Credit Where Credit Is Due

The History of the Chumash Oceangoing Plank Canoe

Bibliographic Data

ID2591656
AuthorsJeanne E Arnold (University of California System, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume72
Issue2
Pages196-209
Publication date2007-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/40035811
OpenAlexW2083388352
LanguageEN
Citations received32
References cited21

Recent publications debate the origins of the Chumash plank canoe (tomol) of southern California. The timing of its appearance is of considerable scholarly interest because of its significant role in the evolution of sociopolitical complexity among the coastal Chumash, who were among the world's most complex hunter-gatherers. This paper closely considers: (a) what constitutes reliable empirical evidence for canoe making and maintenance; (b) the most current estimate for the date of origin of this sophisticated watercraft (and the empirical foundations for such an estimate); (c) a scenario for the development of the tomol as a complex technological system (CTS) and why credit is appropriately assigned to the coastal Chumash for its development; and (d) the impacts of this technological system on Chumash sociopolitical evolution

Archaeology · Empirical evidence · Empirical research · Epistemology · Plank · Watercraft · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Engineering · Geology · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Oceanography · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

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