California Prehistory

California Prehistory
Author: Terry L. Jones
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2007
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780759108721

Reader of original synthesizing articles for introductory courses on archaeology and native peoples of California.

Exploring Methods of Faunal Analysis

Exploring Methods of Faunal Analysis
Author: Michael Glassow
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2012-12-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1938770536

How does the practice of archaeology benefit from faunal analysis? Michael Glassow and Terry Joslin's Exploring Methods of Faunal Analysis: Insights from California Archaeology addresses this question. Contributors to this volume demonstrate how faunal remains can be used to elucidate subsistence, settlement, technological systems, economic exchange, social organization, adaptation to variability in resource distribution and abundance, and the impacts of historic land use. The sheer prevalence of faunal remains in California archaeological sites means that most archaeologists working in the state inevitably must give these resources their close attention-and yet methodological challenges remain. The chapters in this thoughtfully edited volume tackle these challenges, providing strategies for identifying and mitigating sample bias and recommending quantitative techniques borrowed from a variety of disciplines. The volume also presents examples that illustrate the use of faunal data to test hypotheses derived from microeconomic theory, the applicability of bone and shell chemistry to faunal analysis, and the relevance of faunal data to addressing issues in biology.

We Are Not Animals

We Are Not Animals
Author: Martin Rizzo-Martinez
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 576
Release: 2022-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1496230337

By examining historical records and drawing on oral histories and the work of anthropologists, archaeologists, ecologists, and psychologists, We Are Not Animals sets out to answer questions regarding who the Indigenous people in the Santa Cruz region were and how they survived through the nineteenth century. Between 1770 and 1900 the linguistically and culturally diverse Ohlone and Yokuts tribes adapted to and expressed themselves politically and culturally through three distinct colonial encounters with Spain, Mexico, and the United States. In We Are Not Animals Martin Rizzo-Martinez traces tribal, familial, and kinship networks through the missions’ chancery registry records to reveal stories of individuals and families and shows how ethnic and tribal differences and politics shaped strategies of survival within the diverse population that came to live at Mission Santa Cruz. We Are Not Animals illuminates the stories of Indigenous individuals and families to reveal how Indigenous politics informed each of their choices within a context of immense loss and violent disruption.

Prehistoric California

Prehistoric California
Author: L. Mark Raab
Publisher:
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN:

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 assault 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.