A Protohistoric Settlement, Goleta, Santa Barbara County, California. Jerry D. Moore and Michael H. Imwalle. Salinas, CA: Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory No. 19, 1988, vi + 69 pp., 7 figs., 13 tables, $6.20 (paper).

This study applies aspects of childhood theory to prehistoric Chumash mortuary sites in the Santa Barbara Channel region of California. While the activities of subadults are often difficult to assess from archaeological contexts alone, the mortuary record provides an ideal avenue in which cultural treatment of different subadult age groups can be observed. Previous mortuary studies conducted in the region have done much to further the collective knowledge of Chumash mortuary customs over time, however, the explicit study of subadults on a broad regional and temporal level was identified as an area in which additional research would greatly enhance our understanding of the prehistoric past. The focus on subadults in this study allows for a nuanced comparison of mortuary treatment in prehistoric Chumash contexts, by both comparing the treatment of subadults (0–17.9 years old) to those of adults (> 18 years old), as well as among the subadult age group, by comparing the treatment of infant (< 3 years old), child (3–9.9 years old), and adolescent (10–17.9 years old) burials. The implementation of childhood theory is a useful framework with which to examine prehistoric burial practice, as it allows for an approach that can be used to connect social and biological aspects of subadults. By focusing on the treatment of subadults in mortuary contexts, this age group can be considered in light of their respective communities, which provides a way to assess aspects of their social identities and can further highlight ways in which subadults would have been active participants in society in regard to economic, social, political, and religious aspects.

The area in the vicinity of the Santa Barbara Channel comprises the study’s general geographic setting, which is located within California’s Southern coast region. More specifically, the study area is defined as the area of the mainland stretching roughly between Arroyo Grande in San Luis Obispo county to Ojai in Ventura county, and extending approximately 15 miles inland from the coast, as well as including both Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa islands in the chain of Northern Channel Islands. The study data are drawn from 16 sites dating to the Early (ca. 6000–1400 BC) and Middle (ca. 1400 BC–AD 1150) periods, which resulted in a dataset of nearly 1,000 burials. The mortuary data that comprise this study dataset are drawn from published sources, as well as unpublished site reports, field notes, excavation records, and collections inventories, which resulted from previously conducted excavations. In order to encompass the broadest number of mortuary categories across the different excavations, 15 variable categories were established to record aspects of the burial context that related to the physical body of the deceased, and also those that related to the objects associated with the body of the deceased. Descriptive, univariate, and bivariate statistical techniques are employed in this study’s analyses to examine the relationships between age, time period, and geographic context for the study’s 15 mortuary variables. The primary statistical tests employed in this study are the Chi-squared and Fischer’s Exact test for nominal variables, and the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests for ordinal variables.

This study’s statistical analyses revealed patterns between subadult and adult burials that are believed to indicate aspects of the overall incorporation of subadults into their communities (personhood), as well as aspects of sociopolitical organization (hierarchical and heterarchical), and religious organization (rites of passage). Non-single interment patterns, the presence of grave goods, and number of material types for grave goods provide support for the idea that subadults throughout Chumash prehistory were attributed personhood in their respective communities, given the many shared aspects and overall similarities in burial ritual between subadults and adults. Patterns in ornament grave goods and grave depth appear to have the strongest potential within the study variables to indicate aspects of hierarchical social organization, which were generally more pronounced in the Middle period sample. The body’s overall disposition in the grave (position, side, and orientation), as well as the presence of grave features and burial pigmentation, resulted in patterns that suggest that aspects of heterarchical organization were in operation throughout the Early and Middle periods, however, hierarchical organization appears to have operated more strongly as an organizing factor in the Middle period. Lastly, patterns in presence of ceremonial paraphernalia indicated that both Early and Middle period adolescent burials had the highest frequency of receiving such objects, compared to infant and child burials, which may indicate the relative timing at which religious initiations or rites of passage were undertaken in society.

Based on the different material and non-material aspects of burial practices analyzed in this study, it is evident that the prehistoric Chumash had a high value of human life and also very likely a complex conception of the afterlife. In the majority of the study analyses, subadult burials often revealed similar patterns to adults or even had treatment exceeding that which was commonly seen in adult burials. While there were many temporally specific patterns observed between subadult and adult burials for aspects of prehistoric Chumash burial treatment, the increased homogeneity in many aspects of burial practice evident in the Middle period sample is likely significant at the wider, regional level, revealing patterns in shared cultural practices. The patterns observed diachronically for the treatment of subadult and adult burials support the idea that a fairly complex sociopolitical organization with a degree of centralization was present at least by the Middle period, that aspects of heterarchical organization likely were concurring throughout the Early and Middle periods, and that through all periods of Chumash history subadults were attributed personhood.

The cultural landscape of the Kumeyaay living in the Tijuana River Watershed of Baja California embodies the sacred, symbolic, economic, and mythological views of a people who have lived in the region for centuries. Recent research on this region that integrates ethnographic, ethnohistorical, and (to a lesser degree) archaeological information reveals a landscape that is alive and imbued with power, sustenance, and legend — a dynamic construct that reflects both changing Kumeyaay relationships with the land and the group's continuity with the past Sacred sites, peaks, transformed rocks, magic boulders, and other geographic features associated with oral traditions populate the landscape. Ecosystems and areas of historic significance represent direct links with generations of ancestors and are still layered with meaning in the minds of descendants.

In the Americas, indirect evidence of watercraft has recently been extended to roughly 13,000 to 11,000 calendar years ago (Erlandson 2002; Erlandson et al. 1996; Johnson et al. 2002). It remains unclear, however, what types of watercraft early peoples used and how these relate to boats described in ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources. North American coastal peoples used a variety of boats, including dugout and plank canoes, tule rafts, and skin boats (Gould 2000; Hudson and Blackburn 1982).