Nicholas P. Jew

Paleoindian Seafaring, Maritime Technologies, and Coastal Foraging on California’s Channel Islands

Archaeological sites reveal a variety of tools used to hunt marine birds, mammals, and fish 12,000 years ago. Three archaeological sites on California’s Channel Islands show that Paleoindians relied heavily on marine resources. The Paleocoastal sites, dated between ~12,200 and 11,200 years ago, contain numerous stemmed projectile points and crescents associated with a variety of marine and aquatic faunal remains. At site CA-SRI-512 on Santa Rosa Island, Paleocoastal peoples used such tools to capture geese, cormorants, and other birds, along with marine mammals and finfish. At Cardwell Bluffs on San Miguel Island, Paleocoastal peoples collected local chert cobbles, worked them into bifaces and projectile points, and discarded thousands of marine shells. With bifacial technologies similar to those seen in Western Pluvial Lakes Tradition assemblages of western North America, the sites provide evidence for seafaring and island colonization by Paleoindians with a diversified maritime economy.

Archaeological survey, paleogeography, and the search for Late Pleistocene Paleocoastal peoples of Santa Rosa Island, California

Abstract The northern Pacific Coast is an important area for understanding human colonization of the Americas, but Late Pleistocene coastal sites are rare and interglacial sea level rise has inundated the continental shelf and the primary areas where Paleocoastal archaeological sites are likely to occur. Here we outline a terrestrial archaeological survey project designed to identify Paleocoastal sites on Santa Rosa Island, California. Using reconstructions of ancient shorelines and paleogeography, we predicted that sites might be found where lithic resources, freshwater springs, caves or rockshelters, and strategic vistas drew Paleocoastal peoples into the island interior. We identified nine new Paleocoastal sites, including four radiocarbon dated to >11,000 cal b.p. that are among the oldest sites on North America’s Pacific coast. Our targeted survey demonstrates an important technique for investigating island and coastal settings where sea level rise remains a significant challenge for locating early sites.

An Early Maritime Biface Technology at Daisy Cave, San Miguel Island, California: Reflections on Sample Size, Site Function, and Other Issues

In North American archaeology, the study of distinctive biface technologies has been critical to understanding early migrations, adaptations, and interactions—from Clovis and other fluted points, to stemmed or leaf-shaped points of the Far West, and the wide variety of point types that mark later time periods. In most terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene sites of coastal California, points and other bifaces are relatively uncommon and crude, a pattern sometimes attributed to a heavy economic focus on shellfish and plant food gathering. At Daisy Cave on San Miguel Island, stratigraphically-controlled excavations during the 1990s recovered a small assemblage of bifaces that seemed to fit this general pattern. Recent data suggest, however, that a sophisticated maritime hunting technology existed on the Northern Channel Islands during the terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene. In this article, we describe the bifaces recovered from Paleocoastal (∼10,200 to 8500 cal BP) strata at Daisy Cave, then discuss site function, small sample size, and other issues that can limit the interpretation of ancient technologies and cultural-historical relationships. The result is a cautionary tale about interpreting small assemblages of projectile points and bifaces from early Pacific Coast sites, where sea level rise and coastal erosion already pose significant interpretive problems.

Understanding the Occupation of Small Continental Islands: Seasonality and δ18O Evidence From Anacapa Island, California

Understanding the Occupation of Small Continental Islands: Seasonality and δO Evidence From Anacapa Island, California Nicholas P. Jew & Torben C. Rick a Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA b Program in Human Ecology and Archaeobiology, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA Published online: 06 Nov 2014.

DARTS, ARROWS, AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS: DISTINGUISHING DART AND ARROW POINTS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

Abstract Using several methods to distinguish dart and arrow points, archaeologists have suggested that the bow and arrow appeared in various parts of the world between ˜65,000 and 1,000 years ago. Hildebrandt and King (2012) proposed a dart-arrow index (DAI) to help differentiate dart and arrow points, rejecting claims that the bow and arrow was introduced to western North America prior to the Late Holocene. We used the DAI and other methods to evaluate ˜11,700-year-old projectile points from Santa Rosa Island, obtaining mean values below the threshold for darts, comparable to several North American arrow point types. We have no direct evidence that these small points were used on darts, arrows, or hand-thrown spears, but faunal associations suggest that they may have served as harpoon tips used on atlatl darts to capture birds, fish, and marine mammals. The DAI and other methods for discriminating between dart and arrow points are based almost exclusively on ethnographic and archaeological specimens from interior regions. Our analysis suggests that such methods should not be applied universally, especially in coastal or other aquatic settings, and that archaeologists should continue to critically assess the antiquity of the bow and arrow and the function of projectile points worldwide.

Paleocoastal Flaked Stone Heat Treatment Practices on Alta California's Northern Channel Islands

Abstract On Californias Northern Channel Islands, Paleocoastal peoples produced extraordinarily delicate stemmed, barbed, and serrated projectile points between about 12,000 and 8,000 years ago. We analyzed several Paleocoastal lithic assemblages to explore whether intentional heat treatment was used to facilitate the production of these artifacts. We experimentally heat treated samples of three types of island chert (Tuqan, Cico, and Wima) to document the changes in the physical signatures of lithic heat treatment, then analyzed 1,453 lithic artifacts from Paleocoastal assemblages on San Miguel and Santa Rosa islands. We found that about 29 percent of the artifacts exhibited visible heat fractures and a large percentage of sampled artifacts had quantitative gloss scores characteristic of heat-treated control samples. Our results suggest that heat treatment was an important step used by Paleocoastal peoples to produce finely crafted bifaces on the Northern Channel Islands.

12,000 Years of Human Predation on Black Turban Snails (Chlorostoma funebralis) on Alta California's Northern Channel Islands

Abstract Examining the ecology and archaeology of black turban snails (Chlorostoma [Tegula] funebralis), found along North Americas Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Baja California, we present evidence for 12,000 years of human predation in Northern Channel Island shell middens. Often viewed as evidence for Late Holocene economic intensification along the southern California Coast, we identified black turban middens dated to the terminal Pleistocene, as well as the early, middle, and late Holocene. Despite their small size and lower ranking as a prey species, humans harvested black turban snails because of their abundance, aggregation, and accessibility during daily tidal cycles. Examining 19 discrete archaeological components (with a total MNI of ∼7,800) from San Miguel and Santa Rosa islands, we used a Shell Weight/MNI Index to document fluctuations in the mean size of black turban shells through time, identifying patterns attributed to a combination of environmental and demographic changes, including variation in the intensity of human predation.

Paleocoastal Lithic use on Western Santarosae Island, California:

Californias Northern Channel Islands have produced several Paleocoastal assemblages that include some of the most intricate and finely crafted lithic technologies in the Americas. Current understanding of chert use and availability on the islands comes primarily from research on Late Holocene sites from Santa Cruz Island, where chert sources played an important role in providing microdrills for Late Holocene Olivella bead production. New data from Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene sites suggest that Paleocoastal peoples relied heavily on other cherts from San Miguel and Santa Rosa islands. To examine the deeper history of lithic use on the islands, we analyzed eight Paleocoastal lithic assemblages from San Miguel and Santa Rosa, which were part of the larger island of Santarosae until about 10,000 years ago. We discuss lithic availability and material preference for formal and expedient stone tool manufacture on the Northern Channel Islands between ∼12,000 and 7,500 years ago.

Chipped stone crescents from America’s Far West: Descriptive and geochemical analyses from the Northern Great Basin

Chipped stone crescents, Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene artifacts from North America’s Far West, are often found in surficial contexts as isolated finds, with many currently residing in private or museum collections with limited provenience information. Such collections have the potential to reveal metric and morphological data, and contribute to our understanding of the distribution and material source locations for this unique artifact type. We describe 43 chipped stone crescentic artifacts from two collections curated at the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History. The Calvin Schmidt Collection contains crescents recovered from southeast Oregon and northwest Nevada, and the Alvord Basin Survey Collection contains crescents from southeast Oregon. We provide detailed descriptions, including material type and extensive metrical measurements, to define the shape and form of these crescentic artifacts. Seven obsidian crescents were quantitatively analyzed using x-ray fluorescence to identify their geological sources. We discuss general morphological characteristics of crescents in the region and compare the trace element signatures of the obsidian artifacts to known sources.

Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling of one of Remote Oceania's oldest cemeteries at Chelechol ra Orrak, Palau

Abstract Research at the Chelechol ra Orrak rockshelter in Palau has revealed an extensive cemetery with at least 50 interred individuals, their graves overlain by later occupational deposits. Previous radiocarbon dating placed this sequence of burial and occupation at c. 3000 cal BP, making it one of the earliest Pacific Island cemetery sites. To provide a more robust chronological framework, Bayesian modelling was applied to construct probability ranges for the date and duration of activity at the site, assisted by a suite of new 14C determinations. The results provide more secure evidence for burial activity dating back to c. 3000 cal BP, thus confirming Chelechol ra Orrak as one of the only cemeteries in Remote Oceania that dates to the earliest, known stages of island colonisation.