PREHISTORIC PEOPLES OF CALIFORNIA 
(MODULE 09)

	Read:	Fagan (2000:234-250).

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	A.	California—"the Land of Fruits and Nuts— a cliché, but there is some archaeological, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic 
		validity in this expression!

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	B.	Geographically and ecologically defined:
		1.	The archaeological subarea of California
			a.	Corresponds roughly with the state of California
			b.	Includes portions of
				(1)	Extreme western Arizona
				(2)	Adjacent portions of extreme northwestern Mexico (the Mexican states of: Sonora 
					and Baja California del Norte)
				(3)	Note:, within the Estados Unidos Mexicanos ("Mexican United States"—how they define 
					themselves; what you find on their coinage!) two of their states exist on the peninsula of 
					Baja California: Baja California del Sur and Baja California del Norte.

	C.	Characteristic subsistence:
		1.	Subsistence tended to be dominated by local resource availability (no surprise here):
			a.	Coastal peoples tended to extensively exploit marine and seacoast resources
				(1)	Sea mammals
				(2)	Fish
				(3)	Shellfish
				(4)	Thus tools reflected:
					(a)	Procurement:
						i)	Fishhooks
						ii)	Lances, etc.
					(b)	Media (i.e., material):
						i)	Abalone shell
						ii)	Whale bone, etc.
			b.	Interior valley peoples extensively exploited and concentrated upon wild acorns.

		2.	Acorn utilization:
			a.	Acorns are a good source of food, but are very rich in tannic acid
			b.	Thus, prior to consumption, they require a fairly sophisticated set of processes:
				(1)	Shelling
				(2)	Soaking (repeatedly bathed and cleaned to leach out the tannic acid)
				(3)	Drying
				(4)	Pounding
				(5)	Cooking
			c.	Thus, one can talk about appropriate technology for acorn exploitation:
				(1)	Pounding stones
				(2)	Nutting stones (stones with hole depressions where nuts are placed so they won't fly off 
					when hit with a pounding stone)
				(3)	Watertight baskets:
					(a)	For soaking and leaching
					(b)	For boiling (using hot stones—stone boiling)
					(c)	For storage
					(d)	(Something that the Native Californians truly excelled in—unmatched in the rest of 
						the world!)
				(4)	Grinding stones:
					(a)	Manos and metates
					(b)	Mortars and pestles

	D.	At the time of white contact:
		1.	California was a veritable ethnic and linguistic patchwork quilt of societies.
		2.	Spanish accounts speak of sizeable stable villages
		3.	Villages exhibited social stratification

	E.	We can speak of some general trends, or cultural traditions, perhaps obvious from the above:

		1.	Northwest California:
			a.	Similar in some ways to the Northwest Coast cultures:
				(1).	Maritime-riverine subsistence
				(2)	Woodworking emphasis
				(3)	Preoccupation with wealth
			b.	Languages:
				(1)	Athabaskan
				(2)	Algonquin
			c.	Exemplary culture:
				(1)	Prehistoric:
					(a)	Point St. George Site
				(2)	Ethnographic:
					(a)	Yurok
					(b)	Karok
					(c)	Wiyot
					(d)	Tolowa

		2.	Central California:
			a.	Central Valley
			b.	Many societies sharing social customs
			c.	Basketry
			d.	House form
			e.	Technical processes (i.e., acorn processing)
			f.	Fair amount of cultural sharing with peoples of the Great Basin
			g.	Languages: Penutian speakers
			h.	Exemplary culture:
				(1)	Prehistoric:
					(a)	Windmiller
				(2)	Ethnographic:
					(a)	Wintun
					(b)	Miwok
					(c)	Yokut

		3.	Southern California Coastal tradition:
			a.	Marine subsistence
			b.	Languages:
				(1)	Shoshonean
				(2)	Yuman
			c.	Exemplary culture:
				(1)	Canalino Culture (Prehistoric)
				(2)	Chumash (Ethnographic)

		4.	Southern Desert California traditions:
			a.	Shares much with the Southwest:
				(1)	Pottery
				(2)	Maize agriculture
				(3)	Sand painting

		5.	Hokan language is found scattered in pockets throughout the state and may represent vestiges of the 
			"original, original, native Californians."

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	F.	California prehistory and ethnohistory may provide an example of "optimally efficient" hunting-and-gathering 
        societies, capable of sustaining:
		1.	Dense population levels
		2.	Sedentary village life
		3.	Sophisticated "political-economic arrangements of some scale"
	G.	As we shall see later, this may provide an analogueue to:
		1.	Caldwell's "Primary Forest Efficiency" in the Eastern Woodlands
		2.	Other intensive foraging societies such as those of the Pacific Northwest Coast (discussed already)
		3.	They represent optimal examples of what it means to be:
			a.	"Archaic" in the New World
			b.	"Mesolithic" in the Old World

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	H.	Terms related to discussion of PREHISTORIC PEOPLES OF CALIFORNIA:
		1.	California: "The Land of Fruits and Nuts"—a clichè, or more to this?
		2.	California: Geographically and ecologically defined:
		3.	California: Characteristic subsistence for northwest California?
		4.	California: Characteristic subsistence for central California?
		5.	California: Acorns—the related systems of this food source
		6.	California: Prehistoric characteristic artifacts:
		7.	California: Prehistoric "external relationships"?
		8.	California: As providing example of "optimally efficient" hunting-and-gathering societies?
		9.	California: Main languages spoken?
		10.	California: Linguistic diversity as reflection of what? Your conjectures?
		11.	California: Hokan languages—significance?
		12.	California: Windmiller Culture
		13.	California: Canalino Culture
		14.	California: Ethnohistoric and ethnographic peoples as descendants of prehistoric peoples?
		15.	California: Characteristic artifact inventories?
		16.	California: Ethnographic and linguistic picture
		17.	California: Validity of treating this as a logically consistent culture area? Make a case pro or con

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