Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Risk- Reducing Subsistence Strategies and Prehistoric Population Growth: A Case-study from Santa Cruz Island, California

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Under the supervision of Dr. Michael Glassow, H.B. Thakar will conduct archaeological excavations at four prehistoric shell midden sites on Santa Cruz Island, California, and analyses of resulting collections. These sites contain the material remains of the prehistoric Chumash who occupied the Northern Channel Islands and the central coast of California at the time of European contact. The four contemporaneous midden sites are located in the same watershed but in distinct microenvironments, at varying distances from the coast and at different elevations. Hunter-gatherers intermittently occupied each of these sites during the time period immediately prior to the dramatic population growth and rapid cultural development in the Santa Barbara Channel Region of coastal California. Research focusing on the dynamic interrelationship of human population growth and social complexity is important for a number of reasons. Studies worldwide indicate that throughout most of human history, people have lived in small, relatively egalitarian groups that moved frequently in order mitigate seasonal and spatial resource variation. The study of how hunter-gatherer populations reduced risk in accessing essential food resources provides insight into how modern populations can increase sustainability and food security. Understanding how risk reduction articulated with significant population growth contextualizes the demographic boom witnessed in well-nourished modern populations. Furthermore, elucidating causal and chronological relationships between human population growth and social complexity will clarify how modern population growth interacts with the rapid cultural development evident in contemporary society. Ms. Thakar will recover and analyze data that indicate what food resources the ancient inhabitants of Santa Cruz Island relied upon, how these people managed environmentally induced variation, and how risk-reducing strategies changed through time in relation to population growth and social change. Specifically, she proposes - and will evaluate evidence for - two economic strategies that prehistoric island inhabitants may have employed to increase food stability: diversification in exploitation of many types of food resources or specialization in exploitation of a few key resources. In addition to its academic merit, this project will bring many educational and outreach opportunities to undergraduate students, graduate students and members of the modern Chumash community. Student assistants will participate in all stages of the project, from excavation through laboratory analysis. This opportunity will provide students the chance to engage directly with archaeology and gain a wide variety of practical skills, from site mapping to flotation to identification of plant/animal remains. Educational outreach programs for grade-school Chumash youth will provide the younger generation of Chumash first-hand experience with archaeology. These efforts will facilitate continuation of the positive relationship that has developed between archaeologists and the Native American community in the local area.