CABRILLO Shadows of the Past

RESEARCH DESIGN
(continued)

III. SPECIFIC RESEARCH HYPOTHESES FOR POINT LOMA SITES

1. The 7,000 to 12,000 years old San Dieguito Complex was a distinct Far Western Aspect of Late Paleo-Indian people and the first to occupy Southern California.

The earliest prehistoric culture to set foot on Point Loma appears to have come from the Great Basin and Lake Mohave area of the Colorado Desert between 7,000 and 12,000 years ago, based on bifacial projectile point types. Malcolm J. Rogers proposed that the earliest human culture to settle in San Diego was a Paleo-Indian group he called San Dieguito (Rogers 1929a; 1929b; 1938; 1939). More recent archaeologists refined definition of the index artifacts and migration context (Brott 1966; Warren 1966; 1967).

Paleo-Indian Big Game Hunting Theory

For many decades an image of "Ice Age" big game hunting bands dominated understanding of the earliest human occupation of the region. Malcolm J. Rogers introduced the concept that ancient hunters migrated down the western perimeter of the Continental Divide from Oregon south to Baja California (Rogers 1966:23-26). He defined the territory as the Far West and used the term "complex" to denote an admixture of two or more culture patterns for the regional settlements of those ancient hunters.

Rogers proposed that Paleo-Indian hunters spread through the Great Basin to the Mojave Desert. As each group along that migration route adapted hunting and foraging behaviors unique to an area, Rogers theorized regional phases or complexes accounted for distinctive point types he recovered in his field studies (Ibid). Rogers had considered the Lake Mohave Complex to be the most likely candidate group for the earliest migration to San Diego, as follows:

In 1938, through financial aid from the Carnegie Institution in Washington, the excavation of a fossil stream channel in the San Dieguito River valley was made possible. This work yielded a complete lithic pattern of what was postulated as the third San Dieguito phase, in a geological situation which set it chronologically above the earlier pattern (Rogers 1938; 1966:23-25).

The relationship of Lake Mohave to the San Dieguito artifacts continues to constitute a major research question. Linkages of Lake Mohave Complex artifacts to San Diego and the implications for inter-site settlement system development have not been clearly developed (Moriarty 1967; Kaldenberg 1982; Gallegos and Carrico 1984; Gallegos 1987; Gallegos 1991). Recovery of artifacts similar to desert Paleo-Indian materials is a primary research goal to resolve the reality of San Dieguito as a distinct Paleo-Indian group.

Elizabeth C. Campbell defined the Lake Mohave Culture, which Emil Haury and Malcolm J. Rogers later linked to San Dieguito (Campbell 1937; Haury 1950; Rogers 1958). Emma Lou Davis proposed that the Lake Mohave people migrated west around 10,000 years ago at the beginning of the Altithermal (Davis 1976:2).

Rather than a single exodus, most archaeologists propose that waves of migrations coincided with desiccation of biological habitats and stress situations (Smith 1968, 1975). Other distinctive populations are indicated by dart and knife point types that include the Pinto and Little Lake Series (Campbell 1936;1937:80-81; Schroth 1994:4). These series of points date to at least 9300 years ago.

Direct association of Lake Mohave points with San Dieguito artifacts in the 9030±? strata at the C.W. Harris Site (CA-SDI-149) have provided strong evidence for the linkage (Warren and True 1961:252; Warren 1967:173). The recovery of Lake Mohave or Pinto Points at other early sites in San Diego would be a major contribution toward resolution of this problem.

Another Paleo-Indian time marker from the Mohave Desert is the Silver Lake Series of points (Campbell 1937). Richard Carrico, Theodore Cooley, and Joyce Clevenger recovered a Silver Lake point from the surface of the C.W. Harris site in recent years (1990). Brian Glenn reported another Silver Lake point near the Harris Site and Dennis Gallegos recovered another at Windsong Shores (SDM-W-131) (Gallegos 1991). The Windsong Shores context for the Silver Lake point yielded a radiocarbon date of 8060±90 on marine shell.

Independent Milling Archaic Theory

Andrew Pigniolo has diverged from the discussion of Mohave Desert intrusion and questioned the validity of San Dieguito being distinct from Milling Archaic (1995). Pigniolo proposed that the leaf-shaped points reported by Rogers and others were an early local development that remained throughout the Milling Archaic. In this hypothesis, Pigniolo suggests that the Archaic lithic knappers commanded a range of technological skill that differed according to the rock types and intended functions. Pigniolo' s theory would suggest that the C.W. Harris site exists because of the proximity to a natural volcanic flow on a nearby mountain rather than a distinct cultural group.

Analysis of the Pigniolo hypothesis requires more information on the definition of San Dieguito artifacts. Both Clark Brott and Claude Warren analyzed the artifacts recovered from the C.W. Harris site (Brott 1966; Warren 1966). Rogers, Brott, and Warren identified scrapers created from large felsite (Santiago Peak Volcanics) flakes reduced along one side to leave a relatively flat surface, which has been described as plano- convex in cross-section. Relatively fine hard and soft-hammer blows detached the flakes from the convex side, rendering the impression of artistically made artifacts (Rogers 1966:179-193). The technique of creating plano-convex objects served for cores, scrapers, and hammer-core tools. Beaked tips, chisel edges, and battered pick points were clearly created on the plano-convex tools for composite functions. Spent or rejected cores and tools exhibit obtuse faces with step-flake scars. Pigniolo' s theory would suggest that these finely made plano-convex tools and leaf-shaped points only apply to felsite rocks and that cruder products were created from quartzite and other harder materials (Ibid.).

a. Data Requirements

Testing of archaeology sites on the Point Loma Peninsula should orient the data recoveries to analyze projectile point artifacts for linkage to Lake Mohave Complex Pinto and Silver Lake series types, as well as the San Dieguito styles. Attention should be given to the range of rock materials selected for those point types and flaked stone tools to test for Lake Mohave influences and the range of materials used to manufacture the artifacts.

Analysis of the artifacts should be conducted with illustrations of known San Dieguito, Lake Mohave, Pinto, and Silver Lake type objects to index correlations toward resolving this problem. Percentages of rock types selected by the prehistoric people should be quantified with special identification of potential Paleo-Indian artifacts. Radiocarbon dating and other chronometric techniques should be conducted to connect Paleo-Indian artifacts in a temporal context.

2. The Lake Mohave people arrived along the San Diego coastline occurred between 8500 and 10,000 years ago, as weather changes drove them to seek new regions.

The earliest prehistoric occupation of Point Loma coincided with the effects of the shift from the cool and moist Anathermal climate 10,000 years ago to the warm and drier Altithermal desert environment. This climate shift has been proposed as the reason for population migrations to the San Diego coastline (Davis 1976). Actual evidence of the migration correlated with paleo-climate data is rare, but Malcolm J. Rogers and William Wallace trace desiccating lake beds and shifts in vegetation zones for circumstantial evidence (Rogers 1939; Wallace 1978).

Climatic Research

Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have correlated marine shell and zoo archaeological species variations with radiocarbon dates to mark the arrival of people (Seuss 1954:467-473; Hubbs, Bien and Seuss 1960:197-223; Miller 1966:378-380; Hubbs and Miller 1970). The presence of Septifer bifurcatus, Haliotis cracherodii, Micrarionta stearnsiana and Pupila sterkiana in early shell middens substantiated the arrival of warmer climatic conditions.

However, contradictory evidence has been presented by Roy A. Sails from twenty-three archaeological sites. His evidence suggests that fish species do not reflect climatic change (Salls 1988:51). Miller's research suggests that fish were less sensitive to three to ten degrees difference in water temperature (Miller 1966). Tim Baumgartner has proposed that diatom die-off and mass extinction are more sensitive indicators of climatic change, based on investigation of shell middens in Baja California (Baumgartner 1978). Perhaps shellfish and marine mammal species are more sensitive to El Niño warming.

Milling Equipment and Coastal Resources

The introduction of milling equipment enabled mass-processing of marine protein sources, which Paleo-Indian San Dieguito hunters seem not to have exploited in such quantities (Rogers 1938; 1966; Warren, True and Eudey 1961; Warren 1968). The wide range of marine shell, fish and bird bone, and sea mammal bone reduced to shell and bone paste in milling equipment implies food storage and service to large populations (May 1980:v).

Delphina Cuero explained Ipay use of coastal resources:

"Our family went to the beach below Ensenada and to Rosarito Beach when we couldn't get to the San Diego beaches anymore. Lots of Indians went there every year also to fish and to look for abalone. The women dug clams and looked for all kinds of shell food and plants that grew near the sea while the men fished. We opened up the shells and dried the meat on the rocks in the sun.... We always caught lots of little fishes that came in at night and dried them to use in the winter.... We used to hunt for all kinds of shellfish. We would boil some to eat. We would clean, wash, and cut the rest and spread them on the rocks to dry in the sun. If we had si' (salt), we would put that on and the meat would keep better" (Shipek 1968:56-57).

The function of earthen ovens, hearths, or roasting pits may have expanded from desert agave to marine resources. The practice of lining fire pits with rocks to reflect and evenly apply heat to cooking is common in eastern deserts (Wallace and Taylor 1958; Cook and Fulmer 1980; May 1980; 1987). Replicate agave roasts have been conducted under guidance of modern Native people following traditional recipes (May 1980:57). Rock-packed hearths in marine shell middens at the Roaring Brook site in Del Mar and Loma Del Cielo in Solana Beach were similar to desert hearths, both of which cured plant and protein foods to extend storage (Davis 1976:9-21; May, Berryman, and Hatley 1976:51-65). Philip J. Wilke has described rock-lined storage cysts at Indian Hill Rockshelter that preserved dried food materials over long periods of time, but these features have yet to be reported on the San Diego coast (Wilke 1986).

The research problem concerning the effect of western intrusions of desert cultures to the San Diego coastline has not received adequate attention in recent years. The effects of milling and cooking equipment in conjunction with improved storage strategies should have led to the development of permanent base camps for year around occupation.

a. Data Requirements

Analysis of the testing of archaeology sites on the Point Loma Peninsula should consider the earliest appearance of milling equipment and hearth features for similarities to Milling Archaic artifacts and feature architecture for evidence of desert technology.

The contents of hearth features should be analyzed for the range of plant and protein categories exploited. This should be conducted by water-screening of samples of hearth contents, analysis of marine shell and bone residue from within and surrounding hearth features, and chemical analysis of soil for traces of protein.

a. Data Requirements

Analysis of hearth architecture should also involve detailed mapping of hearth pits, associated stones, and comparison of data from desert archaic roasting pits. Ethnographic accounts of roasting pits should be incorporated into this analysis to propose regional influences (Casttetter and Bell 1938; Hicks 1963; Bean and Saubel 1972; Shackley 1983; May 1987).

Evidence for cooking and long-term food preservation should be predicted in the form of finely splintered bone fragments and crushed marine shell that have been reduced by milling equipment. Analysis of coprolite specimens should focus on bone splinters, shell traces, and plant fibers in search of evidence of cooked bone paste.

Radiocarbon dating of archaeological sites with and without milling equipment should examine the earliest appearance of this equipment. Associated dart points, bifacial knives, and other time-sensitive artifacts should be analyzed for similarity to eastern Desert Archaic groups.

Intra-site complexity in association with milling equipment should be analyzed with attention to changes over time. Timing of the introduction of milling equipment on the Pacific Coast should be compared with the rise in functional complexity and outlying smaller sites. Stratigraphic correlations between milling and increased functional complexity within site structure, or the lack thereof, should address this problem.

3. The effect of a western intrusion of desert ceramic technology into the San Diego region began following A.D. 950 enabled long-term food preservation that supported semi-permanent inter-site settlement systems.

An overflow of the Lower Colorado River into the Salton Basin around A.D. 950 created a huge desert lake, which has been referred to as Lake Cahuilla, Lake Le Conte, and the Blake Sea. This body of fresh water stood for over 500 years. People who lived along the shores of the Lower Colorado River were among the first to explore and populate the new lake. These river people brought a 200-year old pottery-making technology that revolutionized long-term food storage in the California region. In a relatively short time, prehistoric people living in the Laguna Mountains learned the craft of pottery making. Long-term food storage enabled those people to establish new population centers in the inland canyon drainage systems of the Laguna Mountains.

Ceramic Food Storage and New Settlement Strategies

Migration from the Lower Colorado River to marsh habitats around Lake Cahuilla between 1000 and 400 years ago coincided with the introduction of ceramic technology in the Peninsular Mountains (Schroeder 1957:176-178; May 1976:103-107). As Lake Cahuilla desiccated between A.D. 1550 and 1600, a proliferation of archaeological sites appeared along river drainages and to the Pacific Coast. With this wave of migration, ceramic technology spread.

Distinct to Lake Cahuilla and desert regions is Lower Colorado River Buff Ware, which were made from sedimentary clays (Rogers 1936; 1945; Schroeder 1957; May 1978; Van Camp 1979; Waters 1982). Many of the distinct types have been dated to after desiccation of the lake (Arkush 1989:281-283; Laylander 1991).

Albert Schroeder proposed that Hakataya culture groups from upland areas of Arizona introduced Tizon Brown Ware technology to the California Desert (Schroeder 1957). Ronald V. May noted the presence of both Tizon Brown Ware and Lower Colorado River Buff Ware in the deepest strata at Cottonwood Creek, which has been radiocarbon dated at 960±80 years (May 1976). Malcolm J. Rogers suggested that pottery appeared after desiccation of Lake Cahuilla in A.D. 1550 (Rogers 1945). Clement Meighan proposed the Luiseño did not accept ceramic technology until A.D. 1750 (1954:221). D.L. True and Georgie Waugh tend to concur with Meighan (1983:255).

Rogers, Meighan, True, and Waugh did not have strong evidence to substantiate their hypotheses for the introduction of ceramics into San Diego County. Although James R. Moriarty used a marine shell radiocarbon date from the Spindrift site, CA-SDI-39, to suggest the appearance of Tizon Brown Ware at 1,270±250, R.E. Taylor and others have suggested the marine shell might be several hundred years too old (Hubbs, Bien and Seuss 1962:235-236; Taylor, Ennis, Payen, Prior, Slota 1986:35-48). Claude Warren has cautioned that the Spindrift site context may have been contaminated by deposition mixing and suggested A.D. 1300 as a better date (Warren 1964: 144).

The strongest evidence for ceramic introduction in San Diego County remains the Cottonwood Creek sample at 960±80 (May 1976). The context was a charcoal lens 75 cm. deep and coincident with the deepest ceramics at 75-80 cm. (May 1976; 1978:4; Linick 1977:34). Just below the 80 cm. level was a Milling Archaic component lacking ceramics but including a human burial.

Judy Berryman reported a single potsherd at Santee Greens, CA-SDI-5669, associated with charcoal dated at A.D. 730±110 (Berryman 1981:405). Rodent disturbance may account for this artifact, rather than the arrival of ceramics at this early date. Rodent disturbance probably does account for Tizon Brown Ware recovered in 3500-year-old contexts at Santa Catalina Island and Orange County (Drover 1975:101-107; 1978:78-83). Emma Lou Davis reported a charcoal radiocarbon date of A.D. 1551±100 (L.J. 1492) for Tizon Brown Ware at Rattlesnake Rockshelter (SDM-W-370) in the Jamul Dulzura area, about 2 miles inland from the coast (Davis 1976:39).

Recent research at Rancho San Diego has provided evidence for resistance to accepting ceramic technology. Joyce Clevenger (1995) has obtained radiocarbon dates from the Willow Glen site, CA-SDI-4760, that demonstrates no ceramics at a 700-year-old site.

Coincident with the appearance of ceramics in San Diego was the appearance and desiccation of Lake Cahuilla following A.D. 1450. Base camps expanded greatly, as did satellite extractive sites in marginal areas (May 1975:1-25; 1980:53-63). Ceramic containers allowed populations to preserve seeds, dried meats, and other food materials for long periods of time. The implication of long-term storage would be to extend gathering forays further from the base camp and allow for more predictable seasonal rounds.

a. Data Requirements

The test of the effect of ceramic technology in the San Diego inter-site settlement system should focus on radiocarbon dating of the earliest levels at which ceramics are recovered. The full range and quantity of vessel functions should be analyzed to determine the effect of storage on site size and complexity.

Ceramic vessels at small extractive sites should be analyzed for evidence of extended forays from base camps where ceramics are abundant. The distance from base camps to small sites with ceramics will provide evidence for the relationship between increased site function complexity and ceramics.

Charred residue on the interior of cooking vessels and the contents of cached storage vessels need palynological and blood residue analysis to analyze the range of functions of these ceramics. Evidence for long-term food storage correlated with oxygen-18/ oxygen-16 shell ratios and pollens should be analyzed to address seasonal versus year around occupation of camps after the introduction of ceramics (Weide 1969:127-141; Shackleton 1973; Drover 1974; Killingsley 1979; 1980; Killingsley and Berger 1979).

Quantification of ceramic wares need to be analyzed against radiocarbon dates to address when ceramics arrived at San Diego Bay. The appearance of Lower Colorado River Buff Ware in relation to Tizon Brown Ware should provide evidence for this arrival during the A.D. 950 to 1550 stand of Lake Cahuilla or after desiccation around A.D. 1600 (Waters 1982).

4. El Niño cycles around beginning around 1500 years ago disrupted regional subsistence strategies, dried up desert resources, and enticed prehistoric people to relocate base camps along inland rivers and drainages.

Dennis Gallegos and Carolyn Kyle have proposed that El Niño cycles beginning around 1500 years ago may have stimulated population retreat from San Diego coastal margins to inland drainages (Gallegos and Kyle 1988). James Moriarty had previously suggested that the retreat focused south toward Baja California (1980). Malcolm Rogers had proposed Yuman I and Yuman II pre-ceramic Yuman-speaking people entered California from eastern deserts in this same time period.

Nearly nothing is known of the period between 1500 years ago and the arrival of 18th century Spanish settlers at the Royal Presidio at San Diego. Native Kumeyaay base camps recorded as Rincon at Mission Bay, Cosoy at the west end of Mission Valley, and Chollas at the intersection of the Sweetwater River and San Diego Bay exhibit well-developed shell middens (Carrico 1986).

Early to Late Milling Horizon Changes

Evidence for pre-ceramic base camp system development may exist with Milling Archaic sites associated with small projectile points and no ceramics (Pigniolo 1995). Defined as shorter than 40 millimeters and narrower than 20 millimeters, these points represent replacement of dart points with bow and arrow technology (Heizer and Hester 1978).

Although the dates given for the introduction of ceramics correlates to the appearance of small projectile points between A.D. 900 and A.D. 1100, few archaeological sites have been found west of the Laguna Mountains with ceramics that have been dated (True 1970; Heizer and Hester 1978; Warren 1984). Recently, Joyce Clevenger has obtained radiocarbon dates from Willow Glen, CA-SDI-4760, for A.D. 1300 with small Cottonwood Triangle projectile points and no ceramics (Lanning 1963:252; Clevenger 1995). James T. Davis has reported Cottonwood Triangles to predate the appearance of ceramics at Rustler Rockshelter (1962). Cottonwood Triangles may be time-markers for the early development of inland base camp systems that developed following the El Niño die-off of coastal marine resources and subsequent inland retreat of populations.

Research at Agua Hedionda Lagoon may provide evidence that inland drainage settlement systems developed between 1200 and 700 years ago (Koerper, Schroth, and Langenwalter 1992:6-7). This correlates with Claude Warren's Sarasota Springs Period, during which small arrow points and ceramics of many wares spread through the Southwest deserts to Southern California, and presumably to the Pacific Coast (Rector, Swenson, and Wilke 1983; Warren 1984:429; Whitley et. al. 1988:4-8). Joan Schneider has proposed that this spread coincided with a climatic change that also coincided with economic and political pressures (1988:36).

Radiocarbon dates from sites with ceramics and Cottonwood Triangle projectile points do not appear to correspond to the El Niño effect maritime resource die-off and abandonment of coastal shell middens about 1500 years ago. The evidence thus far suggests desert cultures spread over the Peninsular Mountains establishing settlement systems patterned after strategies developed in the eastern deserts 300 years after the El Niño effect.

a. Data Requirements

The test for early development of inland drainage base camp systems prior to the arrival of ceramics would be a thorough inventory of archaeological sites that date after 1500 years ago. Investigation of the earliest levels at large inland settlements should focus on quantification of artifact groups found in strata lower than the appearance of ceramics.

Although no large Kumeyaay archaeological sites are known for Point Loma, the smaller sites with ceramics provide opportunity to develop data on the range and frequency of Kumeyaay artifacts over time. Comparison of this data with known Kumeyaay sites at Cuyamaca State Park (True 1970; Gross and Sampson 1990), Otay Rancho (Hector 1984), Kitchen Creek (May 1975), Ystagua (Eidsness et. al 1979; Carrico and Taylor 1983; Hector and Wade 1986; Rosen 1987), Rinconada del Jamo (Winterowd and Cardenas 1987), Santee Greens (Berryman 1981), Nelson Site (Dominici 1985), and Westwood (Phillips 1987) should provide definition of distinct Kumeyaay artifacts.

A significant issue is the question of independent evolution of tool technologies over the past 1500 years to adapt maritime Milling Archaic to Oak and Riparian Woodland habitat exploitation. The sudden presence of sophisticated artifacts, as opposed to gradual technological development, would suggest importation from eastern desert regions. This issue of local development versus importation should be addressed with more careful analysis of the full range of flaked and groundstone artifacts reported for shell middens in Orange County, Baja California, and the California deserts.

Exotic sources for importation of technologies should be tested by examination of lithic types. Desert materials such as petrified wood and obsidian, projectile point. shapes with side-notches and serrations, and shell ornaments produced from Gulf of California and Baja California species should be underscored as potential evidence of importation.

A particularly interesting line of research is the study of the implications of Desert Side-notched and Sonoran projectile points at sites in San Diego (True 1970; Heizer and Hester 1978; Warren 1984). Some time after the Cottonwood Triangles appear in archaeology sites in San Diego, points with notching arrived. Dating of the arrival and the implications for inter-site settlement system development have yet to be adequately addressed.

Distinctive pressure-flaked notches in the side of small triangular projectile points appear as early as 1500 years ago at the Rose Springs Site, which Claude Warren proposed to be contemporary with the appearance of Cottonwood Triangles (Warren 1984). Evidence at Rustler Rockshelter and the Oro Grande Site contradicts Warren's interpretation, suggesting that Desert Side-notched points were later (Davis 1962; Rector, Swenson, and Wilke 1983).

The association of Lower Colorado River Buff Ware with Desert Side-notched points and serrated-edged points is similar to Arizona's Hohokam Sedentary Period funerary points. This potential correlation has been proposed as evidence of Colorado Desert to Pacific Coast cultural contact, especially following desiccation of Lake Cahuilla between A.D. 1450 and 1550 (May 1974a; 1974b). Henry C. Koerper and others have more recently renamed the California serrated points as "Sonoran" (Koerper, Schroth, and Langenwalter 1991:6). Phil Wilke at the University of California at Riverside prefers the term "Dos Cabezas" for this point style. Whatever the type name, discovery of this point shape on Point Loma might date the arrival of Colorado Desert people to the coast.

Don Laylander recently quantified 1700 small projectile points from seventeen Late Milling Archaic (within the last 1000 years) (Laylander 1992). He demonstrated that the seven Tipai sites (north of the San Diego River and in the mountains) had an average of 43% Desert Side-notched points. Of the seven Ipai sites (south of the San Diego River and generally in lowland drainages), the average is 11%. There were no (0%) Desert Side-notched points at the Cupa village at Warner's Springs (White et. al. 1983). Of the seven Luiseño sites in San Diego County, the average was 9% Desert Side-notched. These artifacts definitely indicate a pattern.

Of the 33 projectile points recovered from SDI-80 at Kitchen Creek in the Laguna Mountains, 64% were Desert Side-notched (May 1974a). Although not examined by Laylander, 3 or .9% were Sonoran and had been recovered in a human cremation (May 1974b). The association of these essentially rare Sonoran points in the cremation led to the hypothesis that Colorado Desert Hakataya people from Arizona introduced religious change to Kitchen Creek around 400 radiocarbon years ago.

Although no firm date has been proposed for the introduction of Desert Side-notched points, Ipai and Kumeyaay (mountain Ipai) continued production of this style as late as the 18th century. Desert Side-notched projectile points made from Chinese export porcelain were recovered at the Royal Presidio de San Diego by Paul H. Ezell (1970). Similar Desert Side-notched points made from Canton Trade Ware were recovered at Cottonwood Creek (CA-SDI-777) (May 1971).

Research into the development of inter-site settlement systems in San Diego after 1500 years ago should focus on the appearance of index artifact classes. Radiocarbon dating and quantification of associated index artifacts in buried contexts should provide evidence for sequencing the development. Cottonwood Triangles should be anticipated for the earliest sites, presumably containing flaked and ground stone artifacts most similar to Milling Archaic. The appearance of ceramics and / or Desert Side-notched artifacts should represent a subsequent wave of desert intrusion. Dating the appearance of Lower Colorado River Buff Ware will eventually determine the value of this ware as an index to desiccation of Lake Cahuilla. Dating of the appearance of Sonoran points may also indicate desiccation of Lake Cahuilla, as well as the western spread of religious practices from Arizona and the Lower Colorado River.

5. The El Niño cycles coincided with Desert Milling Archaic seed processing technology intrusion to Peninsular Mountain drainages and increases in settlement system complexity.

Intense debate over the issue of Milling Archaic versus Paleo-Indian as the earliest human cultures to have occupied San Diego has focused on flaked stone technology, but little has been done with the ground stone artifacts (Rogers 1929; 1938; Warren 1966). Proponents of the Paleo-Indian Hypothesis argue that milling equipment followed hunting and gathering groups (Rogers 1939; 1940; Warren and True 1961; Warren 1964; Moriarty 1966; Davis 1969; Chartkoff and Chartkoff 1984; Moratto 1984). However, recent recovery of mano or hand-grinding stones in association with San Dieguito bifacial artifacts at the Harris Site seems to support the Milling Archaic as synonymous with Paleo-Indian (Carrico et. al. 1990).

Portable Milling Equipment

The introduction of portable milling equipment is the index tool assemblage for Milling Archaic. Application of small manos to larger slabs of granite or sandstone enabled grinding of vegetal, marine shell, and bone resources. The origin of this technology is generally attributed to the Great Basin and eastern deserts (Rogers 1929; Warren 1964; Wallace 1955; 1962).

Milling equipment has been associated with California archaeological sites for at least 8500 years (Greenwood 1972:95). Other sites typically yield flat or trough metate slabs and small natural beach or river cobble hand-grinder manos. There has been no thorough analysis of Milling Archaic grinding equipment to attempt to identify the earliest milling equipment or to correlate those artifacts with earlier styles found in the California deserts (Rogers 1929; 1938; Warren, True, and Eudey 1961; Shumway, Hubbs, and Moriarty 1961).

Emma Lou Davis proposed that the La Jollan settlements were created by large concentrations of Archaic people along the California coastline between January and March, when marine shellfish are the safest from poisonous red tide. Large-scale clambakes and drying of shell meats resulted in preserved foods that could be stored for many months. Davis believed that the crude stone tools reflected the transient nature of these shellfish gathering expeditions, which may have only taken place for a few days at any one visit. However, sufficient quantities of finely flaked artifacts recovered at the Roaring Brook Site, SDM-W-20, near Del Mar, showed that the La Jollans produced polyhedral core tools when needed (Davis 1976:8-9). Comparison of those tools indicated clear derivation from San Dieguito technology (Davis 1976:36). Davis also observed chemical weathering or oxidation, suggesting that the earliest occupation might have been contemporary with the Paleo-Indian San Dieguito. These Roaring Brook flaked stone artifacts were directly associated with a milling stone recovered ten feet below the surface.

Malcolm J. Rogers reported that portable milling slabs (metates) were primarily indurated sandstone at the coastal shell middens. The ground surface generally formed an oval basin, rather than the trough basins reported for Desert Archaic. The sandstone could be mined from ancient marine shale deposits around coastal bluffs.

In addition to the portable milling slabs, rounded sandstone boulders were modified for mortar and pestle pulverizing. Claude Warren proposed that mortars were introduced 5000 years ago, when the Campbell Tradition migrated west from the deserts (Warren 1964; 1968). D.L. True and Georgie Waugh have proposed that the mortar had a basket hopper glued to the mouth of the mortar to increase the flour yield (1981:107).

Bedrock Milling Stations, Elko Series Points and the Campbell Tradition

At an undefined time following 5000 years ago, Milling Archaic people shifted from portable mortars to employ natural bedrock outcrops along river drainages (True 1958; 1980; 1981). Research by D.L. True and others have demonstrated differences in depths of mortars and combinations with oval basins and slickened surfaces to represent grinding of oak acorns, seeds, and partially roasted mammals (Barrows 1900; Sparkman 1908; Michelson 1967; Bean 1972; McCarthy et. al. 1985; Waugh 1986; True et. al. 1991). Traces of ground materials, pollens, and vegetal stain have been noted on the surfaces of milling equipment that may reveal products of these endeavors.

At about the same time as the arrival of the Campbell Tradition and the mortar and pestle, Elko Series dart points and renewed interest in game hunting coincided. D. Sean Cardenas reported finding Elko points at Avocado Highlands in a strata that showed no hiatus into the Late Milling (Cardenas and Van Wormer 1984:168; Cardenas 1986). Emma Lou Davis reported a flexed burial with Elko points that dated at 1350±100 B.C. (UCLA-1498A) at Rattlesnake Rockshelter (SDM-W-370), which led to the hypothesis that:

La Jollan bands as having a seasonal round composed of several adaptations. They were fishers and shell gatherers when camped near the sea; hunters and collectors on inland ranges during late Spring, summer and fall. In late autumn they also used pine nuts (the trees should have flourished during a moister climate of 3,000 to 6,000 years ago) and while in this phase of their seasonal round, these La Jollan People probably snared rabbits and quail in the thickets along coastal bluffs (Davis 1976:39).

Bone Gorges, Fish Hooks, and Marine Mammals

Although lacking radiocarbon evidence, the association of a flexed burial with portable milling equipment and an Elko Series dart point below the ceramic-bearing level at Cottonwood Creek (CA-SDI-777) probably correlates with Rattlesnake Rockshelter (May 1974). Also present at Cottonwood Creek were bi-pointed bone gorges (Gifford 1940; Hoover 1973; May: Personal Communication), which were used for marine fishing. Both Rattlesnake Rockshelter and Cottonwood Creek are located more than ten miles inland from the San Diego Bay.

Similar bone gorges were reported by Dennis Gallegos and Carolyn Kyle at Ballast Point (CA-SDI-48) on Point Loma (Gallegos and Kyle 1988:7-4). The Ballast Point fishing gorges were recovered at Locus B, which radiocarbon dated between 1300 and 2500 years ago. Another gorge at Ballast Point was associated with charcoal dated at 5500 years ago.

Gallegos and Kyle also reported extensive marine mammal exploitation at Ballast Point, which appears to have been abandoned by 1500 years ago (Ibid.). Coincident with a significant El Niño episode, Gallegos and Kyle propose massive die-off of traditional marine resources (Gallegos and Kyle 1988:12-32). Based on a radiocarbon dated flexed human burial at the historic Kumeyaay rancheria of Ystagua (CA-SDI 4609) of 1500 years ago, Gallegos and Kyle theorize that the El Niño was the time index for the demise of the Milling Archaic and the beginning of the Late Milling Archaic.

Demise of Large Coastal Shell Middens and Inland Settlement

Rattlesnake Rockshelter, Avocado Highlands, Cottonwood Creek, and Ystagua provide evidence for technological change with no hiatus between early and late milling archaic. In each site, ceramic artifacts appear with increasing abundance in the top meter of the deposit. Charcoal from the lowest level associated with ceramics at Cottonwood Creek dated at 960±80 years ago (May 1976). Charcoal associated with ceramics at Ystagua dated at 730±70 (Carrico and Taylor 1983:145). Given that Ystagua had a basal date of 1200 years ago, these data suggest that the demise of coastal Milling Archaic shell middens coincided with the rise of inland settlement systems and the technological shift to the use of the bow and arrow, ceramics, and minimal marine exploitation.

Gallegos and Kyle reported a radiocarbon date from a fire hearth at Ballast Point that measured 680±50 years (Gallegos & Kyle 1988:11-10). The shift from coastal to inland drainage systems coincided with site function complexity (May 1974). Investigation of Late Milling Archaic sites on the Point Loma Peninsula should reveal technological changes coincident with these changes.

a. Data Requirements

The research problem concerning the source of Milling Archaic in San Diego requires reanalysis of the flaked stone artifacts made from coarser Santiago Peak Volcanics, quartz, and quartzite artifacts. Both San Dieguito and La Jollan Complex contexts should be subject to this analysis to test the Pigniolo Hypothesis that the Milling Archaic was Paleo-Indian with a coastal adaptation.

Milling slabs, mano shapes, and micro-analysis of wear patterns on artifacts recovered at Campbell Tradition and other Desert Archaic sites should be compared to the earliest parallel equipment at coastal sites. Attention to the number of sides utilized on manos, shape of metate / milling slab basins, and other attributes should be quantified to resolve the issue of independent invention or technological intrusion.

A cumulative data analysis of all the known sites in San Diego County to contain Elko Series and / or Campbell Tradition dart points, bifaces, or related artifacts needs to be conducted to pin-point the arrival of these cultural elements. Focus should be given on the arrival of these points with the El Niño cycles. Better information should be gleaned from research through the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the Centro de Investigacíon Científica y Educacíon Superior de Ensenada (Organisimo Publico Decentralizado, Avenido Espinoza, No. 843, APDO. Postal 2732, Ensenada, Baja California) to characterize the water, air, temperature and associated biological changes that accompany the El Niño.

All sites found to contain mortar, pestle, and bedrock milling equipment within the past 1500 years need to be identified. The associated pollens, macro-plant remains, and faunal residue should be analyzed to identify genus and species. In addition, attempts should be made to recover diatoms in coastal shell middens. Diatoms were captured on fish gills and scattered in the middens after decomposition. Diatom populations are highly sensitive to El Niño water temperature fluctuations and should be useful in improving characterization of changes in marine exploitation. Correlation of radiocarbon dating with the precise time of change between human flexed burial and cremation practices, change from dart points to bow and arrow, and appearance of ceramics will be of substantial importance in testing the relationship between El Niño weather cycles and the intrusion of desert Milling Archaic and Late Milling Archaic groups.

Reexamination of the bone gorges from CA-SDI-48 at Ballast Point and CA-SDI-777 at Cottonwood Creek should be conducted to test the artifacts as index-markers for development of seasonal land use systems beginning with the El Niño cycles. Search of collections at the San Diego Museum of Man, San Diego State University, and elsewhere should focus on quantifying the appearance of bone gorges.

Analysis of marine mammal and marine shell in coastal middens should examine the issue of continual versus over-exploitation of marine resources. If the latter, then stratified layers should reveal Bell Curve ratios of species harvesting with ever diminishing marine shell sizes and mammal bone quantities. Both shell and bone should be analyzed for evidence of pulverizing to create protein paste for broth or stew consumption.

The El Niño Die-off Hypothesis should be tested by further examination of coastal marine shell middens for more evidence of terminal occupation 1500 years ago. Either hiati in cultural deposition with Late Milling Archaic superimposed or continual occupation should be hypothesized. Comparison of El Niño periods with the basal dates for coastal and inland shell middens should be quantified.

Reexamination of the flaked and ground stone artifacts from Rattlesnake Rockshelter, Avocado Highlands, Cottonwood Creek, and Ystagua should be compared with artifacts recovered from post-1000 A.D. sites on Point Loma. These data should reveal changes from various desert Milling Archaic to Late Milling Archaic technologies.

6. The El Niño weather cycle-impacted marine habitats and stimulated Coastal Milling Archaic populations to retreat to inland drainages and adapt bedrock milling station technology, and later ceramic food storage technology and bow/arrow hunting strategies.

Recent episodes of El Niño weather have drastically killed-off marine shellfish populations to the point of eliminating certain coastal areas as dependable food sources. The effect has driven marine mammals ashore in droves and resulted in high mortality among young seals, sea lions, and sea elephants. In the past, these types of effects could have had substantial influence on human population movement.

Theoretical Mechanisms of Cultural Change

Archaeologists working on chronology and technological change have not adequately addressed the anthropological mechanisms that accommodated cultural change over time in California. While the correlation between El Niño cycles, material culture change, and relocation of settlement systems has been demonstrated, the rationale for human behavior needs more attention.

Thomas Kuhn submitted that human willingness to accept paradigm shifts corresponds to breakdowns in faith and other cultural institutions (Kuhn 1970). James Deetz tested cultural change by analyzing ceramics from the Medicine Crow site in south Dakota, which had been occupied during a period of political stress between Native Arikara and European colonists (Deetz 1965:2-9). Over time, the Arikara lost faith in traditional institutions and expressed behavioral change through their ceramics and residence arrangements. Political and economic change in 18th century Europe, in fact, has been demonstrated to be reflected in the decision-making patterns of ceramic selection and consumption in New Spain (May 1972; 1975). In essence, when the gods fail to deliver stability and prosperity, people move on and seek other answers.

There has been no archaeological investigation of the potential collapse of political and religious institutions coincident with El Niño impact of coastal marine habitats on Point Loma. James R. Moriarty studied regional change as a chronological episode (Moriarty 1966:24). Claude Warren proposed sudden technological enlightenment with no explanation of why change occurred (1964; 1968). D.L. True and Charles S. Bull sidestepped behavioral mechanisms and proposed waves of linguistic groups replacing earlier populations (True 1966; 1970; 1974; Bull 1977; 1983; 1987). D. Sean Cardenas avoided the issue with a hypothesis of gradual change (1986).

Yet, many archaeologists have noted relative abandonment of coastal marine environments between 3300 and 1800 years ago (Warren and Pavesic 1963:435; Breschini et. al. 1986:77; Gallegos 1987:25; Laylander 1989:146). The anthropological aspect of technological and locational change must have been profound.

Political boundaries have been correlated to trade arrangements for commodities not obtainable locally. The arrival of obsidian for flaked stone artifact production, primarily projectile points, has been examined for trade and political exchange between the Mohave Desert and Baja California (Banks 1971; Douglas 1981; Winterowd and Cardenas 1987; Dominici 1984; 1985; Hughes and True 1985; Pigniolo and Gallegos 1990).

Although the southern Channel Islands and San Clemente Island are generally not considered culturally linked to the San Diego Region, trade for steatite and other resources may have affected cultural change.

1. Religious Change.

a. Chinigchinix and Catholicism. Anthropologists have noted that just prior to the arrival of Spanish colonists in San Diego in 1769, a new religion translated as Chinigchinix had been spreading from the north in Luiseño territory to the south in Diegueno / Kumeyaay territory (Dubois 1908:69-186; Kroeber 1925:621-622). People willing to covert to the messianic cult were allowed to superimpose new beliefs over older religion and mythology (Moriarty 1969:56). The arrival of Spanish soldiers and Catholic priests marked the end of Chinigchinix, but also provided documentation of the process of religious change in the region. The question remains as to why Chinigchinix or Catholicism would be attractive or acceptable to any Luiseño or Kumeyaay.

Archaeological correlates to Chinigchinix remain vague. Small mortar and pestle artifacts may have been part of the toloache ritual, as were dance wands with bifacial points attached to the tips (Polk 1972:Fig. 6). Examination of ethnographic collections at the San Diego Museum of Man, Southwest Museum, Los Angeles County Museum, Malki Museum, and other sources should focus on this question. Once a list of artifacts associated with this religious have been complied, a sublist of objects likely to have survived in prehistoric contexts needs to be prepared. Recovery of any of these artifacts on Point Loma should be reported to advance this research issue.

b. Hohokam Funerary Practices. Further back in time, archaeological artifacts and features provide potential clues to political and religious change. The presence of Sonoran projectile points in an unusual human cremation exposed at Kitchen Creek, CA-SDI-80, may be evidence of Hohokam Sedentary Period funerary practices in the Laguna Mountains (May 1974). The cremated human remains had not been retrieved and re located in a ceramic urn, as evidenced by articulated knee joint and facial bones among charred vegetation snuffed out prior to complete incineration.

This cremation feature departed from the traditional feature reported at Cottonwood Creek, CA-SDI-777, just two miles north (Ibid.). Sonoran points, therefore, could correlate to religious change and realignment of political alliances to the east. Radiocarbon dating of strata with Sonoran projectile points and more definition of the associated contexts should be accumulated to test the proposition that Hohokam religious practices spread west during the Sedentary Period by Hakataya neighbors. The discovery of Sonoran projectile points, human cremations, and exotic Hohokam Hakataya ornaments could address this issue of religious change and realignment of political boundaries.

c. Cremation Funerary Practices. The change from flexed burials, such as those found at Rattlesnake Rockshelter and Cottonwood Creek, to cremation burials was certainly a substantial departure in religious practices. Radiocarbon Dating of the earliest cremations and the latest flexed burials would pinpoint that change. Correlation of this change to ecological changes would be a significant contribution to both chronology research and the mechanisms of culture change.

Cremation practices are associated with the presence of ceramics. The strata at Cottonwood Creek yielded one human cremation and the lower strata without ceramics yielded a flexed burial (May 1974). The Cottonwood Creek cremation bones had been collected for secondary burial in a Tizon Brown Ware bowl, which was buried in the cremation pit inside a house floor. The hypothesis of a desert Hakataya migration from the California desert to the Laguna Mountains 1,000 years ago implies ceramics coincided with religious rites involving cremation of the dead.

The earlier religious practice appears to have continued through the Milling Archaic to about the arrival of the Hakataya. In addition to the flexed burials reported for Rattlesnake Rockshelter and Cottonwood Creek, Jean Salpas Keller and Daniel F. McCarthy reported finding a flexed burial in Luiseño territory in Riverside County (CA-Riv-1139) in a site that dated no earlier than 1075±80 (UCR-2041) in association with Tizon Brown Ware ceramics (Personal Communication 1989).

More data on this critical time period will be needed to understand this change in religious practices in the region west of the California Desert. Datable changes from flexed inhumation burials to the earliest appearance of cremations on the Point Loma Peninsula would advance knowledge of when this change took place. This issue needs cumulative data for resolution.

2. Political Change.

a. Trade Arrangements. Evidence for political realignments should correlate to the presence of exotic rock, mineral, and other items in archaeological strata. Materials such as obsidian, cryptocrystalline silica, petrified wood, Mexican shell, ironwood, steatite, and bones of non-local species should correlate to commodities obtained by expanded trade and political alliance arrangements. Radiocarbon dating of the appearance of each class of exotic material on the Point Loma Peninsula should be examined for correlation to ecological stress or other significant effects in the vicinity of the material source.

b. Exotic Ceramic Indicators. Ceramic objects recovered on Point Loma should be examined for political connections to other regions. Lower Colorado River Buff Ware types known from Mohave, Quechan, and prehistoric Hakataya contexts probably would not have been traded because more readily available Tizon Brown Ware ceramic vessels could be obtained in local settlements. Political and marital connections should be examined through the presence of exotic ceramics.

c. Channel Islands. Political ties between Point Loma people and the Channel Islands groups should be examined through analysis of steatite, shell fish hook, shell ornament, carved stone, and other objects known to have been produced by prehistoric Chumash and Gabrieleno people. Similarities between small artifacts and specialized seafood processing residue should be examined against features, artifact clusters, and small sites on Point Loma. Hypotheses should be listed for primary sea mammal butchering, strategies for meat drying rack placement, and differentiation between fish / shellfish and mammal processing areas, based on work on the Islands.

a. Data Requirements

Emphasis on radiometric and other dating techniques correlated with the appearance of bedrock milling, ceramic objects, small projectile points, and exotic stone flaking materials should be a high priority. Cumulative dates that substantiate the appearance these objects and features should be analyzed for their relationship to the El Niño cycles.

Reexamination of the artifact data sets known to represent political exchange and religious change would be a good approach to researching anthropological mechanisms of behavior change. These data sets should then be reviewed for material correlates to times of known ecological and political stress.

Political and religious correlates to prehistoric change can be tested by reexamination of the range of objects and features associated with distant religious activities in the Arizona deserts, Baja California, and Channel Islands. Careful review of published artifact lists known to be associated with Hohokam, Sinagua, and Hakataya religion and burial practices should be examined against lists of artifacts recovered from cremations, burials, and other religious features radiocarbon-dated in San Diego and Imperial Counties in California. Change in the presence of exotic ceramics, stone, minerals, and religious objects should be analyzed for shifts in regional sources as evidence of changing political control of trade.

Careful reexamination of artifacts and religious features radiocarbon dated to the centuries prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1769 should seek evidence for cultural willingness to change to Chinigchinix. Environmental instability, evidence of warfare, disintegration of trade systems, and intrusions of new cultures should be examined for correlation to the rise of this new religion. Artifacts linked to Chinigchinix and Catholicism should be carefully examined in archaeological contexts dated by the appearance of historic artifacts.

7. Marine organism response to El Niño cycles correlates to quantities of species change in shell middens, as well as archaeological correlation to change in settlement strategies.

El Niño sea temperature changes impacted the entire food chain, including massive die off of marine shell organisms. Shell midden analysis for evidence of climatic change has been the subject of oceanographic research for nearly fifty years. While archaeologists concerned themselves with analyzing human response to marine resource changes, marine scientists used marine shell for examining subtle temperature changes over time (Hubbs 1958; 1959; 1961; 1964; 1965; Shor 1980).

Evidence for Climatic Change

Evidence for climatic change in the form of marine species fluctuations and chemical properties in marine shell were the focus for researchers at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. The absence of large cool water mollusks such as Cryptochiton stelleri, has been presented as evidence for sea temperature warming over the past 8,000 years. Land snails found in older middens, such as Micrarionta stearnsiana and Pupilla sterkiana indicate a moister climate than is indicated by their absence in later middens.

Perhaps the most promising and equally underutilized line of research has been to isolate diatoms from marine shell middens. Tim Baumgartner and oceanographers from Mexico have sampled shell middens to retrieve diatoms sensitive to as little as 1 degree of sea temperature change. The diatoms were caught on fish gills, which had been transported to the shell middens by prehistoric people. To date, no archaeological report has studied diatoms.

Carl Hubb's protege, Jacqueline Miller, pursued Hubb's research on marine shell middens to document moisture regimes and sedimentation periods in coastal lagoons (1966). This research has not been pursued since the mid 1960s. Patricia Masters revived interest in marine shoreline reconstruction based on the rise of sea levels as a direct result of glacial melt (1988:4-14). Shell midden analysis at CA-SDI-48 has demonstrated occupation about 8,000 years ago when wetter and cooler coastal climates began to warm (Gallegos and Kyle 1988:4-21).

Masters' efforts to revive research on coastal reconstruction led to Inman's landmark paper correlating increased rainfall and river flooding with El Niño cycles of sea water temperature warming (Inman et. al. 1986:50-52). The El Niño cycle coincided with marine habitat destruction and massive shellfish die-off.

Detailed analysis of shell midden strata at the time of this event has not been adequately presented.

a. Data Requirements

The strategy for recovery and analysis of marine shell middens should include preparation of samples for technical analysis of shell, diatoms, plant phytoliths, and oxygen-18 / oxygen-16 ratio of calcium carbonate to address the effects of El Niño episodes on coastal habitats. This work should be in consultation with an oceanographer who can arrange the data in a meaningful presentation to contribute to the understanding of ecological response to changes in climate.

More intensive review of the status of reconstruction of ecological change in response to El Niño cycles should be conducted. Data from diatom studies in Baja California should be correlated with speciation studies of marine shell, fish bone, and plant remains. Quantification of these data should be analyzed for patterns of prehistoric food selection and over-exploitation during peak El Niño periods.

Correlation of radiocarbon dates with 0-18 / 0-16 ratio of shell carbonate should be examined to test for seasonal shell harvesting and response to changing ocean temperatures. Roy Sall's hypothesis that fish populations did not respond to seawater temperature rise should be tested against this other data.

Additionally, pollen, phytolith, and macro-plant remains should be studied for Marsh Wetland and Diegan Coastal Sage Scrub habitat response to El Niño cycles. The data from Santa Barbara indicating cooler and wetter climates with coniferous vegetation should be compared against the results of similar studies at Point Loma archaeological sites. This data should be used to resolve historical questions regarding the presence or absence of Southern Oak Woodland and other forest habitats reported by early Spanish explorers, but absent by the 19th century.

8. Late Paleo-Indian and Milling Archaic sites reflect either (a) distinct cultural horizon site structure or (b) variation of knapping techniques according to material selection in the same time frame.

Andrew Pigniolo has challenged the traditional body of literature concerning Paleo-Indian and Milling Archaic techno-chronological distinctions. Pigniolo has proposed that Early Period people adapted knapping techniques to stone properties over the past 9,000 years (1995). This hypothesis proposes that Paleo-Indian and Milling Archaic are the same people with specialized tool kits.

Claude Warren disputed the Pigniolo Hypothesis with data from stratified deposits at the C.W. Harris Site (CA-SDI-149). This site had deeper deposits which contained classic San Dieguito tools and upper strata that contained the cruder La Jollan or Encinitas Tradition tools (1966; 1968). Pigniolo has recommended reanalysis of the common cores, platform scrapers, and other artifacts made from quartzite and porphrytic metavolcanic lithics from both deposits.

Through a Scripps Research Grant to the San Diego State University Foundation, Tim Gross has reexamined artifacts recovered by Paul H. Ezell in 1964 from the C.W. Harris Site (Personal Communication 1995). Gross tends to concur with Warren, though he still needs to quantify quartzite artifacts from both the lower and upper strata. Pigniolo believes this data would resolve the problem.

a. Data Requirements

Prior to technical analysis of lithic recoveries from marine shell middens on Point Loma, familiarization with the San Dieguito Type Collections at the San Diego Museum of Man (Malcolm J. Rogers' collections) and San Diego State University should be conducted. Comparison of flaked stone artifacts from the Point Loma sites should include quantification by lithic material with emphasis on Felsite/Santiago Peak Volcanics versus quartzite to address this problem (Rogers 1929; 1938; Brott 1966; Warren 1966).

Classic cortex-based choppers and simple flake tools should be analyzed against published Milling Archaic specimens, but removed from this test of the Pigniolo Hypothesis (Rogers 1929; Kaldenberg 1972; Davis 1976; Gallegos 1987). Linkage to the desert Campbell Tradition should be addressed against bifacial points and milling equipment (Campbell 1937; Wallace 1952; 1962; Wilke 1986). Pinto and Silverlake Complex assemblages of core tools should also be included in this analysis.

This analysis of tool variation by material should also address intra-site patterns associated with butchering of marine mammals, fish species, and shellfish. Associations of tool types by lithic material at specialized areas such as primary butchering, drying areas, and roasting pits should be identified with regard to Pigniolo's hypothesis that the rock types were selected and fashioned for specific functions.

A matrix should be prepared in advance of test excavation to quantify Santiago Peak Volcanics felsite from porphrytic volcanic, quartzite, quartz, obsidian, petrified wood, and crypto-crystalline flaked stone artifact associations in sub areas defined by feature and food residue clustering. Significant quantities of lithic materials and artifact types with functional features and food processing residue could provide data relevant to test the Pigniolo Hypothesis.

9. Distinctive artifacts and feature distribution patterns reflect distinct Base Camp Campsite inter-site behavioral activities.

Aside from the dimension of big or little, there is no clear definition or explanation for Base Camp versus Campsite classifications in survey archaeology. Archaeologists have noted single feature shell piles, hearth or fire-cracked rock features, bedrock or portable milling areas, and small areas of flaked stone which have been called camps (Binford 1980; Robbins-Wade 1992). When more than one feature is found in association with different features, archaeologists attempt to create models from ethnographic research to explain different behaviors (True 1970; May 1975:1-25).

Ethnographic Models

Lacking living people to interview for data to attribute behaviors to sites described in physical dimensions, archaeologists working on sites older than 100 years rely on ethnographic models. Given that both Shoshonean-speaking Luiseño live north of the San Dieguito River and Yuman-speaking people live south, several ethnographic models have been used by archaeologists to interpret large and small sites around San Diego (Sparkman 1908; Spier 1923; Bean 1972; Shipek 1982; True and Waugh 1982; Quintero 1987). The historic term for a residential area has been rancheria in Spanish and Mexican documents.

1. Luiseño Model.

North of the San Dieguito River of San Diego County, Shoshonean-speaking Luiseño people occupied the land between the coast and eastern deserts. The San Luis Rey River has been defined as the heartland of Luiseño settlements (Sparkman 1908). Luiseño traditionally practiced a bi-polar system in which major seasonal camps were shifted between seasons from the river to Mount Palomar. Shifts were done by individual families and slowly over time, thus creating a range of small and large sites at both locations.

Lowell John Bean has interviewed Shoshonean-speaking Cahuilla people who live to the north of the Luiseño, but often inter-married with Luiseño families (1972). Bean has indicated that Cahuilla peoples occupied permanent settlements all year long based on kinship.

D.L. True and Georgie Waugh have tested sites along the San Luis Rey River and have proposed an early San Luis Rey I period of small non-permanent camps that changed to San Luis Rey II permanent Summer-upland and Winter-lowland settlements (1981; 1982). Leslie Quintero has tested this model with faunal food residue data and proposed coastal occupation from fall-spring and inland occupation from spring-fall (1987).

2. Kumeyaay Model.

Leslie Spier interviewed Yuman-speaking Diegueno (Catholic term for Ipay-speaking Kumeyaay) people who occupied upland areas along the San Diego River (1923:187-234). Spier portrayed constant shifting of settlements with seasonal changes, suggesting a process of relocation and fusion at traditional locations instead of permanent encampments.

D.L. True proposed a bi-polar model with upland and lowland base camps (1970; True et. al. 1974; 1991). Ronald V. May analyzed ethnographic use of plants and geological resources and suggested that Kumeyaay settlements followed strategies based on ecological zone contact along major drainages and seasonal changes (May 1975). May proposed semi-permanent base camps that served smaller outlying sites like a hub of a wheel with spokes to the satellites.

Florence Shipek interviewed Kumeyaay people in the late 1940s through the 1960s. Shipek proposed that Kumeyaay communities were distributed between permanent central villages and outlying homesteads (1982). Don Laylander and Lynne Christenson disagree with Shipek, suggesting a more flexible system of non-permanent settlements (Christenson 1989; Laylander 1992).

Neither the Luiseño Model nor the Kumeyaay Model has been tested against Milling Archaic sites (Davis 1976). This is certainly true for the Point Loma Peninsula. Generally, all buried sites with organically-stained soil mixed with marine shell, food bone residue, fire-cracked rocks, and flaked and ground stone artifacts have been referred to as middens. Lynne Christenson has proposed that middens are a key qualifier for habitation and 5,000 m² as the threshold for major and minor camps (1990; 1992). These terms do not have ethnographic correlates, as even a single household could have been a rancheria.

Christenson has also proposed that ceremonial elements and food storage features are key qualifiers for Major sites, but she offers no archaeological correlate (1990; 1992). Mary Robbins-Wade has further proposed that the presence of exotic materials are another qualifier (1990; 121). David Hurst Thomas, however, has cautioned that inadequate sample size could account for not finding exotic materials or ceremonial elements in sites of any size (1989).

As explained earlier, May proposed that Kumeyaay settlement strategies were based on preconceived understanding of maximum biological habitat interface in major drainages (1974). Using data from the Impink Project in Jamul, Janet Eidsness and others characterized small sites as way stations or subsidiary to base camps (Eidsness et. al. 1979). Steven Shackley correlated Kumeyaay lineage ownership of resources in drainages and outlying subsidiary camps, which maximized resource exploitation (May 1975; Shackley 1978). Shackley cited other researchers to substantiate functional relationships between big and little sites (Spier 1923:306; True 1975:55).

The main villages were the residences of the lineage head (Kwaipai) and the elders, who required assistance from a larger body of people than could be found at the small subsidiary camps. The villages themselves were usually in the most favorable localities, stream confluence areas better protected from the elements, or those with the largest amount of reliable subsistence products, etc. Because of these favorable locations, older generation and less mobile members would usually remain at the villages throughout the year (Shackley 1986: 1).

Shackley concurred with Christenson regarding ceremonial use as a criterion for villages (base camps) in analyzing the ethnographic site of Jamacha in Jamul:

These topographic conditions would lend themselves well to the construction of ceremonial structures, dance houses and the space required for the various initiation and mourning ceremonies held at the central village (Shackley 1986:2).

a. Data Requirements

Analysis of the evidence for Kumeyaay Model Permanent base versus Luiseño Model Bi-polar campsite definition will require regional cumulative data that cannot be obtained on Point Loma alone. The data required to contribute to this problem needs to be organized by chronology and site complexity.

The Point Loma sites need to be established with radiocarbon dates. These sites should be plotted on a map of Pat Masters' reconstruction of the paleo-landform as is believed to have existed at that time. Based on location, the early sites should be analyzed against the Luiseño and Kumeyaay Models for potential functional role.

The analysis of site content at each site should be analyzed against the key qualifiers proposed by previous archaeologists for base/village versus campsite:

1. Religious Qualifier: human interment; rock art; engraved or decorated sandstone or steatite; painted rock or ceramic; effigy carvings or clay images; bone whistles; clay rattles; clay smoking pipes; carved bone beads; hematite or graphite lumps; exotic trade beads; alignments of rocks; cog-or discoidal stones.

2. Exotic Qualifier: marine shell from Baja California; turquoise from Arizona; obsidian from Casa Diablo, Coso Hot Springs, obsidian Butte, San Felipe, Arroyo Matomi; fused shale from Ventura County; cryptocrystalline rock from Otay/San Miguel and Fairbanks Ranch jasper and petrified wood from Oceanside/Rancho Santa Fe foothills; cryptocrystalline from eastern deserts; Lower Colorado River Buff Ware from eastern deserts; steatite from the Channel Islands, Mount Laguna, and Jacumba; projectile points other than Cottonwood Triangle, Desert Side-notched, and leaf-shaped; mica sheet and carved calcite; carved portable mortar and/ or pestle; shell beads other than spire-lopped Olivella biplicata; ceramic wares from Arizona and Sonora.

3. Food Storage Qualifier: acorn Granary Rings; stone-lined cysts; buried ceramic jars; high concentrations of grease in pits; pockets of salt; remains of organic storage containers such as charred basketry or skin bags.

To test Lynne Christenson's model, midden sites greater or smaller than 5,000 m² should be noted and the features, religious correlates, and other indices identified. This should also be conducted for surface sites, as they may have been stripped of midden by erosion.

Test of Claude Warren and others' proposal for settlement system development following deterioration of estuaries around 1500 years ago should be conducted by description of site contents at differing chronological times. The presence of smaller sites with lesser internal features after 1500 years ago should correlate with the rise in non estuarine resources, such as marine mammals, fish, land mammals, and vegetal foods.

Data recovery from big and little sites on Point Loma should be designed to recover evidence of the Luiseño Bi-polar versus Kumeyaay Permanent Models. Lesley Quitero's approach to seasonality in food materials is a good approach. Samples of marine shell species and oxygen isotopes, food bone, pollen, phytoliths, and diatoms should be quantified to test seasonal versus year-around occupation of the sites.

10. Point Loma archaeological site contain data that can address the seasons of occupation of the sites.

Claude Warren and others have proposed a seasonal strategy for early hunter and gatherers in San Diego (Warren et. al. 1961; D.L. True 1970; Shackley 1986). Emma Lou Davis proposed that coastal shell middens primarily contain marine shellfish collected during early spring months (Davis 1976:8). J. S. Killingsley used midden shell carbonate oxygen isotope compositions to substantiate that Punta Minitas archaeology was formed during warm periods between April and September (1980:19-22).

Seasonality Studies

Seasonality studies in Los Angeles and Orange Counties during the 1970s demonstrated promise for analyzing growth rates of Chione undatella or Venus calms, based on a pioneer work in Baja California (Barker 1970; Drover 1974; Carter 1978; Koerper 1980). Christopher Drover tested the Barker Model at CA-ORA-119A and Christina Carter repeated the test with shell from CA-LAN-702, both of which demonstrated fall and winter collection. Michael E. Macko modified this system to test for other seasons, based on research in New Zealand (Coutts and Higham 1971; Macko 1983).

Edward Lyons created the Lyons Model on the assumption that growth is continuous with growth rings forming after May 1 of each year (1978). Lyons divided growth rings into four seasons. When applied to clams from CA-ORA-82, Lyons found statistically significant data from the January to April season (Lyons 1984). Clifford Taylor developed a modification of Lyons Model to analyze shell from CA-SDI-4281 (Taylor 1980).

Both the Barker and Lyons Models were soundly critiqued by Henry C. Koerper (1980; 1984). Koerper argued that winter storms and spawning would affect growth rings. Also, growth rates for Baja California might have no applicability to Southern California. Richard Cerreto challenged the basic biological assumptions using captured and released Chione undatella in Newport Bay over a 2-year period (1988). More recently, Lesley Quintero provided disquieting evidence to question the models (1987: 157-161).

a. Data Requirements

The debate over Chione undatella as an indicator of seasonality demonstrates this issue to be best analyzed by a qualified marine biologist or paleontologist with a working knowledge of the literature. Both Venus clams and those shells containing Oxygen-16/Oxygen-18 should be collected and directed to a specialist with skills in this form of analysis.

George L. Kennedy, Director of the E.C. Allison Research Center at the Department of Geological Sciences at San Diego State University has conducted similar research at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.

Other evidence of seasonality might be found through the analysis of plant pollen in the soils. Fluctuations in populations of annuals should indicate the time of year stratified layers were deposited. Similar evidence might be found on milling tools in the form of phytoliths trapped between rock crystals.

Another source of information might be migratory birds and insects whose remains were trapped in strata and features of the sites. The presence of migratory waterfowl, such as ducks and geese in some layers and the absence in other layers could be as informative as marine shell analysis.

Insects such as grasshoppers, butterflies, and moths should also indicate seasonality in coastal shell middens. A recent insect analysis by researchers from the University of California at Riverside has documented existing populations that could be a comparative baseline for insect remains recovered on Point Loma sites. Recovery of insect parts should be planned by flotation and seining of soil column samples. [Contact with the Riverside scientists can be made through Mary Platter Rieger, United States Navy, Space and Naval Warfare, Div 5221, 53475 Strothe Road, San Diego, CA 92152 or (619) 553-2777.]

11. Shell middens contain distinctive artifacts and food residue that reflect both cultural choice and ecological change as rationale for change in quantities of bone and marine shell species on Point Loma sites.

Prehistoric food residue in the form of marine shell, bones, insect parts, and plant remains may provide evidence for consumer choice in surrounding habitats. Based on research at Punta Minitas in Baja California, Carl Hubbs and others proposed that the earliest people harvested marine resources and stripped rocky shore habitats of Mytilus and Haliotis (Hubbs 1955:167-168; 1960:105-112; Shumway et. al. 1961:37). The issues of which marine shell were selected and which were avoided has not been adequately addressed, as archaeologists have assumed people ate whatever was available.

Rainfall and Sea Level Effects on Marine Resources

Archaeologists have used marine shell quantification to address changes of landform as a result of sea level rise and sedimentation of bays and estuaries (Warren et. al. 1961; Warren and Pavesic 1963; Warren 1964). The research focus has been to document closure around B.C. 1500 and storm flush reopening of the lagoons between A.D. 500-1450 (Miller 1966; Gallegos 1985; 1987; Orme 1992; Vanderpot et. al. 1993).

Dennis Gallegos has proposed that the preponderance of marine shell from bay and surf habitats indicate periods of sedimentation and beach formation (1987). This natural expansion of sandy and mud flat habitats may explain the high frequencies of Argopecten aequisulcatus and Chione ssp. in shell middens. Elizabeth M. Wodjak noted cyclic change from Argopecten to Chione as a result of water temperature shifts from warmer / drier to cooler/moister climatic conditions and increased sedimentation in the estuaries (1993).

Closure and die-off of bay and estuary marine resource populations may explain the sudden appearance of Tivella stultorum and Donax ssp. clams (Gallegos 1987). These surf clams would have been available regardless of sedimentation of lagoons. Claude Warren and others have hypothesized that estuarine sedimentation caused the abandonment of coastal shell middens (Warren et. al. 1961; 1968:7; True et. al. 1974).

The inland shift may have begun between the first and second sediment closures of coastal estuaries. This would have occurred between A.D. 500 and 1000. Several inland Kumeyaay villages were recorded at the time the Spanish arrived in the late 18th century.

1. Chollas. Mouth of Sweetwater River and the east end of San Diego Bay. No archaeological research has occurred to date.

2. Cosoy. Mouth of San Diego River and the north end of San Diego Bay. Paul H. Ezell has mentioned Cosoy in relation to the Royal Presidio de Cosoy, but no scientific information has been published (1968).

3. Rinconada de Jamo. Mouth of Rose Canyon and the northeast end of Mission Bay. Recorded as CA-SDI-5017. Archaeological reports indicate a shell midden mixed with Tizon Brown Ware pottery and historic artifacts (Carter 1957; Heutt 1979; Winterowd and Cardenas 1987).

4. Ystagua. One mile north of Mission Bay on the Soledad Slough and near Rose Canyon. Recorded as CA-SDI-4513; 4609; 5443. Archaeological reports indicate a shell midden with similar artifacts to Rinconada de Jamo (Carrico 1975; Carrico and Day 1981; Carrico and Taylor 1983; Eidsness et. al. 1979; Smith and Moriarty 1983; Hector 1985; 1988; Gallegos et. al. 1989; Rosen 1987).

Terry Jones has suggested that coastal foraging continued long after population shifts to the inland, but marine shell gathering only occurred within ten kilometers of the coast (1992:2). However, Delfina Cuero is reported to have dried marine shellfish and transported them inland (Shipek 1968). Marine shells appear in trace quantities at inland Kumeyaay sites.

Working on a Luiseño site at Deer Springs (SDM-W-223A), Leslie Quintero proposed that marine shell and fish bone residue represented food from a seasonal shift away from the coast (1987). Deer Springs produced only fish that could be harvested during warm months, which Quintero used as evidence for a fall inland migration.

Ronald V. May reported marine shell at Kitchen Creek, a large midden site forty miles east from the coast (1975). However, the single valve from a mature Argopecten aequisulcatus had a hole drilled for pendant ornamentation and the smaller Chione ssp. fragments probably were ornaments as well. Many of the other inland sites with traces of marine shell may represent ornaments rather than food (True 1970; Cook 1978; Berryman 1981; Rosen 1982; Dominici 1985' Phillips and Carrico 1981; Hector 1984; Laylander 1992; Byrd et. al. 1993).

a. Data Requirements

The issue of cultural selection in marine habitat exploitation has not been addressed, as indicated in the literature. Resolution of this issue will require a cumulative database with groupings segregated by chronological time periods. All data recovered from Point Loma should be correlated to radiocarbon and other dating methods. These should range from 8500 to 2500 years ago, 2400 to 1500 years ago, 1600 to 200 years ago. The data should be organized based on marine habitats, rather than focus on shell nomenclature since the prehistoric people did not make the scientific distinctions used today be marine biologists.

Suggested habitat groupings are (A) Rocky and Reef Shorelines, (B) Bay Sand and Mud Flats, (C) Deep Water Below 20', and (D) Surf Shorelines. Another criteria should be for marine shell that live in eel grass, kelp, or other shellfish. For example, Leptopecten monotimerus lives on Feather Boa Kelp and the harvest may have been the host rather than the shell.

Particular attention should be made to the sizing of marine shell represented in features and strata in the shell middens. Over-exploitation of marine species might be reflected in decreasing sizes to immature specimens toward the top of shell deposition. Replacement of habitat groups might also reflect change in harvesting strategies.

Several archaeologists have suggested that the appearance of Donax gouldii and Donax californica in significant quantities at Luiseño sites may represent cultural choice (Flower et. al. 1977; Cook 1978; Corum and White 1982; Hector 1983; Fulmer 1984; Cardenas and Robbins-Wade 1985; Corum 1991; Laylander and Saunders 1992). This small bean clam has low nutritional yield and high procurement costs (Quintero 1987). As stated earlier, Donax might have been a famine food obtained following sedimentation of estuaries. Testing of cultural choice versus ecological shifts should be analyzed by quantification of the presence of this marine shell on Point Loma sites. The presence of Donax should be radiocarbon dated and the date compared to known die-off of bay resources.

12. Point Loma prehistoric sites contain exotic lithic materials reflect political exchange and trade with mountain, desert, and Baja California regions between 8500 and 1500 years ago.

Prehistoric people living on Point Loma engaged in regional trade for jasper, petrified wood, volcanic glass, fused shale, turquoise, quartz crystal, steatite, metal oxides, and colored clays. Availability of these materials reflects political arrangements with people who controlled had access to these materials. Trade in exotic materials such as obsidian, fused shale, and steatite should indicate the geographical extent to which these relations existed. It may also provide evidence to suggest from where the earliest people might have come.

Chronological Change and Index Artifacts

The focus of early archaeological research in San Diego has been chronological development (Rogers 1929; 1938; 1966; Warren et. al. 1961). Evidence for chronological change over the past 8500 to 12,000 years has been through correlation of dart and arrow projectile points, ceramics, and exotic lithic material. Little evidence exists for cultural exchange between coastal marine sites and other areas between 8500 and 2500 years ago. Once the estuaries and bays silted and populations shifted to major drainages, lithic trade appears to have been brisk.

Obsidian Trade

Of the exotic lithic materials that might have been traded to maritime sites, obsidian and steatite are unquestionably not natural to the San Diego coastline. Obsidian has been sourced by X-ray florescence of rubidium, strontium, and zirconium to be distinctive to Casa Diablo (east of the Sierra Nevadas), Coso Hot Springs (Mohave Desert), Obsidian Butte (Imperial County), San Felipe (Sea of Cortez, Baja California) and Arroyo Matomi (mountains of Baja California) (Hughes 1985; 1986; Townsend 1986). Steatite has been sourced to the Channel Islands, Soapstone Grade in the Laguna Mountains, and north of Gray Mountain at Jacumba (70 miles east of the coast).

Paul Bouey reported that San Felipe obsidian came from Rinconada de Jamo (CA-SDI-5017), an historic Kumeyaay rancheria at the mouth of Rose Canyon and the north end of Mission Bay (Winterrowd and Cardenas 1987). Nine other San Diego sites have been reported to yield San Felipe obsidian (Corum 1986; Corum and White 1986; Dominici 1984; 1985; Laylander 1986; 1989; Laylander and Christenson 1988). Andrew Pigniolo and Dennis Gallegos have reported similar specimens from three other sites (1990). Richard Hughes has reported significant chemical distinctions between San Felipe and Arroyo Matomi obsidian, although the latter has yet to be reported at San Diego sites (1986).

Most of the obsidian in San Diego sites has come from Obsidian Butte in Imperial County (Erickson 1977; 1981; Hughes and True 1985). Don Laylander has proposed a core area of use between Warner's Ranch, Santa Ysabel, Cuyamaca, and Mount Laguna (1989). The thirty-nine sites known to have obsidian probably dated from the last 1500 years, although Sherry Reyna reported a Elko Series obsidian point from Olivenhain (1970:Personal Communication). Obsidian was among the most useful lithic material for pressure-flaking projectile points. The scarcity of obsidian correlates to the small size of micro-flakes, suggested by Sharon A. Waechter and Thomas Orieger to be evidence of reuse (1982). These scholars studied hydration readings and determined that reuse occurred on 3.6% or 21 of 585 known specimens from San Diego. This line of research suggests that Milling Archaic obsidian artifacts would have been recycled for arrow points during the Late Milling Archaic.

Fused Shale Trade

Physically similar to obsidian, Fused Shale has been found at SDM-W-1556 in San Marcos, CA-SDI-731 on the San Luis Rey River, and CA-SDI-4648 in El Cajon (O'Neil 1982:154; Waugh 1986:211; Cardenas and Van Wormer 1984). Carol Romana Demcak has proposed that this material was used between 2000 B.C. and A.D. 500 (1981). Dennis O'Neil has identified the Fuse Shale in association with Campbell Tradition artifacts, a Desert Archaic group (O'Neil 1982).

Steatite Trade

Michael R. Polk has reviewed a San Diego tradition of carved steatite (1972). Although it is known that dark green steatite was quarried on the Channel Islands and traded among Chumash, Canalino, and Gabrielino people, light gray steatite with occasional pink streaks are more typical to the Laguna Mountains (Ibid.). Little has been done to advance Polk's research in the past two decades and X-ray florescence data is needed to better distinguish the Soapstone Grade source from that at Jacumba.

Milling Archaic steatite artifacts are rare in San Diego. Known forms include carved pestles and mortars, effigies, net weights, doughnut stones, and pendants. The dark green steatite objects have included whales and boat forms, while the light gray objects tend to be arrow shaft straighteners and engraved heating stones.

a. Data Requirements

Recovery of all specimens of obsidian, obsidian-looking material, and steatite at Point Loma sites should be followed by X-ray florescence and sourcing studies. Buried obsidian should reflect both older hydration bands, as well as rare information on pre-scavenging forms introduced during the Milling Archaic. Radiocarbon or correlation-dating with published time index marker artifacts with Fused Shale would contribute significantly to the understanding of trade with the Grimes Canyon area of Chumash territory during the Milling Archaic period. Recovery of any Fused Shale would go far to resolve the question of when this trade occurred.

All specimens of steatite should be subjected to X-ray florescence to key the objects to specific sources. A photographic and line drawing catalogue of each object should be presented in field reports to provide future scientists with a clear understanding of the range of forms that can be linked to Milling Archaic and Late Milling Archaic. Where possible, radiocarbon dates from marine shell and / or charcoal should be conducted to date the occurrence of the steatite objects.