Under the direction of Dr. Julie Stein, Ms. Amanda Taylor will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. The project investigates the prehistoric development of territorial behavior among complex hunter-fisher-gatherers on the Pacific Coast and focuses on peoples of the San Juan Islands, Washington and San Nicolas Island in the southern Channel Islands, California. A comparative study on the Northwest and California coasts facilitates archaeological investigations of the unique behaviors of coastal peoples. During the historic period, ethnographers of the Pacific Coast noted an unusual degree of social complexity including social hierarchy, exchange of prestige goods, warfare, and other evidence of territorial behavior. Ethnographers in both the San Juan Islands and Channel Islands emphasized territorial systems where access to land, water, and resources was negotiated through inter-village kin ties. Tracing the development of territoriality on the Pacific Coast prior to historic descriptions is essential to understanding the prehistoric development of social complexity in this region. Ms. Taylor proposes that when people began living in year-round permanent communities, village groups became more circumscribed in their movement across the landscape but accessed resources through kin ties that allowed reciprocal access and exchange. To test this she will investigate change over time in the acquisition of lithic raw material from cobble beaches to evaluate the relationship between settlement pattern, territoriality and resource procurement. Field research includes beach cobble surveys on the San Juan Islands and Channel Islands. Lab research includes individual attribute analysis of lithic artifacts to determine how tools were produced at sites in both regions.
The research will provide theoretical insights into territoriality, lithic procurement, and manufacture among coastal peoples, a previously unexplored area of study in both geographic regions. Incorporating two study areas investigates the applicability of the model in diverse coastal settings, and more thorough testing of its validity. The research will also contribute more broadly to investigations of human coastal adaptions. Undergraduates are involved in the geological surveys led by the Ms Taylor on both the San Juan Islands, and on San Nicolas Island as part of a field school and thus will gain training in both geology and archaeology.
When Europeans arrived on the Pacific Coast of North America in the 1500s, they found large villages connected through exchange, intermarriage, kinships, friendships, and rivalries. My dissertation research investigates the development of territoriality in the context of complex and interconnected coastal communities and Late Holocene climate change. I focus in particular on peoples of the San Juan Islands, Washington and San Nicolas Island in the southern Channel Islands, California. I examine settlement patterns and temporal and spatial pattern in the acquisition and conservation of local and extra-local toolstone throughout the Late Holocene. This research project required excavation, settlement pattern analysis, toolstone surveys, and lithic analysis. Lithic assemblages analyzed include the Watmough Bay site, Lopez Island, San Juan Islands, WA and Tule Creek Village Mound B and CA-SNI-106, San Nicolas Island, southern Channel Islands, CA. In general, if resources far exceed the needs of the population, I predict minimal boundary defense. Although boundaries should be permeable, benefits of interactions should be low and therefore infrequent. Where resources are abundant and predictable but are at or slightly below the requirements of the population, boundary defense should be high because the benefits of defending the resource will outweigh the costs. Boundary defense is associated with territorial circumscription. In this context, boundary permeability should be low due to more restricted movement across the landscape and less urgent need to prevent resource shortfall. Where resources are scarce, boundary defense should be minimal. Unhindered travel and greater value of information in buffering against shortfall will encourage more frequent and informal interactions across boundaries. In the San Juan Islands, both settlement pattern and lithic procurement analysis indicated minimal change over time in boundary defense and permeability. Variables used to measure the defensive properties of large and small archaeological sites included visibility, elevation, and distance to a lookout. Mean measurements for these variables showed no significant differences between time periods associated with different environmental regimes. Although sample size issues precluded a fully diachronic analysis of lithic artifacts from the Watmough Bay site, an analysis of slate/FGV ratios, cobble shape and size, processing decisions, and toolstone conservation at the Watmough Bay site indicated procurement of toolstone from beyond Watmough Bay beach during all time periods and few changes through time in procurement patterns. The abundance and distribution of chert, quartz, and incised shale at Watmough Bay indicated minimal change through time in inter-group interactions and a relatively even distribution of extra-local and unique materials across the site during the 1600-1000 cal BP period. Overall, lithic procurement data indicate boundaries permeable to resource acquisition and exchange between villages. Results for the Channel Islands study area were also inconsistent with shifts in territorial behavior that correspond with shifts in subsistence resources. Mean elevation and distance to lookout measurements for archaeological sites on San Nicolas Island remain similar through time. Material type, cobble shape, processing, and toolstone conservation data from Mound B and SNI-106 indicate few shifts in toolstone access. At 3000-1500 cal BP and 500 cal BP-Contact during periods of predicted territorial circumscription, the assemblage does not reflect the Tule Creek cobble assemblage any more so than during the other time periods. The abundance and distribution of extra-local toolstone between communities during periods of different resource availability during the Late Holocene. Thus, the lithic data suggest that boundaries remained open to interaction, exchange, and toolstone acquisition regardless of resource availability. Research on boundary defense and permeability has broader implications for modern studies about conflict in the context of resource scarcity and human response to climate change. My research supports arguments by political ecologists that resource scarcity does not necessarily lead to conflict. Although earlier research assumed scarcity and conflict to be linked, researchers increasingly find that people use ingenuity and inter-group cooperation to deal with difficulties in accessing resources. Some additional broader impacts of the project include participation by undergraduates from the University of Washington and from California State University, Los Angeles during various stages of this project including processing of radiocarbon and shellfish samples for the San Juan Islands project, investigating San Nicolas Island stratigraphy, and participating in toolstone surveys on San Nicolas Island. In shaping this research, I have sought and incorporated guidance from Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Lena Tso of the Lummi Nation and community members from the San Juan Islands. I have and will continue to share the results of the study through scholarly publications, professional conference presentations, and presentations and discussions with local community members and native groups. I also plan a special emphasis on incorporating information learned during this study into future teaching opportunities for undergraduates and K-12 education by sending local teachers Powerpoint slides and lesson plans on the project.
