Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

Fishing, Subsistence Change, and Foraging Strategies on Western Santa Rosa Island, California

Bibliographic Data

ID2096194
AuthorsC S Jazwa (0000-0003-0020-2983, University of Nevada, Reno, corresponding author), Terry L Joslin, D J Kennett (0000-0001-6144-7365, University of California, Santa Barbara)
Year2020
Volume85
Issue3
Pages591-608
Publication date2020-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/aaq.2020.18
OpenAlexW3025485620
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited33

Shifting from shellfish collecting to fishing as a primary coastal foraging strategy can allow hunter-gatherers to obtain more food and settle in larger populations. On California's northern Channel Islands (NCI), after the development of the single-piece shell fishhook around 2500 cal BP, diet expanded from primarily shellfish to include nearshore fishes in greater numbers. During the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (1150-600 cal BP), settlement on the islands condensed to a small number of large coastal villages with high population densities supported largely by nearshore fish species including rockfishes, surfperches, and señoritas. Faunal data from five sites on western Santa Rosa Island (CA-SRI-15, -31, -97, -313, and -333) demonstrate an increase in nearshore fishing through time. We argue that demographic changes that occurred on the northern Channel Islands were accompanied by changes in subsistence strategies that were related in part to risk of failure when attempting to acquire different resources. As population density increased, the low-risk strategy of shellfish harvesting declined in relative importance as a higher-risk strategy of nearshore fishing increased. While multiple simultaneous subsistence strategies are frequently noted among individual hunter-gatherer communities in the ethnographic record, this study provides a framework to observe similar patterns in the archaeological record

Agriculture · Archaeology · Biology · Fishery · Fishing · Foraging · Geography · Marine conservation · Population · Subsistence agriculture · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Ecology · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

  • Low population density settlement patterns on California's Northern Channel Islands

    Open Access•C S Jazwa, Tyler R Molter et al.•Frontiers in Environmental…•2025

  • Indigenous marine stewardship and season of harvest for California mussels (Mytilus californianus) along California's Lost Coast, U.S.A

    Open Access•Jeremy D McFarland•Frontiers in Environmental…•2026

  • The effects of vertical position in the intertidal zone on the δ18O and δ13C composition of Mytilus californianus shell carbonate

    Open Access•C S Jazwa, C A Wolfe et al.•Journal of Archaeological Science…•2020

  • Contextualizing Late Holocene Subsistence Change on California’s Northern Channel Islands

    T J Braje, Stephanie Gallanosa et al.•California Archaeology•2024

  • Archaeological and stable isotope data reveal patterns of fishing across the food web on California’s Channel Islands

    Open Access•Emma A Elliott Smith, T J Braje et al.•The Holocene•2023

  • Investigations at an eroded shell midden reveal direct evidence for fur seal hunting and diverse subsistence strategies on Late Holocene Santa Rosa (Wima) Island, California

    T C Rick, Danielle Duguid et al.•The Journal of Island and Coastal…•2023

  • Protein sources in diet of Southern California natives over 8000 years

    Open Access•Henry Schwarcz, Carol Goldberg-Schroeder et al.•Archaeological and Anthropological…•2025

  • Middle Holocene residential mobility in western Santa Rosa Island, California

    Open Access•C S Jazwa, Alexandra Zoellner•Quaternary International•2024

  • Spatial and temporal variation in fisher-hunter-gatherer diets in southern California

    Open Access•Mikael Fauvelle, Andrew D Somerville•Quaternary International•2021

  • Showing off

    Open Access•K Hawkes•Ethology and Sociobiology•1991

  • The hunting handicap

    Open Access•R B Bird, E A Smith et al.•Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology•2001

  • Hunting income patterns among the Hadza

    Open Access•K Hawkes, J F O ́Connell et al.•Philosophical Transactions of the…•1991

  • The Island Chumash

    D J Kennett•Island Chumash•2005

  • Ideal free settlement of California’s Northern Channel Islands

    Open Access•B Winterhalder, D J Kennett et al.•Journal of Anthropological…•2010

  • Cooperation and conflict

    Open Access•R B Bird, Rebecca Bird•Evolutionary Anthropology Issues…•1999

  • Territoriality and the rise of despotic social organization on western Santa Rosa Island, California

    Open Access•C S Jazwa, D J Kennett et al.•Quaternary International•2019

  • A Test of Ideal Free Distribution Predictions Using Targeted Survey and Excavation on California’s Northern Channel Islands

    Open Access•C S Jazwa, D J Kennett et al.•Journal of Archaeological Method…•2015

  • On the Antiquity of the Single-Piece Shell Fishhook

    Open Access•T C Rick, René L Vellanoweth et al.•Journal of Archaeological Science•2002

  • Contemporary Shellfish Gathering Strategies among the Meriam of the Torres Strait Islands, Australia

    Open Access•Douglas W Bird, Rebecca L Bliege Bird•Journal of Archaeological Science•1997

  • Early Hunter-Gatherers of the California Coast

    Open Access•Jon M Erlandson, Jon Erlandson•Early Hunter-Gatherers of the…•1994

  • IntCal13 and Marine13 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves 0–50,000 Years cal BP

    Open Access•Paula J Reimer, Edouard Bard et al.•Radiocarbon•2013

  • Bayesian Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates

    Open Access•Christopher B Ramsey•Radiocarbon•2009

  • Spatial and Temporal Variability in Chert Exploitation on Santa Cruz Island, California

    Open Access•Jennifer E Perry, Jennifer Perry et al.•American Antiquity•2010

  • From Pleistocene Mariners to Complex Hunter-Gatherers

    Open Access•T C Rick, Jon M Erlandson et al.•Journal of World Prehistory•2005

  • What Explains Differences in Men's and Women's Production

    Open Access•R B Bird, B F Codding et al.•Human Nature•2009

  • Children on the reef

    Open Access•Douglas W Bird, R B Bird•Human Nature•2002

  • Trade-Offs between female food acquisition and child care among hiwi and ache foragers

    Open Access•A Hurtado, A Magdalena Hurtado et al.•Human Nature•1992

  • The Chumash and the swordfish

    Open Access•Demorest Davenport, John R Johnson et al.•Antiquity•1993

  • The Island Chumash

    Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, D J Kennett•Western Historical Quarterly•2006

  • Complex Hunter-Gatherer-Fishers of Prehistoric California

    Open Access•Jeanne E Arnold•American Antiquity•1992

  • Archaeological Evidence for the Origin of the Plank Canoe in North America

    Open Access•Lynn H Gamble•American Antiquity•2002

  • Transportation Innovation and Social Complexity among Maritime Hunter-Gatherer Societies

    Open Access•Jeanne E Arnold•American Anthropologist•1995

  • Optimal Foraging and the Division of Labor

    Open Access•Michael A Jochim•American Anthropologist•1988

  • Why Women Hunt

    R B Bird, Douglas W Bird•Current Anthropology•2008

  • Signaling Theory, Strategic Interaction, and Symbolic Capital

    R B Bird, E A Smith•Current Anthropology•2005

  • Environmental Imperatives Reconsidered

    T L Jones, Gene M Brown et al.•Current Anthropology•1999

  • Feasting, Ritual Practices, Social Memory, and Persistent Places

    Open Access•Lynn H Gamble•American Antiquity•2017

  • Central place foraging and shellfish processing on California's Northern Channel Islands

    Open Access•C S Jazwa, T J Braje et al.•Journal of Anthropological…•2015

Unique citing works9
Citations per year1,5
Citation span2020 - 2026 (7)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 9
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae