Prehistoric California
Archaeology and the Myth of Paradise

Edited by L. Mark Raab and Terry L. Jones

272 pp. 8 1/2 x 11
68 illustrations
Paper 35.00
ISBN 978-0-87480-785-1

The Anthropology of Pacific North America
Herbert D.G. Maschner and Katherine L. Reedy-Maschner, series editors

In this anthology, Mark Raab and Terry Jones present a series of research articles that dispel lingering mythologies about California’s prehistory. They begin with the most enduring notion—that of an essentially stable, benign climate—presenting evidence that prehistoric climate flux played a significant role in culture change. From there, Raab and Jones seek to dispel the myth of California as a natural cornucopia. They show that prehistoric foragers themselves had the capacity to negatively affect their animal food supplies, and that what is often considered the premier vegetal food, the acorn, appeared much later than many suppose in the diets of native peoples.

This collection effectively summarizes the major debates surrounding California archaeology and provides a solid basis for a new, more nuanced view of the state’s prehistory.

“This anthology is a long overdue contribution. . . it offers an excellent overview of the technical literature since the late 1980s, placing major papers read by every student within the covers of a single volume. . . . A very well rounded anthology.”
—Brian Fagan, University of California, Santa Barbara

L. Mark Raab is professor of anthropology and director of the Center for Public Archaeology, California State University, Northridge.

Terry L. Jones is associate professor of anthropology at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Contents and Contributors:
The Rediscovery of California Prehistory, Terry L. Jones and L. Mark Raab
Environmental Imperatives Reconsidered, Demographic Crises in Western North America During the Medieval Climatic Anomaly, Terry L. Jones, et al.
Declines in Mammalian Forging Efficiency during the Late Holocene, San Francisco Bay, Jack M. Broughton
Evolution of Marine Mammal Hunting: A View from the California and Oregon Coasts, William R. Hildebrandt and Terry L. Jones
Trans﷓Holocene Marine Mammal Exploitation on San Clemente Island: A Tragedy of the Commons Revisited, Judith F. Porcasi, Terry L. Jones and L. Mark Raab
Resource Intensification among Hunter-Gatherers: Acorn Economies in Prehistoric California, Mark E. Basgall
Health in Prehistoric Populations of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands, Patricia M. Lambert
Anatomically Modern Humans, Maritime Voyaging, and the Pleistocene Colonization of the Americas, Jon M. Erlandson
The Cross Creek Site and its Implications for New World Colonization, Terry L. Jones, et al.
Competitive and Cooperative Responses to Climatic Instability in Coastal Southern California, D. J. Kennett and J. P. Kennett
Social Responses to Climate Change Among the Chumash Indians of South﷓Central California, John R. Johnson
The Possibilities of Men and Women: Gender and the California Milling Stone Horizon, Kelly R. McGuire and William R. Hildebrandt
Pounding Acorns: Women’s Production as Social and Economic Focus, Thomas L. Jackson
Serpent in Eden: Dispersal of Foreign Diseases into Pre﷓Mission California, William Preston
The Future of California Prehistory, Terry L. Jones and L. Mark Raab