The Journal of California Anthropology

This paper considers the implications for coastal California archaeology and prehistory of sea level changes over the past 15,000 years. The discussion deals first with a generalized sea level curve, grossly applicable for North America, and suggests its use in interpreting the fact that there is little evidence of human occupation along the California coast before 5000 B.P. to 7000 B.P. More specific data regarding sea level changes in San Francisco Bay are then presented in an effort to explain several characteristics of the archaeology of that region.

The stories herein presented were recorded between December of 1931 and May of the next year, incidental to ethnographic field work among the Coast Miwok, in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, California. Some qualify as myths; most are animal stories. Some are short fragments; others are comparatively long, in some cases with the component incidents not well integrated. The collection is far from complete but is augmented to some extent by the Miwok tales published by Merriam (1910), among which are seven from the two Coast Miwok dialectic groups and one from the Lake Miwok. In addition, de Angulo and Freeland (1928) have published a number of tales from the Lake Miwok (and Pomo).

This study presents new ethnographic data on the use of rock crystals as power objects among several Yuman groups in northern Baja California and southern Alta California. The first section deals specifically with the physical and conceptual properties of the stones themselves. This discussion includes a general description of the stones through a linguistic, geomorphological, and conceptual exegesis. The second section describes the relationship between a crystal charmstone and its owner by discussing how the stones are acquired and used.

Anthropologists have long been aware of the distinctive appearance of the culture of the Yurok, Karok, Hupa, Wiyot, and Tolowa Indians of northwestern California (Kroeber 1904, 1920,1922,1953:30). Although the ethnographic record attests to the elaborate ceremonial system operative throughout most of this area, we have as yet no firm grasp on how far back in time this system may have been in operation, nor any reasonably well documented information about the time depth for the social ranking and exchange relations which existed among these groups.

In order to bring new data to bear on some aspects of these anthropological concerns, obsidian artifacts associated with graves at the prehistoric Wiyot site of Dulawo't (CA-Hum- 67 on Gunther Island) were subjected to nondestructive X-ray fluorescence analysis to determine the geographical source of the raw material used in their manufacture. These prehistoric data, combined with brief sketches of the ceremonial system and obsidian sources, are consonant in part with observations derived from the ethnographic record although some new insights into the dimensions of social ranking are offered. It is suggested that the social, exchange, and ceremonial systems evident during the ethnographic period were in operation at Dulawo't by at least 600 years ago.

The primary objectives of this paper are to discuss the context, chronology, and significance of two fired clay objects recovered from excavations at the Little Harbor site on Catalina Island. The ceramic items described here were recovered from the 1973 excavation of the Little Harbor site conducted by Nelson Leonard, III. The Little Harbor site (Ca-SCaI-17) was initially excavated and described between 1953 and 1955 by Clement Meighan (1959).

In September, 1884, William Greenwood Wright published an article entitled "A Naturalist in the Desert" in the popular serial Overland Monthly (Wright 1884:279-284). This short paper contains a number of observations which substantiate existing ethnographic data regarding Cahuilla Indian village locations, agricultural methods, ethnobotanical practices, and social customs. Specifically, however, it contains a detailed graphic description of Cahuilla caterpillar exploitation. This particular paragraph of Wright's article is worth reprinting here for several reasons: (1) identification of the insect and its host plant are included; (2) the use of this insect, the White-lined Sphinx Moth, Hyles lineata (Fabricius), has seldom been recorded previously in an ethnographic context in California or elsewhere; and (3) Wright's description has not received attention and might be of interest to Cahuilla scholars.

This paper suggests an explanation of a circular rock artifact found in northern San Diego County and Orange County. The importance of the object lies in its resemblance to the groundpaintings (or sandpaintings) employed by the Luiseño and other southern California Indians in rites of passage, including the Chinigchinich initiation complex, an idea suggested by Paul Chace (1972). It is the author's objective to suggest correlations between this symbol and the groundpaintings as well as the function of the artifact in a socioreligious context.

Two recently discovered pictograph sites have similarities indicating common origin to the "Coso" style petroglyphs identified by Grant, Baird and Pringle (1968). These sites were located during field reconnaissance in the Southern Sierra Nevada. The two sites appear unique for two reasons: (1) they date to the late prehistoric and historic periods which previously have not been noted as containing "Coso" style rock art; and (2) "Coso" style pictographs are exceedingly rare and are unknown for these periods.

A favored though probably infrequent fare of the Death Valley Indians was the flesh of the chuckwalla (Sauromalus obesus), California's largest lizard. The capture of one of these creatures provided a good-sized meal, for a full-grown individual can attain a length of eighteen inches and a weight of two or three pounds.

The document presented here is Indian Agent Clara True's report to her superiors in Washington, D. C. At the time of the Willie Boy manhunt, Indian Agent True was in charge of the Malki Indian Agency at Morongo Indian Reservation, Banning, California, and responsible for four other reservations in the area: Torres-Martinez in Indio, Agua Caliente in Palm Springs, Mission Creek in the hills east of Banning, and Twentynine Palms on the Mojave Desert. True (1909) presents an account of her experiences as a woman Indian agent. Her report on the Willie Boy manhunt, titled "The Willie Boy Case and Attendant Circumstances," was discovered in 1958 in the U. S. National Archives by Congressman Dalip Singh Saund. While the report adds little that is new to what is already known about the manhunt, it does present one of the few descriptions of the Indian village of Twentynine Palms, which was inhabited by Chemehuevi and Serrano.

Tomol: Chumash Watercraft as Described in the Ethnographic Notes of John P. Harrington. Edited and annotated by Travis Hudson, Janice Timbrook and Melissa Rempe; art work by Jane Jolley Howarth. Ballena Press Anthropological Papers No. 9, 1978. 190 pp., 5 figs., 12 pls., 1 map. $8.95 (paper).

Tailholt Tales as Related to Frank F. Latta by Thomas Jefferson Mayfield.Frank F. Latta. Santa Cruz, California: Bear State Books, 1976. 323 pp., including 91 illustrations.

Defending Eden: New Mexican Pioneers in Southern California, 1830-1890.Joyce Carter Vickery. Riverside: The Riverside Museum Press, 1977. x+130 pp., illustrations. $5.36 (paper).

The Painter Lady: Grace Carpenter Hudson.Searles R. Boynton. Eureka: Interface California Corp., 1978. 186 pp., including 64 pp. of black/white and color illustrations. $28.50.

Models and Great Basin Prehistory: A Symposium.Don D. Fowler, ed. Reno: Desert Research Institute Publications in the Social Sciences No. 12. 1977, 213 pp., maps, plates, illustrations. $6.00. (paper).

Four Rock Art Studies. C. W. Clewlow, Jr. (ed.) Socorro, New Mexico: Ballena Press Publications on North American Rock Art No. 1. 1977. 108 pp., $5.95 (paper).

An Archaeological Overview of the Northern Channel Islands, California, Including Santa Barbara Island. Michael A. Glassow. Tucson: Western Archeological Center, U. S. National Park Service, 1977. vi + 249 pp.

Otoliths and Other Fish Remains from the Chumash Midden at Rincon Point (SBa-1), Santa Barbara-Ventura Counties, California. Richard W. Huddleston and Lloyd W. Barker. Los Angeles: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science No. 289. 36 pp., tables, bibliography, 8 figures.

Life Among the Indians: being an interesting narrative of the captivity of the Oatman girls among the Apache and Mohave Indians. Royal B. Stratton. (Reprint of the first and second editions, San Francisco, 1857.) Selected and arranged by Wilcomb E. Washburn. New York and London: Garland Publishing Co., The Garland Library of Narratives of North American Indian Captivities, Vol. 71. 183 and 321 pp. 1977. $29.70.

Diegueno Curing Practices. Ruth Farrell Almstedt. San Diego: San Diego Museum Papers No. 10, 1977. 38 pp.

A Bibliography of California Indians: Archaeology, Ethnography, and Indian History.Robert F. Heizer and Albert B. Elsasser, with the collaboration of James C. Bard, Edward D. Castillo, and Karen M. Nissen. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1977. 267 pp., 2 maps. $23.00.

The Other Californians: Prejudice and Discrimination under Spain, Mexico, and the United States to 1920 (second edition). Robert F. Heizer and Alan F. Almquist. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1977.

An Early Human Fossil from the Yuha Desert of Southern California: Physical Characteristics.Spencer L. Rogers. San Diego: San Diego Museum of Man Papers, No. 12. 1977. 27 pp., map, figures, bibliography. $3.00 (paper).

Flowers of the Wind: Papers on Ritual, Myth, and Symbolism in California and the Southwest. Thomas C. Blackburn, ed. Socorro, New Mexico: Ballena Press Anthropological Papers No. 8. 1978. 194 pp., 6 figs. $8.95 (paper).

The Other Californians: Prejudice and Discrimination under Spain, Mexico, and the United States to 1920 (second edition). Robert F. Heizer and Alan F. Almquist. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1977.

Edible and Useful Plants of California.Charlotte Bringle Clarke. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977. 280 pp., 8 color pls., 77 figs. $5.95 (paper).

Occasional Papers in Method and Theory in California Archaeology, No. 1. Gary S. Breschini, ed. Society for California Archaeology, 1977. 82 pp., no publication place and no price given.

The Broken Stones.Herbert L. Minshall. La Jolla: Copley Books, 1976, 166 pp., $16.50 (cloth).

Drawn from Life: California Indians in Pen and BrushTheodora Kroeber, Albert B. Elasser, and Robert F. Heizer. Socorro, New Mexico: Ballena Press, 1977, 295 pp., $8.95 (paper).