In this paper I present the first radiocarbon dates for Anacapa Island, including dates for six sites. In synthesizing these radiocarbon dates, I also briefly summarize some of the lunited artifactual and faunal data from the island. These data help bring the archaeology of Anacapa out of the shadows and uito the context of larger southern California coastal prehistory. I begin with a brief discussion of Anacapa Island environments and previous archaeological research to contextuaUze my analysis.

California’s northern Channel Islands have one of the longest and best-preserved archaeological records in the Americas, spanning some 13,000 calendar years. When European explorers first traveled to the area, these islands were inhabited by the Chumash, some of the most populous and culturally complex hunter-gatherers known.

Chumash society was characterized by hereditary leaders, sophisticated exchange networks and interaction spheres, and diverse maritime economies. Focusing on the archaeology of five sites dated to the last 3,000 years, this book examines the archaeology and historical ecology of San Miguel Island, the westernmost and most isolated of the northern Channel Islands. Detailed faunal, artifact, and other data are woven together in a diachronic analysis that investigates the interplay of social and ecological developments on this unique island. The first to focus solely on San Miguel Island archaeology, this book examines issues ranging from coastal adaptations to emergent cultural complexity to historical ecology and human impacts on ancient environments.

Series: Perspectives in California Archaeology 8

Studies of fish remains have contributed substantially to current thinking on cultural development in the Santa Barbara Channel region. While several intensive studies of fish remains from Late Holocene and some Early Holocene sites have been conducted, there are virtually no comprehensive studies offish remains from a Middle Holocene site in the Santa Barbara region.

CA-SBI-12, a small archaeological site occupied between about A.D. 1180 and 1390, is one of only two recorded archaeological sites on the south coast of Santa Barbara Island. A relatively limited faunal and artifact assemblage, consisting primarily of black abalone and owl limpet, with small amounts of fish, bird, and mammal remains, suggests that the site was a temporary or seasonal camp. Occupation of CASBI- 12 was brief and specialized, but data from other Santa Barbara Island sites suggest that the island was used for a variety of activities, including shellfish collecting, sea mammal hunting, fishing, and the production of ground and chipped stone tools for at least the last 4,400 years.

The Corona Del Mar site, a subject of archaeological inquiry since at least the 1920s, was fundamental to William Harrison's development of an archaeological sequence for the Santa Barbara Coast. Harrison, a pioneer in radiocarbon dating of California shell middens, excavated 21 test units at CA-SBA-54 but obtained no C14 dates. Here, we report on a suite of C14 dates recently obtained for Harrison's collections and peripheral deposits at CASBA- 54. The radiocarbon chronology suggests that the site contains at least two discrete Middle Holocene components, one dating between about 5900 and 5400 CYBP and another dated to approximately 4800 CYBP. The younger component validates aspects of Harrison's site chronology, but the earlier dates suggest that CA-SBA-54 was occupied contemporaneously and slightly earlier than the Aerophysics site (CA-SBA-53). Our results help contextualize the Corona Del Mar assemblage in relation to other sites in the Santa Barbara Channel area and the southern California Coast.

California's Channel Islands have a lengthy archaeological record, spanning roughly 13,000 calendar years. However, relatively little is known about cultural developments during the Middle Holocene, resulting in a substantial gap in our understanding of the prehistory of California. Our research at CA-SRI-667, a large dune site with three components dated between about 6,200 and 4,300 cal B. P., demonstrates significant environmental changes occurred through time. Faunal remains and artifacts from the site document the decline of a local estuary, intensive dune building episodes, and the presence of relatively mobile human settlement systems. These data illustrate the dynamic nature of Middle Holocene human settlement and subsistence strategies, and associated environmental changes on California's Channel Islands.

Located above Rincon Creek on the Santa Barbara coast, CA-SBA-141 produced an artifact assemblage that was important in the development of a cultural historical sequence for the Chumash region (Harrison 1964). This report documents the first radiocarbon dates for Harrison's collections, which suggest that the site was occupied at least twice, once at roughly 7,600 years ago and again around 5,000 years ago. What Harrison interpreted as an intermediate site dating to the Middle Holocene appears to have been a multicomponent site mixed by bioturbation, grading, and agricultural practices.