Early to Middle Holocene Estuarine Shellfish Collecting on the Islands and Mainland Coast of the Santa Barbara Channel, California, USA
Terminal Pleistocene to Middle Holocene sea level rise resulted in a number of changes to coastal ecosystems around the world, providing new challenges and opportunities for coastal peoples. In California, glacial to interglacial sea level rise resulted in some reductions in rocky shore kelp forests...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ubiquity Press
2020-09-01
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| Series: | Open Quaternary |
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| Online Access: | https://www.openquaternary.com/articles/86 |
| _version_ | 1818846606571601920 |
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| author | Torben C. Rick |
| author_facet | Torben C. Rick |
| author_sort | Torben C. Rick |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Terminal Pleistocene to Middle Holocene sea level rise resulted in a number of changes to coastal ecosystems around the world, providing new challenges and opportunities for coastal peoples. In California, glacial to interglacial sea level rise resulted in some reductions in rocky shore kelp forests, but it also resulted in the formation of estuaries. Estuaries were important for terminal Pleistocene peoples in the Santa Barbara Channel region (SBC), a pattern that persisted through the Early to Middle Holocene, and sometimes later. While paleoestuaries appear to have been relatively common along the SBC mainland coast, they were rare to absent on the Channel Islands. The Abalone Rocks Paleoestuary on Santa Rosa Island is the only well documented island estuary. However, questions remain about the size and productivity of this estuary and its importance for human subsistence and settlement relative to the more extensive mainland estuaries. Faunal data from two previously unreported site components and synthesis of shellfish data from other Abalone Rocks sites and similarly aged sites near mainland estuaries illustrate the importance of SBC mainland versus island estuaries. Estuarine shellfish were considerably more abundant at most Early and Middle Holocene mainland sites, with the Abalone Rocks Paleoestuary largely supplementary to rocky shore habitats. At island estuary sites, taxonomic richness was fairly consistent during the Early to Middle Holocene, although diversity and evenness decline slightly through time, with estuarine shellfish largely disappearing from island assemblages prior to 5000 years ago. These data demonstrate the power of archaeological research to evaluate the relationships between past environmental change and human behavior. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T05:48:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-10ae1112875b40409135bd3f0ec7694c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2055-298X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T05:48:14Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Quaternary |
| spelling | doaj.art-10ae1112875b40409135bd3f0ec7694c2022-12-21T20:33:43ZengUbiquity PressOpen Quaternary2055-298X2020-09-016110.5334/oq.8661Early to Middle Holocene Estuarine Shellfish Collecting on the Islands and Mainland Coast of the Santa Barbara Channel, California, USATorben C. Rick0Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DCTerminal Pleistocene to Middle Holocene sea level rise resulted in a number of changes to coastal ecosystems around the world, providing new challenges and opportunities for coastal peoples. In California, glacial to interglacial sea level rise resulted in some reductions in rocky shore kelp forests, but it also resulted in the formation of estuaries. Estuaries were important for terminal Pleistocene peoples in the Santa Barbara Channel region (SBC), a pattern that persisted through the Early to Middle Holocene, and sometimes later. While paleoestuaries appear to have been relatively common along the SBC mainland coast, they were rare to absent on the Channel Islands. The Abalone Rocks Paleoestuary on Santa Rosa Island is the only well documented island estuary. However, questions remain about the size and productivity of this estuary and its importance for human subsistence and settlement relative to the more extensive mainland estuaries. Faunal data from two previously unreported site components and synthesis of shellfish data from other Abalone Rocks sites and similarly aged sites near mainland estuaries illustrate the importance of SBC mainland versus island estuaries. Estuarine shellfish were considerably more abundant at most Early and Middle Holocene mainland sites, with the Abalone Rocks Paleoestuary largely supplementary to rocky shore habitats. At island estuary sites, taxonomic richness was fairly consistent during the Early to Middle Holocene, although diversity and evenness decline slightly through time, with estuarine shellfish largely disappearing from island assemblages prior to 5000 years ago. These data demonstrate the power of archaeological research to evaluate the relationships between past environmental change and human behavior.https://www.openquaternary.com/articles/86zooarchaeologymolluskhuman ecologysea level risecoastal ecosystemssubsistence |
| spellingShingle | Torben C. Rick Early to Middle Holocene Estuarine Shellfish Collecting on the Islands and Mainland Coast of the Santa Barbara Channel, California, USA Open Quaternary zooarchaeology mollusk human ecology sea level rise coastal ecosystems subsistence |
| title | Early to Middle Holocene Estuarine Shellfish Collecting on the Islands and Mainland Coast of the Santa Barbara Channel, California, USA |
| title_full | Early to Middle Holocene Estuarine Shellfish Collecting on the Islands and Mainland Coast of the Santa Barbara Channel, California, USA |
| title_fullStr | Early to Middle Holocene Estuarine Shellfish Collecting on the Islands and Mainland Coast of the Santa Barbara Channel, California, USA |
| title_full_unstemmed | Early to Middle Holocene Estuarine Shellfish Collecting on the Islands and Mainland Coast of the Santa Barbara Channel, California, USA |
| title_short | Early to Middle Holocene Estuarine Shellfish Collecting on the Islands and Mainland Coast of the Santa Barbara Channel, California, USA |
| title_sort | early to middle holocene estuarine shellfish collecting on the islands and mainland coast of the santa barbara channel california usa |
| topic | zooarchaeology mollusk human ecology sea level rise coastal ecosystems subsistence |
| url | https://www.openquaternary.com/articles/86 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT torbencrick earlytomiddleholoceneestuarineshellfishcollectingontheislandsandmainlandcoastofthesantabarbarachannelcaliforniausa |