Dissertation Research: The Development of Hunter-Gatherer Sedentism in the Santa Barbara Channel Region, California

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Jochim Under the direction of Dr. Michael Jochim, Mr. Douglass Kennett will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological research in a 17 kilometer square area of Santa Rosa Island located in the Santa Barbara Channel region of California. Work to date indicates a long settlement history which covers a period of almost 10,000 years. Mr. Kennett will survey this region and sample all environmental zones from the coast to the piedmont areas. Once sites have been identified, a selected sample will be excavated. Analysis of faunal and artifact assemblages will provide data regarding site function within the island's larger settlement system and also provide insight into subsistence and technological change through time. Stable oxygen and carbon isotopic analysis of marine shell from midden deposits will be used to reconstruct changes in the marine environment and the season of shellfish harvesting. These data will be used in combination with other archaeological indicators of seasonality and mobility to reconstruct patterns of human settlement and their change over time. Because they are so clearly circumscribed, and because of their culture history, the Channel Islands provide an excellent controlled situation to study the emergence of complex society. Over their prehistory, one can trace changes from small egalitarian social groups to larger more sedentary aggregations characterized by specialized craft manufacture and emerging hierarchical organization. This same pattern has been observed in many parts of the world and archaeologists wish to understand the underlying processes responsible. Mr. Kennett has proposed a number of alternative models and wishes to collect data to test them. He postulates that climatic change may be involved and one strength of this project rests on the fact that chemical analysis of faunal data will permit detailed environmental reconstruction. This research is important for several reasons. It will sh ed new light on the development of complex sedentary societies. It will provide insight into the prehistory of the United States and assist in the training of a promising young scientist.