NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Beyond Acorns and Small Seeds: A Diachronic Functional Analysis of Mortuary Associated Ground Stone from the San Francisco Bay Area

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Under the supervision of Dr. Mary C. Stiner, Tammy Buonasera will study changes in the functions of ground stone artifacts from male and female graves from the San Francisco Bay Area of California spanning the mid- to late Holocene (ca. 6000 B.P. to 200 B.P.). Because ground stone milling tools are essential for intensive food processing, they have long played an important role in archaeological interpretations of resource use and the organization of female labor. However, not all ground stone artifacts were used for food processing; some ground stone artifacts had other purposes such as the preparation of ritual or medicinal substances, pigment processing, hide working, the production of beads and ornaments, use as vessels, or as wealth and status markers. This study will employ three different techniques to evaluate the breadth of, and changes in, the functions of ground stone tools during the mid- to late Holocene in central California: Use-wear analysis (both microscopic and macroscopic), absorbed organic residue analysis, and morphological analysis.Some researchers have proposed that an increasingly rigid and pronounced sexual division of labor developed among complex hunter-gatherers in central and southern California. Others have argued that increasing social stratification should lead to a decreased emphasis on a division of labor based on gender. Differential representation of certain forms of ground stone artifacts (some with very high manufacturing costs) and evidence for uses related to food processing, manufacturing, or ritual activities will be the basis for evaluating these hypotheses. Of particular interest is the relation to women's status with decreasing mobility and increasing social complexity. In addition to improving knowledge of long-term social changes among Native California societies, this research may make broader contributions to understanding developmental trajectories of a sexual division of labor. Central California is among the few areas worldwide where a level of political complexity typically associated with horticultural or agricultural societies is known to have developed among hunters and gatherers. As such, it offers a unique economic context in which to study the effects of a developing hierarchy on men's and women's activities and status.This research will provide training opportunities for one or more graduate students and will foster collaboration between several different institutions (the University of Arizona, the Institute for Integrated Research in Materials, Environments, and Society at CSU Long Beach, The San Diego Archaeological Center, and CSU San Jose). Results of ground stone analyses will be shared with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, and will be more widely disseminated through publication in appropriate scholarly journals and through presentations at regional and international meetings. Finally, photomicrographs of use-wear will be posted on a free archaeological data sharing website to help improve the transparency and reliability of use-wear interpretations.