Although the interpretations offered in this paper are exploratory, they demonstrate that existing political economic models are seriously flawed. These models are based on demonstrably unrealistic assumptions and are increasingly out of step with current empirical and theoretical studies. Alternatively, models of intensification point to productive new research directions. Equipped with these models, southern California researchers can enter global discussions about post-Pleistocene cultural change, including the origins of social complexity, sedentism, and other important cultural developments. There is every reason to suppose that southern California coastal research will be an important voice in these discussions.

Eugene Ruyle and Keith Dixon, long-time advocates of Puvunga-related issues and members of the Anthropology Department at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), are active stakeholders in the current debate. Since Ruyle and Dixon also offer the most critical reviews of our article, we turn our attention to their comments first. Although Ruyle and Dixon emphasize somewhat different issues, they reflect quite similar lines of commentary. The reader will notice, for instance, that Ruyle and Dixon essentially ignore the major points made by our article. Instead, both commentators adopt a strategy favored by trial lawyers: If you cannot refute your opponent's arguments directly, distract the jury with confusing side issues and character assassination. These diversionary tactics are designed to destroy the credibility of our article on three grounds: it leaves out vital information; we are guilty of sloppy scholarship; and we are "hired guns," somehow enticed by the administration of CSULB to propagate ideas inimical to Native Americans and historic preservation. Let us look at these charges more closely.

The case of Puvunga in southern California offers interesting examples of how anthropological scholarship may have an impact on ethnogenic processes. Interpretations of the Puvunga tradition are traced over a span of nearly two centuries, showing that twentieth century anthropologists offered differing reconstructions of the location, nature, and cultural impact of Puvunga. Some of these interpretations have proven crucial to the ethnogenic aspirations of certain social groups, especially Native Americans. While some anthropological interpretations of Puvunga currently enjoy wide popularity, all observers should be cautious about ascribing objective reality to these, or any, reconstructions of Puvunga. Anthropologists, in particular, need to understand better how their research models, advanced initially as provisional academic constructs, may take on wholly different functions among groups seeking to forge ethnic or cultural identities.

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.