Significance of Ahmanson Ranch Archaeological Sites

Significance of Ahmanson Ranch Archaeological Sites 1
Topanga Anthropological Consultants
P.O. Box 826
Topanga, California 90290
(310) 455-2981
Draft:Significance of
Ahmanson Ranch
Archaeological Sites
by Chester King
Prepared for City of Calabasas
April 28, 2002
Introduction
Fourteen archaeological sites have been recorded in the area
of the Ahmanson Ranch project. The purpose of this report
is to describe the significance of sites occupied during the
Early period. This report integrates information concerning
Early period sites. It includes information obtained since the
archaeological studies at Ahmanson Ranch sites were pre-pared
for the EIR. This report includes an analysis of the
information presented in the W&S Consultants report used to
assess the significance of the sites on Laskey Mesa.
Background information concerning the Ahmanson Ranch
area is presented in Native American Indian Cultural Sites in
the Santa Monica Mountains prepared by Chester King for
the SMMNRA February 2000.
My first field experience was excavating at the Tank site
(LAN-1) with the Anthropology club from Santa Monica
City College in the Spring of 1960. My experiences at the
Tank Site were followed by excavation at the Batiquitos
Lagoon sites in the Summer of 1960. In the early 1960s, I
excavated at other Early sites including LAN-215 at the
mouth of Topanga Canyon, LAN-267 in Malibu and LAN-
225 at Century Ranch. I prepared reports on the last three
mentioned sites (King 1962, 1967, King, Blackburn and
Chandonet 1968). During the 1960s, I recorded many Early
period sites in the Santa Monica Mountains including the two
largest sites on Laskey Mesa, LAN-221 and LAN-222.
In my dissertation, I synthesized information concerning the
Early period and presented information concerning beads
and ornaments found at Early period sites. I also presented
information concerning the organization of Early period
cemeteries (King 1990).
In 1997, a chapter coauthored with Lynn Gamble was pub-lished
in a volume published by the UCLA Institute of
Archaeology "Archaeology of the California Coast During
the Middle Holocene" (Gamble and King 1997). In the
chapter we discussed characteristics of Santa Monica Moun-tain
Early period sites along the coast, in areas that are inland
but on the south slope of the mountains and sites in interior
valleys and plateaus. We concluded that the larger sites in all
areas are the remains of permanent settlements. We ad-dressed
the W&S Consultants interpretation of Ahmanson
Ranch archaeological sites. No response to our refutation of
the interpretations of the Laskey Mesa sites has been pub-lished
or other wise made to my knowledge.
I wrote a section on the southern California Early period for
the North American volume of the Encyclopedia of Prehis-tory.
The North American volume was published in 2001 by
Kluer Academic/ Plenum Press (King 2001).
In 2000, I completed a report for the Santa Monica Mountains
National Recreation Area concerning cultural resources in
the Simi Hills. In the report, I presented an analysis of sites
in the vicinity of Simi Hills including the Ahmanson Ranch
sites (King and Parsons 2000). My analysis led to the
realization that most of the Early period settlements have
been destroyed by development. My research for the recent
articles concerning the Early period and my surveys and
studies for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation
Area since 1993 have resulted in new information that
pertains to the evaluation of the Ahmanson Ranch sites.

2 Significance of Ahmanson Ranch Archaeological Sites
LAN-1 area where I excavated with the Santa Monica College Anthropology Club in 1960. Here I excavated a
rock line with a high concentration of manos, hammers, choppers and scraper planes between 18 and 24
inches below the surface on top of bedrock.

Chapter 1: History of Study of Early
Period Sites in the Los Angeles,
Ventura and Eastern Santa Barbara
Area
In 1900, William Holmes of the Smithsonian Institution
described an Early period site in Pasadena:
Mr. Rust's collection also contains an in-teresting
series of objects from an ancient
village site in the suburbs of Pasadena, and
he permits me to here introduce two plates,
in which are seen a large number of the
objects collected - Plates 43 and 44. In this
collection there are no globular mortars or
cylindrical pestles, but numerous mealing
plates showing extensive use and many
oblong and discoid mullers. Several anular
and stelar shaped stones are unique. The
whole group seems to indicate a people
related in many ways with tribes of the
Sierra. The village site from which the
specimens illustrated were collected is situ-ated
on the bluff overlooking South Pasa-dena
and on the line of Buena Vista street.
When the grading of this street was under-way,
Mr. Rust watched the work daily,
saving more than a hundred implements
and utensils. He was able even to locate
some of the lodge sites by the larger num-ber
and greater variety of specimens found
within limited areas. Besides the stone
implements shown in the plates, one bone
awl and a fire stick were recovered. Few
flaked implements are found in the Pasa-dena
region, and there is no pottery, and
burial places and human remains have
been sought for in vain [1900:182].
In 1929, David Rogers of the Santa Barbara Museum of
Natural History published a summary of four years of re-search
at Santa Barbara County coastal sites. He recognized
three different time periods. The earliest was the Oak Grove
people. Rogers distinguished sites of this time period on the
basis of the presence of many manos and metates, frequent
absence of shell and midden color in site soils and burials
under cairns of metates. His next time period was the Hunting
people. More recent excavations in Santa Barbara area sites
indicates that some of the sites placed in this period are Early
period sites and others are Middle period. Rogers was the
first to publish a description of the sequence of occupations
represented at Santa Barbara mainland coastal sites.
In 1930, Ronald Olson published a summary of the Univer-sity
of California's 1927 and 1928 expeditions to Santa
Barbara area sites he recognized different periods based on
relative frequencies of manos and metates to mortars and
pestles and other changes in relative artifact frequencies. He
ordered the Early period sites as Archaic, Early Mainland and
Early Island periods. I have studied Olson's collections and
many of the sites he excavated in including VEN-62 and
SBA-1 at Rincon have been the subject of more recent
excavations and I have analyzed collections from the more
recent excavations. I discuss the Rincon sequence in a follow-ing
section on Early period site distribution.
Rust collection from site on BuenaVista Street in
Pasadena (Holmes 1900:Pl 43).
Rust collection from site on BuenaVista Street in
Pasadena (Holmes 1900:Pl 44).

Shaped biface sandstone mano from LAN-218, the
Corbin Tank site.
Shaped sandstone basin metate from LAN-267, the
Sweetwater Mesa site. Manos and metates are
frequently found in early Early period sites. They
were apparently not used after the early Middle
period until the Spanish conquest.
The Rogers and Olson chronological sequences were estab-lished
through observations of stratigraphic superimposition
observations of soil development and the assumptions that
earlier tools were less refined and fewer beads and ornaments
were used during earlier periods. The later assumptions
sometimes resulted in placing sites in the wrong chronologi-cal
order based on whether or not cemetery areas with wealth
items were excavated.
In 1936 Edwin Walker directed excavations at the Porter
Ranch Metate Site in San Fernando. Here, he excavated an
Early period mortuary site that David Rogers visited and
confirmed that it was an "Oak Grove" site (Walker 1952:15-
26).
Burials and features in large excavated area at LAN-1 from Treganza and Bierman (1958)

The LAN-1 (Tank site) and LAN-2 sites were the subject of
a UC Berkeley and UC Los Angeles archaeological expedi-tion
in 1947 and 1948. The sites like other sites in Topanga
Canyon are close to outcrops of fractured columnar basalt
that has good flaking properties. The presence of a source of
good local raw material results in a higher frequency of flaked
stone artifacts than are present in surrounding areas. The
Topanga sites are at the opposite end of a continuum of
chipped stone tools compared to the Pasadena site described
by Holmes. There are no good material sources in the mostly
granitic San Gabriel Mountains. The presence of many basalt
artifacts enables identification of archaeological sites in
Topanga that might not be observed elsewhere. The reports
of the excavations were the first reports of university spon-sored
archaeological research in the Los Angeles area and
were frequently referenced in discussions of early occupation
in Southern California (Treganza and Malamud 1950 and
Treganza and Bierman 1958). Artifacts and burials reported
from LAN-1 indicate the site was occupied during most of the
Early period and the beginning of the Middle period.
In 1955, Stuart Peck reported on excavations conducted at the
Zuma Creek site (LAN-176). Excavations had been con-ducted
at the site by the Archaeological Survey association of
Southern California between August 1942 and March 1948.
A UCLA Archaeological field class assisted in March 1948.
Artifacts and burials recovered from LAN-176 indicate the
site was occupied during much of the Early period and the
early Middle period (Peck 1955). Additional excavations
were conducted by a UCLA field class in 1952 and by R.
Ascher in 1957 (Ascher 1959).
In the spring of 1952, a USC archaeological field class
directed by William Wallace excavated at site VEN-1 at the
mouth of Little Sycamore Canyon. A report of the excava-tions
was published by Archaeological Research Associates
in 1956 (Wallace et al. 1956).
Artifacts, burials and radiocarbon dates from VEN-1 indicate
the site was occupied during much of the Early period and the
early Middle period. The presence of many manos and
metates at the site led to Wallace's definition of the Millingstone
Horizon. The Little Sycamore Shellmound site was the only
site of its time period that Wallace had studied when he
defined a tentative southern California chronological se-quence
(Wallace 1955).
In 1955, Charles Rozaire and Mildred Whistler investigated
a millingstone cairn site at Saticoy with over 200 whole or
broken pieces and a few stone balls. The site was several
hundred yards from a similar cairn discovered in the early
1930s with over 35 metates (Anonymous 1958:6).
In 1957, UCLA students under the direction of Keith Johnson
excavated at LAN-2 adjacent to LAN-1 in Topanga. Radio-carbon
dates from yucca roasting ovens indicate the site was
used into the early Middle period. Artifacts from the site
indicate occupation during the later Early period (Johnson
1966). It is possible that the site was part of a settlement that
included LAN-1.
The Glen Annie site was excavated at in 1960 by a team from
UCSB before its destruction by highway construction. The
project was directed by Roger Owen. A mortuary area was
excavated in and four samples of aggregate shell were radio-carbon
dated. Three of the samples were from the cemetery
area. Shell beads recovered from the mortuary area included
drilled Olivella rectangular beads, clam disc beads, Olivella
spire ground beads and Dentalium beads. A black serpentine
disc bead was also recovered. The beads were recovered
using wet screening. The dates from the mortuary area
indicate the burials were buried approximately 7000 years
ago (Owen, Curtis and Miller 1964). Other early mainland
mortuary areas have not been as carefully excavated and
beads have rarely been recovered. The beads clearly indicate
that the Early Millingstone period is part of the Early period.
I defined the period as Early period Phase x (King 1990).
Owen and Curtis had different interpretations as to whether
or not the site was occupied throughout the year or seasonally
(Owen 1964, Curtis 1965). Curtis argued that there was no
evidence for seasonal occupation or logical reason to move to
other locations except when seasonally gathering distant
food crops. I agree with Curtis. I have observed that the
distribution of large Early period sites is similar to the
distribution of historic settlements and cemeteries are often
present at the sites. The simplest explanation given available
data is that Early period sites with more than several
groundstone artifacts are the remains of settlements that were
occupied throughout the year. The debate concerning the
permanence of occupation at Early period sites continues;
further research at Early period sites can resolve the issue.
In the years 1956-1959, William Harrison conducted re-search
to document and refine David Rogers' sequence. He
excavated at the Areophysics Site (SBa-53), Corona del Mar
Site (SBa-54), El Capitan Site (SBa-127), Dos Pueblos (SBa-
78), Arozena Site (SBa-141) and Eakin's Site (SBa-119).
Harrison attempted to document Roger's three different time
periods by excavating in key sites. All of the sites excavated
at contained artifacts used during the Early period. The
Hunting and Oak Grove components recognized by Harrison
were occupied during the Early period. Harrison obtained
radiocarbon dates from various contexts. He believed he
found evidence for a migration of Hunting people who then
lived alongside earlier Oak Grove people for several thou-sand
years (Harrison 1964, Harrison and Harrison 1966).
Harrison's interpretations have not been supported by other
research.
In the early 1960s, I excavated at Early period sites including
LAN-215 at the mouth of Topanga Canyon, LAN-267 in
Malibu and LAN-225 at Century Ranch. I prepared reports
on these sites (King 1962, 1967, King, Blackburn and
Chandonet 1968). During the 1960s, I participated in exca-

vations at other Early period sites. I also recorded many Early
period sites in the Santa Monica Mountains including the two
largest sites on Laskey Mesa, LAN-221 and LAN-222. The
Sweetwater Mesa report presented a summary of my knowl-edge
of the Early period as it was in 1967. Archaeological
research I and others have conducted since 1967 has changed
many interpretations.
In the Century Ranch report, I observed that there appeared
to be a hiatus between occupation at LAN-225 and occupa-tion
at adjacent sites LAN-229 and LAN-227. The hiatus was
during the later Early period. In the light of what I have
learned concerning site distribution since preparation of the
Century Ranch report, I now believe that there was occupa-tion
during the later phases of the Early period. Parts of this
occupation were probably excavated in at LAN-227 and
areas at LAN-225 that were not excavated probably also
contained occupation from the later Early period.
logical Survey assisted Roberta Greenwood with excava-tions
in 1961 and 1962. In 1969 Roberta Greenwood pub-lished
the results of the extensive excavations at this Early
and early Middle period site. The excavations included a
large exposure of a mortuary area with metate cairns (Green-wood
1969).
William Wallace wrote a chapter for the Handbook of North
American Indians, California Volume on Post-Pleistocene
Archaeology, 9000 to 2000 B.C.. Wallace used the terminol-ogy
developed in his 1955 tentative sequence article. He
observed that information concerning the Early period was
patchy (Wallace 1978:35-36).
In June 1968, excavations were conducted at VEN-100 in La
Jolla Valley by a California Department of Parks and Recre-ation
crew directed by Eric Ritter. The excavations were
conducted to evaluate the site because of planned develop-
During excavations at VEN-70,
Nelson Leonard found dark shell
midden that contained Late pe-riod
beads that also contained
manos and metates. This site led
us to believe that manos and
metates were used at some inland
sites during the Late period
(Leonard 1966). In the light of
the apparent absence of manos
and metates at most Late period
and later Middle period sites, it is
easier to explain the VEN-70 site
as a case where an early site was
reoccupied during the Late pe-riod.
Bioturbation of the Late
period midden resulted in mixing
Late period midden and artifacts
into the Early period site.
In 1967, the UCLA Archaeologi-cal
Survey conducted test exca-vations
at sites that were to be
destroyed by construction of a
freeway along the coast. One of
these sites (LAN-352) was lo-cated
at San Nicolas Canyon.
James West wrote a report de-scribing
the site (West 1967). The
site was occupied during the Early
period and early Middle period.
Robert Browne bought a house at
site VEN-150 in 1957 because of
his interest in the site at the loca-tion.
Hence the name "Browne
site." Browne began excavations
in 1958. The UCLA Archaeo- Burials and features in mortuary area at VEN-150 from Greenwood (1969)

ment. James West produced a report of the excavations in
1978. The site contained Early period components. The
VEN-100 Early period site area differs from the typical Early
period site because it is in an area of soil deposition. Colluvial
soil has washed down the slope above the site has resulted in
burial of site deposits before rodents had time to form stone
lines and destroy soil features such as house floors.
In 1973, the friends of Mammoth decision resulted in appli-cation
of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
to projects on private property. CEQA required analysis of
archaeological sites in areas of housing developments and
other projects. Developers began to recruit archaeologists to
conduct archaeological studies. Prior to the application of
CEQA to private projects most archaeological research in the
Santa Monica Mountains had been conducted by volunteers
and university field classes. During the last 28 years, most
archaeological projects have been sponsored by developers.
Developers have seldom chosen archaeologists for their
ability to recognize the significance of archaeological sites.
They have not chosen archaeologists that advocate preserva-tion.
At the same time as developers began to choose archaeolo-gists,
a new group of archaeologists with little experience
studying archaeological sites in the area were at the UCLA
Archaeological Survey. The Chief Archaeologist was Wil-liam
Clewlow. The survey had become subsumed as part of
an Institute of Archaeology that concentrates on study of
European and South American archaeology.
The first large project that a team under Dr. Clewlow worked
on was a data recovery mitigation program for the Oak Park
Development in the upper Medea Creek and Lindero Canyon
area. The Clewlow team included Brian Dillon and Alan
Pastron who had been fellow graduate students at UC Berke-ley
and David Whitley a UCLA student..
The entire Oak Park development area was surveyed in 1975.
This survey was directed by William Clewlow. The cultural
resource section of the Oak Park Environmental Impact
Report prepared by Greenwood and Associates in 1977 noted
deficiencies in the study by Ancient Enterprises:
Before a complete program for the mitiga-tion
of unavoidable adverse impacts can
be proposed, certain inadequacies of the
information must be overcome. The meth-odology
employed in the 1975 Archaeo-logical
survey has not been adequately
described. Although it was stated that “the
entire land surface should be thoroughly
searched” (Clewlow 1975b: 3-4) this ap-parently
was not done. If only 36 man days
were invested in a parcel of 2,665 acres, a
controlled transect survey may not have
been performed, according to prevailing
professional averages of land coverage.
Apparently only drainage, ridges, outcrops,
and flat lands were inspected, and the basis
for selection of the sample is not defined or
justified. There is no description of the
vegetation cover or other factors affecting
visibility, and no summary or map of the
actual areas investigated. ..... There has
been no contact with the Native American
community, despite the known presence
of burials at Ven-294 and the high prob-ability
for cemeteries in association with
other sites [Olson Laboratories 1977: IV-
261].
Archaeological sites, including an Early period site, were
later found in areas that had been surveyed by the Clewlow
team in 1975. Discovery of unidentified sites in the surveyed
area confirmed the inadequacy of the survey (King et al
1991).
The Clewlow team conducted excavations in selected sites in
the Oak Park Development between 1976 and 1978. They
produced three volumes of reports through the UCLA Insti-tute
of Archaeology (Clewlow, Wells and Pastron 1978a,b,
Clewlow and Whitley 1979). Excavations were apparently
concentrated in areas where soil color and texture appeared
midden like. Except for VEN-294, all of the Early period
sites they excavated in were recorded in 1962 by Chester
King and Michael Glassow (VEN-39-45), and in 1966 by
Chester King, Nelson Leonard and Clay Singer (VEN-122-
125).
Brian Dillon described excavations at Early period site VEN-
123 and surface collections from VEN-44 and VEN-124. It
was believed that all the artifacts at the last two sites were on
the surface and no excavation was conducted at them. They
were interpreted as "surface scatters atop two small knolls"
(Dillon 1978: 71). Dillon concluded VEN-123 was a residen-tial
site:
Oak Park development area near VEN-44 before
development.

The small size of the buried component at
Ven-123 tends to support an interpretation
of the site as a specialized focus of limited
industrial activity rather than as a village,
and this might have been in operation
contemporaneously with the late occupa-tion
of Ven-294 across the stream to the
east. The probable house floor in level 7 at
the eastern end of the site, however, im-plies
some form of permanent occupation,
at least by a small family group, and the
range of artifact types denoting different
usage and activities is not what one would
expect of a "single industry" site
[1978:124].
A Late period site (VEN-294) adjacent to VEN-123 also
contained Early period occupations . A radiocarbon date of
over eight thousand years before present was obtained from
an abalone shell found at the site (Rosen 1978). VEN-123
was excavated in and not VEN-124 and VEN-44. The site
apparently contained site deposits that were less altered than
the other Early period sites and the site was believed to have
depth.
Apparently the Clewlow team did not expect artifacts below
the surface at archaeological sites whose soils had substan-tially
changed since the sites were abandoned. It appears
they assumed that artifacts floated on the surface of soils for
millennia. They apparently assumed that soils do not change
because they appear solid. They also assumed that all
artifacts were either originally placed on the ground surface
or that an undescribed force caused them to migrate to the
surface. It is remarkable that they believed that artifacts have
stayed floating on the surface even in plowed fields. The
Clewlow team did not build on previous knowledge of site
formation..
Actually artifacts were left in housepits, storage pits, burial
pits and on ground surfaces. Soil development includes the
movement of different sized particles to the surface through
bioturbation. Earthworms bring only very small sized par-ticles
to the surface. Gophers seldom bring rocks as large as
one's fist to the surface. A discussion of rock lines and
vertical size sorting of artifacts in soils is provided in the
following chapter. Research concerning soils has demon-strated
that soils are dynamic and anything but stable.
David Whitley conducted studies at site VEN-40. In 1978,
the site was surface collected and a series of power auger
holes were excavated at 10 m intervals along N-S and E-W
axes from a datum. The datum and the axes were possibly not
near artifacts found in 1962 or 1978. Soil from the auger
holes was dry screened with 8 mesh hardware cloth. No
artifacts were seen in the soil from the auger holes. There is
no information in the report concerning the depths of the
auger holes, the diameters of the holes or the numbers of
auger holes excavated. The report contains no map indicating
the locations of surface artifacts, the topography of the site or
the locations of the auger holes (Whitley, Schnider and
Drews 1979:78). The report contains no description of
artifacts collected in 1962 and currated at UCLA. Whitley et
al. concluded:
The recovered artifacts from Ven-40 indi-cate
that the site represents a limited activ-ity
area. Artifacts collected in 1962 indi-cate
that the predominant function at this
site involved the use of groundstone. The
preparation of plant foods is, consequently,
indicated. In this respect and in terms of
the location of the site (specifically, on a
low knoll situated within a large open
space), it can be seen as analogous to Ven-
44 and Ven-124 in the South Complex,
thus representing a winnowing station.
No temporally diagnostic artifacts were
recovered from the site. It has been sug-gested
earlier, however, that these win-nowing
stations may be manifestations of
Late period functional localization. While
Ven-40 very possibly was used through-out
the occupation of the North Complex,
Oak Park development area view from above VEN-
39 south towards VEN-44 before development.
Upper Lindero Canyon area between VEN-40 and
VEN-43 before development.

it may correspond to the late occupation at
Ven-122 [Whitley, Schnider and Drews
1979:78].
The artifacts recovered from the site included manos,
hammerstones, other large cobble tools, cherty-siltstone cores
and a chalcedony flake. None of these artifacts were used for
winnowing seeds or making winnowing baskets. They are
artifacts most frequently associated with houses at residential
sites. The Whitley analysis of this site and other Early period
sites, conclude that the sites are specialized plant processing
sites. Of the members of the Clewlow team, it appears that
Brian Dillon and David Whitley arrived at different conclu-sions
from similar artifact collections. Whitley used the same
artifacts as indicators of "winnowing areas" that Dillon and
other researchers have recognized as indicators of residential
sites. Whitley made no explanation of how the artifacts found
at VEN-40 indicate exclusive winnowing activity.
Whitley uses procedures that reduce chances of discovering
artifact concentrations or features. He normally stops exca-vation
when he has excavated two 10 cm levels in secession
without finding anything in a quick go over of dry screen
residues that largely consist of clay soil lumps. (Units
excavated only 20 cm (8 inches) below the surface are
discontinued before reaching rock lines that center at 45 cm
(18 inches) below the surface in many soils.) He places
excavations away from areas where most artifacts were
found on the surface. He makes no attempt to interview me
or other "old timers" who recorded sites. He makes no
attempt to study the collections made when the sites were
recorded. The 1962 surface collection from VEN-40 was
catalogued and available for study at the UCLA Anthropol-ogy
Museum.
After conducting excavations at the Oak Park development,
the Ancient Enterprises team conducted studies of sites on the
North Ranch development immediately west of the Oak Park
development (Whitley, Drews, Schneider and Clewlow 1980).
At site VEN-43 in Lindero Canyon, they excavated three
collection units spread out near the edges of the site (the
report text and map differ in location of units). They mechani-cally
bored 43 auger holes to between 6-60 cm below surface.
Soil from all excavations was dry screened in the field with
8 mesh hardware cloth. The report contains no log of auger
depths and/or map indicating depths of particular auger
borings. The report contains no map of surface artifact
locations, although it is stated one was made. It is not possible
to see how units were placed in relation to the surface artifact
distribution. In 1962 we concentrated on collecting large
artifacts from the brow of the knolltop near the datum
indicated for the auger borings. No excavations were appar-ently
conducted within the 20 meter diameter area (60 foot
diameter) where most artifacts were found in 1962. In 1962,
the apparent men's area below the knoll top was not observed
. Concerning VEN-43 they concluded:
Map of VEN-43 from Whitley, Drews, Schneider
and Clewlow (1980). Indicates locations of auger
holes, test pits and land elevation contours but not
surface artifacts. The 1962 collection came from the
area near the datum. No excavations were placed in
the area where surface artifacts were concentrated.
The artifact collection recovered from Ven-
43 can be interpreted as the remnants of the
unsystematic surface collecting of the site
in 1962. This activity yielded a large
groundstone assemblage, according to the
survey record, but no analysis and publica-tion
of the collected data have been per-formed
by the original investigators as of
1979. The limited number of artifacts
collected in this investigation, the absence
of any subsurface midden deposit, and the
apparent original predominance of
groundstone on the knoll surface indicate
that it functioned as the location of a rela-tively
limited type of activity, which ap-pears
to have been the processing of plant
materials. Thus the area known as VEN-
43 can be interpreted as a winnowing sta-tion,
and is analogous functionally (and in
terms of its geographical situation on a
hilltop and in an open valley) with the sites
Ven-44 and Ven-124 in the south complex
[Whitley, Drews, Schneider and Clewlow
1980:53].

In 1962, it was common procedure at UCLA to collect
artifacts from the surface of sites while they were being
recorded; unfortunately it was not a practice to record the
locations of the artifacts. By the later 1960s it had become
practice to only make surface collections when the locations
of collected artifacts was recorded on maps. This was the
result of reports of studies of surface distributions that were
used to predict subsurface distributions in sites that had been
plowed for centuries in other areas of the world. Although
they say they mapped surface artifacts at VEN-40 and VEN-
43, they did not include the data in their reports.
VEN-45 was apparently an Early period site it was reported
on by Clewlow, McCann, Padon, Villanueva and Wells
(1980)
Other sites investigated on the North Ranch that appear to be
Early period sites on the basis of the North Ranch reports are
VEN-181, VEN-607 and VEN-608.
In 1980 Whitley, Drews, Schneider and Clewlow wrote
interpretations concerning VEN-607:
The artifact assemblage and limited sub-surface
cultural deposit on Ven-607 indi-cate
a situation similar to that found on
Ven-606. The proximity of Ven-606 to
Ven-607, in fact suggests that they both
are the result of the same prehistoric be-havioral
patterns. Thus, the presence of
ground stone, processing tools (e.g., scrap-ers),
waste flakes, and projectile points can
be cited as evidence that a restricted amount
of plant processing, tool production and
hunting related activities were occurring
at this locale. The minimal subsurface
cultural deposit suggests that its use as a
habitation zone was very sporadic in that
no substantial amount of organic refuse
ever developed on the site.
The projectile points recovered at Ven-
607 are both concave-based and, thus, chro-nologically
analogous to the specimen re-covered
from Ven-606. If the use of Ven-
607 is contemporaneous with the recov-ered
projectile points, it can be infered that
this occurred post A.D. 1300. Because of
the functional and temporal similarity of
Ven-607 and Ven-606, and their spatial
proximity, Ven-607 can be interpreted as a
sporadically used activity area which was
ancillary to Ven-606 [1980:89, 94].
In their draft North Ranch final report Whitley, Schneider,
Villanueva, Drews and Clewlow concluded concerning VEN-
607:
Ven-607 was thought to be a Late Prehis-toric
occupation site, as a result of the
preliminary study, based on the presence
of two concave based projectile points
found during that excavation (Whitley et
al. n.d.). It can be noted, in hindsight, that
one of these two ....is a size that could be
considered within the range of the
Humboldt Basal Notched point type, thus
suggesting considerable more antiquity for
the artifact. The presence of a fused shale
crescent clearly supports the notion that
the site dates from the Early Millingstone
Period, and may be more than 7,000 years
old. Ven-607, then, can be infered to
represent a small Early Millingstone com-ponent
within the complex with some late
period use of the site.
The presence of an Early Millingstone
deposit within the site complex, however
confirms the notion that site complexes
witnessed very lengthy occupations. At
the North Ranch site complex the presence
of the fused shale crescent indicates the
that the aboriginal use of this locale began
about 7,000 years ago. The continuity of
prehistoric inhabitation is, then, strongly
emphasized [n.d.:59]
It appears that the discovery of a crescent was able to change
an ancillary Late period site into and Early period settlement.
Whitley and his associates do not use consistent criteria and
can alternately describe a site as an Early Millingstone period
settlement or a specialized processing site or a seed winnow-ing
site. They provide no criteria that enable an independent
observer to differentiate their site types.
VEN-65 Running Springs Ranch was excavated in by Nelson
Leonard in 1970, and Clewlow and Pastron in 1975. A
surface collection was conducted in 1978. The site was
reported on by Prichett and McIntyre (1979)
In 1978, Ancient Enterprises, Inc. contracted with Ring
Brothers to conduct archaeological studies at a development
site in Thousand Oaks. The development site included three
archaeological sites, VEN-535, 536 and 537. VEN-535 was
occupied during the Late period. VEN-536 was occupied
mostly during the Early period and VEN-537 was apparently
occupied during the Early part of Phase y when large side
notched points were used. All of the sites were occupied
during the Early period. Whitley and Clewlow wrote the
concluding chapter. They viewed the three sites as different
activity loci of a single community that was occupied for a
long period of time. They concluded:

The Ring Brothers site complex [the sites
are named after the contractors who de-stroyed
them], to summarize, can be inter-preted
as an example of the basic settle-ment
type for the Conejo Corridor. This
indicates that it was inhabited by a rather
small group of people for a lengthy amount
of time. The occupation began during the
Early Millingstone period and extended
into the 19th century. It is possible that the
site complex is the historic village of Sapwi
that was visited by Portola during the 18th
century. The artifact collection suggests
that , in addition to the complex serving as
a habitation locus, it contained a special-ized
manufacturing workshop. This work-shop
has been found to contain a substan-tial
amount of siliceous siltstone blades.
The quantity of siliceous siltstone debitage
in this workshop suggests that these blades
were made to be exported out of the site
complex [Clewlow, Whitley and McCann
1979:125]
The Ring Brothers sites were among the first Early period
sites where Whitley observed artifacts below the ground
surface. Excavations at VEN-271 had also demonstrated that
Early knoll top sites had depth and could be excavated to
recover artifacts and features. If David Whitley had not
discovered that Early period sites had depth, it is probable
that he would have not excavated at any of the Laskey Mesa
sites. Neither Whitley or Clewlow remark concerning the
change in their perceptions regarding excavation in Early
period sites.
VEN-271 was excavated at in 1974 by Nelson Leonard and
in the summer of 1978 by the UCLA Institute of Archaeol-ogy.
A report of the excavations at this large Early period site
was prepared by Mark Johnson (1980).
In 1979 and 1980 Robert Pence reported on three sites on the
Wood Ranch that appear to have been occupied during the
Early period. The sites were: VEN-622 Locus 2 knoll top
site, VEN-627 in saddle and a secondary locus of VEN-628.
In 1981, Jeannie Villanueva reported on a site in Calabasas
(LAN-712) that contained both Late and Early period occu-pation
deposits (1981).
In 1980, tests were conducted at the Escondido Canyon site,
CA-LAn-189 (Wessel 1981, NARC 1980, Singer 1980).
Different site areas were recognized at the site. Information
concerning the site is presented in Chapter 4. The site was
destroyed without data salvage.
The Chief Archaeologist position at the UCLA Archaeologi-cal
Survey was held by members of the Ancient Enterprise
team during the late 70's and early 80's. Clewlow was
followed by Brian Dillon and David Whitley. In the mid 80's
the UCLA Archaeological Survey was discontinued in part
because public funds and facilities had been used to support
private businesses. It was also closed because no advocates
of a California archaeology program remained at UCLA.
Since CEQA, universities have shied away from California
archaeology because they neither want to subsidize archae-ologists
who perform services for developers or fight for
preservation of archaeological sites against developers. Cali-fornia
archaeology became a political liability during the
1970s.
The last report concerning Santa Monica Mountains area
archaeology published by Clewlow, Whitley and/or Simon
was in 1980. Since 1981, none of their reports concerning
sites in the area have been published. Whitley's interpreta-tions
of Early period sites as Middle period specialized camps
is not referenced in reports by other archaeologists, except in
a paper by Gamble and King that points out the absurdity of
the interpretation of the Ahmanson Ranch sites (1997).
David Whitley and Joe Simon were part of the Ancient
Enterprises team during the 1970's. By 1985, David Whitley
and Joe Simon had formed W&S Consultants and were
contracting to conduct studies in the Lake Sherwood area. In
May 1985 while monitoring removal of silt at the west end
of Lake Sherwood, Simon recorded two cairns containing
metates, and one cairn containing manos. A partly exposed
burial was observed under one of the metate cairns. It appears
that the cairns are part of an Early period cemetery located in
a low area as was the Porter Ranch mortuary excavated by
Walker.
Letter of support by David Whitley, UCLA Chief
Archaeologist for David Van Horn

never numbering over a few dozen inhab-itants.
What seems to become clear with
each passing year; however, is that the
number and density of these early sites
may be greater than were earlier thought
[Dillon and Boxt 1989:9].
Fieldwork for the W&S study of Ahmanson Ranch sites was
apparently conducted in 1988. The W&S report contains a
catalogue and a simple artifact typology with no illustrations.
The report contains maps that indicate the locations of select
artifact types. The W&S report contains no analysis of the
data they present. In the appended study by Michael Merrill
data presented in the report is subjected to a preliminary
analysis.
In the W&S report it is concluded:
Although much has been written about
‘Early Horizon’ or ‘Early Millingstone
Period’ sites in the region [“Conejo Corri-dor”],
it is now recognized that the distinc-tions
upon which these chronological as-signments
were made have little or no
relationship to temporal placement. To
date we have no reliable evidence of any
occupation or use of the region during the
Early Horizon. Such may have occurred,
but it is yet undiscovered. Instead, it is
apparent that the first significant occupa-tion
of the region, marked by the establish-ment
of site complexes [clusters of ar-chaeological
sites], occurred during the
Intermediate Period, which is to say some-time
around 500 BC. These same site
complexes were occupied into the Historic
Period and remained the basic settlement
unit for the region throughout its prehis-toric
occupation [Whitley, Simon, Gothar
and Whitley 1989: 100-101].
Gamble and King observed:
Whitley and Simon (1989) do not give an
explanation of why the interior of the Santa
Monica Mountains was not used during
the "Early Horizon." Their observations
may be based on a relative dearth of radio-carbon
dates from early interior Santa
Monica Mountain sites [1997:71-72].
In our comparison of coastal and interior Early period settle-ments
we found no substantial differences between coast and
interior Early period sites.
Although most archaeologists are willing and eager to de-mean
Early period sites, Whitley, Simon, Gothar and Whitley
In 1981, the first map of the distribution of surface artifacts
at an Early period site in the Santa Monica Mountains area
was presented in the Corbin Tank boundary assessment
report (Dillon 1981)
In 1987, two sites, VEN-852 and VEN-853 were tested to
determine significance. The studies indicate the sites are
Early period residential sites (Greenwood, Romani and Fos-ter
1987)
In 1988, Robert Wlodarski reported on studies at LAN-1352
an Early period site in Agoura (1988).
In the late 1980's Brian Dillon conducted studies for a
developer who panned development at several sites in
Topanga. Dillon was hired because I and other Topanga
archaeologists had objected to the planned destruction of the
sites. He conducted a study at LAN-1248 "the Montevideo
Site' (Dillon 1986). He conducted an additional study east of
Topanga Canyon Boulevard at the Santa Maria site (LAN-
162) (Dillon and Hyland 1987). Dillon's experiences resulted
in an increase in his appreciation of the Early period.
Dillon and Boxt present a discussion of Early period sites in
a report of archaeology at Three Springs near Westlake
Village produced the same year as the W&S Consultants'
Ahmanson Ranch report.
Because of their age, Early Millingstone
sites are frequently buried and lack easily
visible surface features or artifacts... Other
Early Millingstone characteristics include
hardpan or "adobe" soil, very unlike the
familiar middens of the late villages with
their silty texture and black color; knolltop
or ridgetop site locations; and frequently a
generally small proportion of artifacts rela-tive
to the amount of earth excavated. ...
We know very little about the form that
Early Millingstone horizon settlements
took. Most sites are so small that they can
hardly be considered villages; even the
Tank site with its thousands of finished
artifacts contained so few burials that at
best it might be determined a "hamlet."
While rock features are comparatively
common at Early Millingstone sites, these
have been variously interpreted and not
very frequently as architectural in nature.
Evidence for actual dwellings is scanty but
does exist (Dillon 1978); these were prob-ably
shallow pit houses with walls and
roofs of branches and grass. Most archae-ologists
would agree that Millingstone
communities in most cases represent camps
occupied by extended families, probably

Grading at LAN-267A, The Sweetwater Mesa site.
View to NE from near center of site.
Artifacts collected from graded areas.
Grading at LAN-267A, The Sweetwater Mesa site.
Grading was to replace the Valentine Davies
house with a Malibu style mansion. View to NW
have decided to speak as though they are the authorized to say
"it is now recognized" as though there is a consensus concern-ing
their far out speculations that Early sites do not occur.
Their scheme is not even referenced by their colleagues and
is counter to Dillon's observations.
In 1988 Clay Singer conducted test excavations at LAN-
267B. He discovered intact deposits of an Early period
settlement (Singer 1989).
In 1988 and 1989, studies were conducted at Early period site
LAN-453 (Raab 1989 and Foster 1989b).
In 1989, Brian Dillon conducted a Phase 1 study at Escondido
Canyon site CA-LAn-1107 and John M. Foster conducted a
Phase 2 study. I commented on the Foster study (King 1990).
Information concerning the organization of the site is pre-sented
in Chapter 4.
Studies were conducted at the Malibu Hotel site LAN-266
(Bissell 1984, 1990) a controled surface collection was made
test excavations were conducted and a map was prepared.
The map indicated the locations of more artifacts than previ-ous
maps of surface artifacts.
In 1990, I directed an evaluation study at Oak Park Zone 3.
The sites appeared to be camp sites. One site appeared to be
an Early period site although it lacked groundstone artifacts.
The site, VEN-1019, included a downslope area with many
flakes (King et al. 1991).
In 1990 John Tunney, owned a large part of LAN-267A, the
Sweetwater Mesa site. He graded away a large area of the site
to build a new house. Clay Singer and others including
myself collected artifacts during grading of LAN-267A
(Singer, Atwood and Gomes 1993).
In 1980 Paul Chase conducted auger tests at an Early period
site in Steep Hill Canyon (LAN-958) (Chase 1980). In 1987
and 1988, salvage excavations were conducted at the site
under the direction of Roy Salls. Students wrote papers that
were edited into a report (Salls 1995).
Between 1993 and 2000, I served as Malibu City archaeolo-gist.
I conducted surveys or reviewed survey reports in areas
where planned development might damage archaeological
sites. I also reviewed reports produced for significance
assessments. As Malibu City archaeologist, I mapped arti-fact
distributions at several Early period sites.
CA-LAN-30 was first recorded by Chester King on February
8, 1967. I visited the site with Qun-Tan Shup on March 18,
1994 and April 7, 1994. We mapped the boundaries of site
areas. I walked transects across the site and defined the
boundaries of dense shell midden and the boundaries of the
distribution of chipped stone artifacts. Three areas of the site
were roughly defined. One is the crest of the hill in the
northwestern portion of the parcel with the densest shell and
artifact concentration. Another is the area within which shell
was frequently observed. The third is the area where flakes
but little shell was observed. The types of artifacts and the
condition of the midden indicate that most occupation at CA-LAN-
30 occurred during the Early period, perhaps between
4000-6000 BC (King 1994b).

I visited LAN-1879 with Qun-Tan Shup on April 12, 1995.
Our observations indicate that the western end of the ridge
above 510 feet elevation and the southern slope of the ridge
extending to the paved driveway south to the south is within
site CA-LAN-1879. Shell was found near the ridge top as
was also fire altered rock. It appears that residences were
concentrated near the crest of the hill. The artifacts observed
extending south of the ridge top were chipped stone artifacts
and included many artifacts made from chert and chalcedony.
Artifacts that have been found at the site and the condition of
the soil at the site indicate the site was a small to medium sized
settlement occupied during the Early period and/or early
Middle period (prior to ca. 300 BC) (King 1995a).
CA-LAN-451 was recorded by a team from UCLA in 1972.
The site was recorded during a survey of the Point Dume area
as part of the Santa Monica Mountains project under the
direction of Nelson Leonard. Bernie Neuman and Pete
Greenwood excavated a hole near a basketball basket at
28931 Selfridge and found manos and mano fragments. The
site record form filled out by the UCLA team noted a high
concentration of chipped stone in the northeastern part of the
site. In 1986 Dillon conducted an survey of a proposed sewer
line. Concerning LAN-451 he observed: "This very rich and
basically undisturbed site lies south of PCH on a mesa top"
(1986).
Between June 23 and August 18, 1998, I visited a parcel at
LAN-451 and mapped the distribution of artifacts visible on
the surface. The locations of two hundred and seventy six
artifacts were mapped. It appears that residences were
concentrated on the sides of the knoll in the middle of the
parcel where manos, choppers and hammerstones are con-centrated.
It appears that the lower lying areas were not the
locations of residences. The artifacts found at the site
indicate that most occupation occurred during the early part
of the Early period approximately 6000-8000 years ago. In
1999 I conducted a study in the NE part of the site. I observed
a high frequency of chipped chert artifacts in intact midden
soil in the area reported as a high flake frequency area on the
original site record (King 1999).
Susan Hector surveyed the SW part of LAN-19 in 1978. In
1995, I conducted a surface study of three vacant lots south
of the highway. I observed shell midden and artifacts along
the southern edge of the parcels. My observations were
consistent with observations made during the 1978 Hector
survey (King 1997).
In 1967, James West directed test excavations at CA-LAN-
19 along the northern side of the Pacific Coast Highway.
Eight units were excavated along the right-of-way of a
proposed freeway. These excavations were conducted to
enable the preparation of a highway salvage program. The
excavations were north of lots 24834 to 24902. In 1989, Clay
Singer and Associates conducted studies at 24903 and 24911
Pacific Coast Highway in the western part of the area studied
by West to determine the extent of intact midden deposits. He
observed that all deposits had been removed by grading in the
western and northern parts of the area. He found intact
deposits in the southern and central parts of the lots (Kirkish
et. al. 1989). Immediately east of 24903 Pacific Coast
Highway, Whitley and Simon conducted studies related to
construction of the Malibu Jewish Center at 24855 Pacific
Coast Highway. Their studies determined that most of the
higher, northern, parts of the site were destroyed by grading
and intact areas remain under fill immediately north of the
Pacific Coast Highway (Whitley and Simon 1992, 1995).
In 1997 a paper was published concerning the Early period in
the Santa Monica Mountains. I was a coauthor. In the paper
we criticized the W &S belief that the interior of the Santa
Monica Mountains was abandoned during the Early period
and the related idea that the Laskey Mesa sites were vegetable
processing camps used during the Middle period (Gamble
and King 1997). No member of the W&S team has responded
to our comments.
I discovered two small Early period sites during surveys in
Malibu in late 1998. They are discussed at the end of Chapter
4.
In addition to my work in Malibu, I have contracted with the
Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area and the Santa
Monica Mountains and Seashore Foundation and have re-corded
many Early period sites during site inventory surveys.
in 1993, 1997-1999 and 2001-2002.

Sequence of time periods recognized in Southern
California prehistory. Time periods are based on the
sequence of changes in beads and ornaments (King
1990), Correlations with calendar dates are based
on interpretation of carbon 14 dates and cross dating
with Southwestern and Great Basin sequences. The
dates of the begining and end of many phases and
subphases have not been determined, Serriation
indicates that the discovered sequence is complete
after Phase z of the Early period. Prior to Phase z it
is probable that bead and ornament which have been
studied do not represent a complete sequence. The
bead and ornament sequence discovered for
southern California is similar to the sequence
discovered in Central California (Bennyhoff and
Hughes 1987).
Chapter 2:
Definition of the
Early Period
In 1939, Lillard, Heizer and Fenenga published a study of
Central California burial lots in which they defined three time
periods on the basis of differences in beads and ornaments
found with burials. The earliest time period was character-ized
by thick rectangle beads and double central perforated
abalone ornaments. The analysis of artifacts found in burial
lots was refined by James Bennyhoff who also used carbon
14 dating and cross dating between different areas (Bennyhoff
and Heizer 1958, Bennyhoff and Hughes 1987, charts in
Elsasser 1976). Bennyhoff recognized the presence of simi-lar
artifact types in southern and central California during the
Early period.
My dissertation research involved the seriation of burial lots
from the Santa Barbara Channel to discover the sequence of
beads, ornaments and other artifacts placed with burials. In
my dissertation, time periods are recognized on basis of
analysis of artifacts found with burials. The adjacent figure
indicates the time periods that were identified and their
estimated dating. The illustrations of Early period and early
Middle period beads and ornaments on the following pages
are from my dissertation (King 1990).
The Early period, dates from approximately 6000 to 800 B.C.
It is the earliest period identified by archeologists in Califor-nia
that contains the preserved remains of permanent settle-ments
with associated cemeteries. Types of ornaments,
charms, and other artifacts changed little throughout the
period, although the numbers of artifact types increased
indicating a growth in social complexity. Several cemetery
and residential contexts have been excavated in Chumash
territory that are approximately 7,000 years old. Artifacts
and food remains recovered from these contexts indicate that
people living along the coast were fishing with bone hooks,
using boats or rafts to trade with the Channel Islands, and
occasionally were taking sea mammals and large fish. The
presence of deer bones, other animal bones, stone points, and
knives indicates that hunting was also important. The Early
period lasted longer than other periods and is less well known
than later periods because few well preserved cemeteries
have been carefully excavated. Because there are few collec-tions
from cemetery areas and because the soil of Early period
residential sites has not been frequently water screened
relatively few beads and ornaments have been recovered
from well dated contexts and there is not a continuous
sequence of burial lots. Because the known Early period
sequence is not continuous, I did not assign phase numbers in

Early period and Middle period Phases 1 and 2a shaped shell beads.
my dissertation as I did for the Middle and Late time periods.
Instead I labeled tentative phases x, y and z.
Changes in Beads
Beads and ornaments were important wealth items. Changes
in these artifacts reflect changes in social organization. There
was a change from ornaments most suitable for display as
applique to artifacts strung as necklaces, earrings or other use
where ornaments were strung together separate from other
artifacts. This marks the change from the Early to the Middle
period.
The illustrations on this page indicate the types of shaped
beads most frequently used during the Early and early Middle
periods. The graphs of percentages of types in different
categories is shown on the opposing page. The discussion is
altered from my published dissertation (King 1990) in
arrangement, to accommodate new information and to im-prove
grammar..
On the basis of form, stringing and association in lots four
basic categories of beads were used during most known
phases of the Early period. These were: (1) Clam and hard
stone disc and/or cylinder beads were probably the most
commonly used shaped beads during most of the Early
period; (2) Olivella biplicata abalone, and mussel shell
rectangular beads were other common types of shaped beads
used during the Early period. (3) Olivella biplicata shells with
their spires removed by grinding or chipping, (base portions
of shell were also similarly removed on many Early period
spire removed beads, were the most common types found in
all Early period contexts; (4) A number of whole, punched or
abraded shells including Dentalium pretiosum, Cypraea
spadica and Trivia californiana were also used during differ-ent
phases of the Early period. At the beginning of the Middle
period, there was a shift from rectangular to disc shaped beads
and clam disc beads and hard stone beads decreased in
frequency and softer materials were used.
Clam and Stone Disc or Cylinder Beads
During most of the Early period, clam disc-cylinder beads
were the most common type of shaped shell beads used in the
southern California. They were made from Pismo Clam
shells (Tivela stultorum). Clam disc and cylinder beads were
apparently not used in central California or Nevada during the
Early period (Bennyhoff and Heizer 1958: 65).
The earliest documented clam disc-cylinder bead from the
Channel is the bead illustrated for Phase Ex which is the one
clam bead recovered by Phil Orr from Cemetery A at Tecolote
Point on Santa Rosa Island. Ex clam disc beads from SBA-
142 were uniformly small ranging between 4.9-6.5 mm in
diameter and 1.7-2.3 mm thick. A thick stone disc bead 6.0

Olivella wall disc
Relative frequencies of Early period and Middle period Phases 1 -4 shaped shell beads and Megathura
crenulata shaped rings
mm in diameter and 5.1 mm thick was possibly strung in
association with these clam discs. The beads from SBA-142
were perhaps all from one disturbed burial association and
the small range in size probably does not indicate that all clam
disc beads were uniformly small during any particular
subphase of Phase Ex.
Burial associations from Phase Ey indicate that throughout
this phase all sizes and shapes of clam disc beads were used
(note: illustration of range of size and shape of Ey clam disc
beads). Many Phase Ey burials were accompanied by several
small discs and several large disc-cylinder beads; others had
strings of many uniform small disc beads. The thick disc-cylinder
beads used during Phase Ey are larger than any
known from Phase Ex contexts. The clam beads used during
Phase Ez were all thick disc-cylinders, varied little in size,
and were of uniform shape. By Phase Ez, thinner clam disc
beads, the most common type of shaped beads during Phases
Ex and Ey, were no longer used. The hard stone (serpentine,
serpentine-jadeite and jadeite) disc-cylinder beads used dur-ing
Phases Ey and Ez (see following page) were usually
associated with large thick clam disc-cylinder beads. These
increased in frequency at the end of the Early period. In-creased
standardization of large clam and stone beads and
cessation of manufacture of smaller clam disc beads corre-sponded
with a shift from relatively diffuse distribution in
Phase Ey cemeteries to exclusive association with burials in
the center of the Ez cemetery with concentrations of wealth.
Early period clam and stone beads were probably usually
displayed strung end to end. Many were perhaps kept loose
or on short strings as is indicated by the frequent occurrence
of only a few beads of various sizes with many Early period
island burials.
The sequence of stone beads is indicated in the chart on page
18. At the beginning of Phase M1, clam and stone (serpen-tine,
serpentine-jadeite or jadeite) thick disc or cylinder beads
continued to be made in essentially the same form as they had
been during Phase Ez. By Phase M2, however, clam beads
were no longer being used and cylinder shaped beads were no
longer used. Some Phase M1 clam discs are larger in
diameter than Phase Ez disc-cylinders and also tend to be
thinner; the range of size and shape was greater than during
Phase Ez. The sequence of changes in stone beads during the
Early Phases of the Middle period is at present poorly known.
An explanation that accommodates available data is that
cylinder beads of hard stones differentiated during Phase M1
into smaller disc beads and numerous types of incised disc
and globular beads. Unfortunately, except the one lot of
small serpentine disc beads from SBA-43 that is not associ-ated
with other beads and ornaments and beads screened from
the late Early period-Phase M1 midden at Rincon (SBa-119),
small serpentine-jadeite beads cannot be accurately placed in
time. These small serpentine beads preceded the chlorite
schist disc beads used during Phase M2 as part of a develop-mental
sequence. Likewise, the clam disc-cylinder beads
appear to have been followed by Olivella biplicata saucer
beads.
Chlorite schist stone beads were never common compared to
Olivella biplicata disc (saucer) beads in the Santa Barbara
Channel. East of the Channel, chlorite schist beads were
probably used more frequently than Olivella biplicata wall
beads. The center of the distribution of chlorite disc beads
appears to be in the area occupied historically by Uto-
Aztecan speakers immediately east of the Chumash area.
Blanks indicate manufacture of chlorite schist disc beads at
Malibu (LAN-264) and a high frequency of chlorite schist
disc beads from early Middle period contexts in the eastern
Chumash area indicate that they were an important bead type
in the area. In the Channel, chlorite schist beads have usually
been found in direct association with Olivella biplicata wall
beads and evidently usually were strung with them in strands
as necklaces. North of the Santa Barbara Channel, stone disc
beads were evidently used in the area historically controlled
by Chumash speaking people during the early Middle period.
Stone disc beads were apparently rarely used in central
California during the early Middle period.

Early period Phase y and z and Middle period Phase 1 and 2a stone beads and pendants.
The sequence of chlorite schist disc beads is similar to that of
dorsal ground Olivella biplicata disc beads. Phase M2 discs
are usually thin and have relatively small perforations. It
appears that there is a tendency for the diameters of the discs
to increase during Phase M2b. Associations of stone with
shell beads at SBa-81 indicates thatchlorite schist beads were
used in politically controlled economic interactions.
Rectangular and Disc Beads of Olivella and
Abalone
Rectangular beads of Olivella biplicata, abalone nacre, and
mussel shell have been found in Early period contexts in
central California and the Great Basin as well as the Santa
Barbara Channel (Bennyhoff and Heizer 1958: 63-64). Rect-angular
beads of Olivella biplicata wall pieces have been
found in contexts from all known phases of the Early period
in the Santa Barbara Channel. The beads from Ex contexts at
SRI-3 and SBA-142 have rounded corners and are similar in
size and shape to rectangular saddle beads found in central
California during the late Middle period. The Olivella
biplicata rectangles from Phase Ey and Ez contexts usually
have squared corners. Phase Ey Olivella biplicata rectangles
tend to be larger than those from Ex contexts and are gener-ally
larger than those used during Phase Ez.
Olivella biplicata rectangles with grooved perforations and
rounded corners have been recovered from late Early period
or Phase 1 Middle period contexts in southern California and
the Great Basin. On the basis of present information, it
appears that beads with grooved holes were used at the end of
the Early period and/or at the beginning of the Middle period
in areas where native people spoke Uto-Aztecan languages.
A few drilled Olivella biplicata rectangles were evidently
used during Phase 1 of the Middle period in the Channel. In
southern California, rectangular beads were not used after
Phase M1.
Mussel and abalone rectangular beads have not been found in
Phase Ex contexts and apparently were first made during
Phase Ey. Mussel rectangles were never a common bead type
in the Santa Barbara Channel. Abalone rectangles were the
most common type of shaped bead found at the Phase Ez
M2a
M1
Ez
Ey 5 cm

cemetery at SCrI-3. Like Olivella biplicata rectangles in the
Channel, abalone rectangles used during Phase Ez tended to
be smaller than those used during Phase Ey. The frequency
of abalone rectangles in relation to other beads was increas-ing
at the end of the Early period in the Santa Barbara
Channel. The emphasis on use of shaped abalone beads
continued into the early Middle period when most abalone
beads were disc shaped rather than rectangular.
At the Phase Eyb cemetery at SCrI-162, no rectangular beads
were recovered although all of the other bead types com-monly
used during Phase Ey were found. In general, the
burial accompaniments at SCrI-162 indicate that the people
who lived at this relatively small site were not as wealthy or
powerful as the people who lived at the large settlement of
SCrI-3 which was probably the largest Early period village
on Santa Cruz Island. Perhaps no one at this settlement had
the ability or prerogative to own rectangular beads. Burial
contexts and their application with asphaltum to other arti-facts
indicate that rectangular beads were frequently used in
applique or as sequins. I have suggested that the shift from
rectangular beads to disc beads reflects a decreased fre-quency
of wealth display. I postulated that during most of the
Early period wealth was often displayed to maintain political
power in a context where political power was attained. As
political power was increasingly controlled by hereditary
leaders, the need to display wealth to validate this power
decreased and wealth was stored more often separate from
other artifacts.
The use of beads as applique or sequins restricted their use in
trade in comparison to beads strung on strings or stored loose
since loose or strung beads can be easily divided into different
measures of value. Once sewn or stuck with asphalt to other
artifacts, they can be traded with the artifact they are attached
to or by removing them from the artifact. I have already
discussed the increase in abalone rectangles and the corre-sponding
decrease in use of clam disc beads toward the end
of the Early period as being a response to an increase in the
importance of the political system and a corresponding
decrease in the importance of the economic system. The
abalone nacre that is used for most shell ornaments and for
many late Early period and early Middle period beads is
comparatively soft in compared to Olivella biplicata and
clam shell and has a higher degree of luster and is more
colorful than Olivella biplicata or clam. The choice of
abalone nacre for bead manufacture indicates that compared
to other common manufactured beads, abalone beads were
intended more for use in display to maintain political rela-tionships
and probably less as counters in frequent economic
exchanges.
Abalone disc beads made from nacre usually with the epider-mis
removed were the most common type of shaped bead
used during Phase M1. During Phase M2a, they remained an
important type although they were less frequently used than
Olivella biplicata saucer beads. Abalone disc beads were a
relatively rare type of bead by Phase M2b and most of these
retained their Haliotis cracherodii epidermis. After Phase
M3, abalone nacre beads were rarely used and most abalone
discs fit more into the category of abalone ornaments as
opposed to beads. Abalone disc beads were also used during
the Early Middle period in central California (Elsasser 1978:
39, 40).
Abalone disc beads appear to have developed from abalone
rectangles. The shift from rectangular to disc beads appears
to reflect a decreased frequency of wealth display resulting
from development of inherited political positions. These
positions required less frequent display of wealth than had
been necessary when political power was more the result of
ability to attain and maintain wealth. The decrease and
virtual cessation of the use of abalone nacre beads during the
early Middle period can be interpreted as the result of the
continuation of a trend toward decrease in display with a
corresponding increase in stored wealth.
Olivella biplicata disc (saucer) beads replaced Olivella
biplicata rectangle beads, abalone beads and Olivella biplicata
spire removed beads and became the most common bead type
during the early Middle period. They required more effort to
manufacture and were not as showy as some of the bead types
that were replaced. During Phase M1, their relative fre-quency
was close to clam disc-cylinder beads and it appears
that there was a slight decrease in frequency of Olivella
biplicata wall beads when compared to the later phases of the
Early period. Olivella biplicata disc (saucer) beads have in
a few cases been found in Early period contexts. These rare
cases are illustrated. These occurrences may have resulted
from mixing of collections or errors in collection although it
is probable that at least one example actually was associated
as observed. The few Olivella biplicata disc (saucer) beads
that I have observed from Phase M1 contexts have relatively
small outside diameters and small perforations. At the
beginning of Phase M2a, most small Olivella biplicata disc
beads were ground on their convex surfaces around the
perforation; these are called dorsal ground Olivella biplicata
disc beads. The distribution of small dorsal ground Olivella
biplicata disc beads in the midden at the Malibu site (LAN-
264)(Gibson 1975: 115) indicates that the use of small dorsal
ground Olivella biplicata beads preceded the frequent use of
larger saucer beads.
Bennyhoff and Hughes classify dorsal ground saucer beads
as type G4 (ground saucer). They note that they are a central
California type. The other early saucer beads from Phase M1
contexts are their type G1 (tiny saucer) (1987: 132-3). Some
dorsal ground beads are also ground on their ventral surface
as were many Early period Olivella biplicata rectangles
including grooved rectangles. Small dorsal ground Olivella
biplicata disc beads were recovered from Early Lovelock
associations at Lovelock Cave (Bennyhoff and Heizer 1958:
69). They were strung in an overlapping pattern so that half
of each dorsal ground face was displayed in much the same

way as the grooved rectangles from the same site (Orchard
1975: 29). Small Olivella biplicata disc beads were used
much like Early period rectangles. They were used as
applique on stone pipes. Dorsal ground Olivella biplicata
discs beads have a distribution similar to grooved Olivella
biplicata rectangular beads including the Santa Barbara
Channel and the areas to the east where Uto-Aztecan lan-guages
were spoken at the time of European contact.
By Phase M2a, saucer (the term “saucer” used to refer to the
larger Olivella biplicata wall disc beads common during
much of the Middle period) or disc beads had become the
most common type of bead used in the Santa Barbara Chan-nel.
Olivella biplicata saucer or disc beads continued to be
the most common type of bead used through the rest of the
Middle period. A wide range of bead diameters was made
during every phase of the Middle period after Phase M1.
Changes in the size of perforations, the presence or absence
of dorsal or ventral grinding, and in the range of thickness and
diameter allow the beads used during many phases of the
Middle period to be distinguished from those of other phases.
During Phases M2 and M3, the most common Olivella
biplicata wall beads were larger saucer beads often between
6 and 8 mm in diameter with large perforations ranging
between 1.8-2.5 mm in diameter. During Phase M2a, some
of these saucer beads were dorsal ground and a few were
ventral ground. Small disc beads with small perforations
(usually ranging between 0.9 -1.2 mm in diameter) that were
almost always dorsal ground were also frequently used
during Phase M2a. By Phase M2b, dorsal ground Olivella
biplicata disc beads with small perforations were no longer
being used. Dorsal ground disc (saucer) beads with large (ca.
2.0) perforations continued to be used during Phase 2b and
these tended to be generally smaller than saucer beads with-out
dorsal grinding. Dorsal ground Olivella biplicata saucers
were a relatively rare type of a bead during Phase M2b.
Dorsal ground Olivella biplicata saucer beads were evidently
not used during the Middle period after Phase M2.
Olivella biplicata saucer beads used during Phase M3 tended
to have smaller diameters than during Phase M2. In general,
Phase M3 saucer beads were similar to those used during
Phase M2.
Olivella biplicata saucer beads were probably most com-monly
strung convex to concave face in strands on a center
string. There are few descriptions of their arrangement in
association with burials. Jones observed the association of
Olivella biplicata saucer beads at SRI-154: “The manner in
which the wampum is found leads me to believe that it was
strung about the necks of the skeletons” (Jones 1956: 219).
Olivella biplicata saucer beads were usually not strung with
other bead types.
Olivella biplicata Spire Removed Beads
Olivella biplicata shells with their spires removed perpen-dicular
to their long axis were used as beads throughout
central and southern California and the Great Basin during
the Early period and constitute one of the most common bead
types found in all areas. Bennyhoff and Heizer observed that
the 52 large spire removed beads from Pe-14 (Leonard rock
shelter) were the oldest dated beads found in the Great Basin
with a date of 6000 to 7000 years B.P. (1958: 63). The date
for these beads indicates that they were being traded into the
Great Basin during Phase Ex. Most central California and
Great Basin Early period collections seem to be contempo-rary
with Phases Ey and Ez in the Santa Barbara Channel. In
some central California Early period contexts, rectangular
beads have been found in frequencies as high or higher than
Olivella biplicata spire removed beads. There is a lower
relative frequency of Olivella biplicata spire removed beads
in most late Early period contexts north of the Channel region
than in the Channel. There is a high relative frequency of
Olivella biplicata spire removed beads south of the Santa
Barbara Channel.
During Phases Ey and Ez, Olivella biplicata spire and base
removed beads were the dominant type of bead used in the
Channel and along the southern California coast at least as far
south as the Santa Ana Mountains. Olivella biplicata spire
removed beads with ground or chipped bases are relatively
rare in central California and Great Basin contexts. Bennyhoff
and Heizer noted:
Slight grinding of the orifice end [of
Olivella biplicata shells] occurs on beads
from both Central and Southern Califor-nia,
but has not been distinguished typo-logically.
In Southern California the pro-cess
was carried much further. . . A few
type G1a [Olivella biplicata “barrel”] may
be represented in the Early Horizon collec-tion
from Central California, but only one
type G1b [Olivella biplicata “cap”] speci-men
has been noted. . . It seems probable
that all type G1b specimens [at Lovelock
Cave] were traded from Southern Califor-nia.
[1958: 83].
Bennyhoff and Heizer's postulated trend in southern Califor-nia
toward more base removal over time is supported by my
analysis. The removal of part or all of the basal portion of the
Olivella biplicata shells caused a reduction of bead size as
well as an increased manufacture cost. The removal of
increasingly larger portions of the shells indicates an increase
in the use of Olivella biplicata shells in economic as opposed
to political contexts.

5 cm
earlier phases. This reduc-tion
shape during Phase Ez paral-lels
biplicataspire removed beads
were apparently usually
strung end to end. Orchard
illustrates two methods used
to string Early period Olivella
biplicataspire removed beads
(1975: 28).
Phase M1 was the last Phase
in the Santa Barbara Channel
when Olivella biplicata spire
removed beads were the most
common type of bead used.
Most of these beads were
made from small to medium
sized shells and were altered
by grinding off only the
spires. Spires were removed
both at right angles to the
long axis of the shell as they
Olivella biplicata Cypraea spadica
Early period and Middle period Phases 1-3 abraided, punched and chipped shell beads.
in variability of bead
the sequence of develop-ment
of clam beads. Olivella
Relative frequencies of Early period and Middle period Phases 1-4 abraided, punched and chipped shell
beads and all shaped beads.
The sequence of Early period Olivella biplicata spire re-moved
beads has parallels with the Early period sequence of
clam disc-cylinder beads. In both sequences, there appears to
be an increase in the range of sizes from Phase Ex to Ey. Like
the clam disc beads, there is a great range in shape of Olivella
biplicata beads during Phase Ey; a few beads have no base
removal, many have chipped spires and chipped or ground
bases and some have ground spires and chipped or ground
bases and some have ground spires and bases. During Phase
Ez, only spire and base ground beads were used and these
usually have more base removed than those used during
were during most time periods, or at an oblique angle to the
long axis of the bead; beads thus ground are called oblique
ground. These beads continued to be made into Phase M2a
although in greatly reduced frequency.
Medium to large shells were made into beads by grinding off
both the spires and bases at right angles to the long axis of the
shell. These were less common than the typically smaller
beads with only spires ground off and were not used during
Phase M2.
Trivia californiana

The frequent oblique ground variety was possibly to facili-tate
sewing them in place in applique or for tying them to
strings in the manner shown for spire removed beads from
Lovelock Cave (Orchard 1975: 28 Figure 8).
Cypraea spadica and Dentalium pretiosum
Shells
The whole, punched or abraded shells and Olivella biplicata
spire and or base removed beads required little effort to
manufacture and most were relatively easy to obtain Cypraea
sp. shells used as currency through most of the Old World and
Oceania are colorful shells with uniform shape Cypraea
spadica vary in size, and the largest shells are very rare.
Today even small Cypraea spadica shells are more valuable
than most other types of shells used as beads .
Large Cypraea spadica shells were selected for beads.
Cypraea spadica punched shells were only frequent associa-tions
with Phase Ey burials, and were rarely used in the Santa
Barbara Channel during later periods. Dentalium pretiosum
shells like cowry shells were used by historic cultures as
currency. The small Dentalium pretiosum shells that are
relatively rare in the Santa Barbara Channel may have been
valued similarly to Cypraea shells during some phases of the
Early period.
Excepting possibly for the use of Dentalium neohexagonum
shells as beads during the late Middle period and the use of
Megathura crenulata shells during the Middle period for ring
ornaments, shells that are difficult to obtain because of their
rarity or environment were apparently only used frequently
and as a common currency in the Channel during Phase y and
possibly Phase x of the Early period. Unlike the clam disc and
cylinder beads they are frequently associated with, cowries
could not be manufactured according to need. The more
valuable large Cypraea spadica shells were probably usually
obtained through social interaction since it would be nearly
impossible to find one. Because of their size and colorful
appearance, Cypraea spadica shells were more ornamental
than other common Early period beads.
Trivia californiana and other Punched or
Abraded Whole Shell Beads
Trivia californiana beads were used during all phases of the
Early period as a relatively rare type. During Phase M1, their
use increased and during Phase M2a they were the most
common type of unshaped bead being used and were second
only in frequency to Olivella biplicata wall disc (saucer)
beads. Since Trivia californiana shells were easy to obtain
and it required relatively little time and effort to abrade or
punch a hole in them, these beads were probably not very
valuable. The two main associations of Trivia californiana
at SBa-81 were of 2000+ and 1336 shells and were in the area
of the cemetery which contained the most wealth. They were
probably strung or woven in long clustered strings in the same
way as similar small cowry shells are strung in New Guinea.
The typically large number of Trivia californiana beads
found together during Phase M2a differs greatly from the
typically small numbers found with Early period associations
During Phase M1, as during the Early period, other small
gastropod shells such as Cerethidea sp. and Mitrella carinata
were punched or abraded to make beads. At SCrI-83, one
Phase M1 lot contained 853 Mitrella carinata shells. All of
these punched shells are easy to obtain.
Bone Tube Beads
Small mammal tube beads were frequently used during Phase
M1 and persisted as a rare bead type through to the historic
period. At SCrI-83, these small bone beads seem to have been
combined with Olivella biplicata spire removed beads. Like
Olivella biplicata spire removed beads these bone beads
required little effort in manufacture. Further study is neces-sary
to determine the species of animals used to make these
beads, it is possible that they are of ground squirrel or rabbit,
and like large mammal bone beads were traded to the islands
from the mainland. At SCrI-83, Olson recorded one associa-tion
(AIV5) of small bone tubes as “evidently in a necklace”
and another (Y1) as “a wristlet or wrist band.”
Large mammal tube beads probably made from deer long
bones from the mainland were frequently used at island and
mainland sites during Phase M1. Large bone tube beads had
been used also although much less frequently during Phase
Ez. They apparently were rarely used during Phase M2a and
were infrequently used during Phase M2b (both known Phase
M2b specimens have rounded rather than squared ends.
Large bone tube beads were used more frequently during
Phase M3 and M4. Olson recorded two arrangements of
Phase M1 large bone tubes at SCrI-83. Three were described
as laying along the side of Burial AIII4, and 15 were found
around the neck of Burial Y1.
Phase M1 large bone tubes were often decorated with punc-tate
designs some of these were incised at their ends; other
bone tubes had incised designs. The punctate designs and
edge incising on the tubes are similar to the decorations of
Phase M1 bone pendants and abalone and clam ornaments .
The large size of these beads makes them more similar to
pendants and other ornaments in terms of visibility. Undeco-rated
bone tubes were not difficult to manufacture since they
only required grooving long bones to cut tubular sections. On
the mainland, the bones were acquired from deer that were
killed for meat. The “decoration” of bone beads and pendants
by drilling punctate designs required less effort than drilling
punctations in either abalone or Pismo Clam shells. Previous
discussion suggests that bone tube beads were used less as

Early period and Middle period Phases 1 and 2a bone beads and tubes.
money and more as badges indicating political position than
were smaller and more valuable beads. On the islands, these
beads perhaps indicated the presence of ties to the mainland
where they originated.
Megathura crenulata Ring Ornaments
Ornaments made from Giant Keyhole Limpet (Megathura
crenulata) shells first appear in the archaeological record at
the beginning of the Middle period. They rapidly increased
in frequency in the early Middle period. In Phase M2
contexts, Olivella biplicata disc (saucer) beads and Trivia
californiana beads were the only decorative artifacts that
occurred in higher frequency. They are found in relatively
high frequencies in all later Middle period contexts.
Megathura crenulata ring ornaments are included in the
discussion of beads because they are related to discussion of
the evolution of the Chumash economic system. Qualities
that distinguish Megathura crenulata ring ornaments from
other ornaments are their relatively larger number of burial
associations and their occurrence in large numbers in some
associations. The white color of the callus ring is also less
lustrous than abalone shell and more comparable to the callus
of Olivella biplicata shells. Another feature of Megathura
crenulata rings is that the size of the shell determines the size
of the callus ring in the center of the shell. The examples that
were studied indicate large shells were chosen for ring
ornaments, especially during the early Middle period. The
punched Cypraea spadica shell beads frequently used during
Phase Ey are similar because in both cases large shells
representing higher values were selected for because of their
rarity. A final aspect of Megathura crenulata ornaments is
their widespread distribution compared to abalone ornament
types.
The sequence of early Middle period Megathura crenulata
ring ornaments is illustrated in the left column in the illustra-tion
on the following page.. During Phase M1 and M2a, the
ornaments were made by chipping away all of the outer
portions of the shells to obtain the oval-shaped callus ring
located in the center of the shell. The outer edges of these
rings were ground smooth. In many cases, the crenulate
surface remaining on the upper (convex) face of the ring was
partly ground down and in some it was removed. Most rings
that were made during Phases M2b and M3 were prepared in
the same way excepting the crenulate surfaces were almost
always completely removed and the ends of some Phase M3
ornaments were ground flat. During Phases M2 and M3,
some Megathura crenulata ornaments were shaped so that
the tip of the egg shaped outline came to a point. Some of
these were further notched with two grooves to make a nipple
like tip (offset). During Phase M3 some were notched with
three grooves so as to from two adjacent offsets. The rings
with offsets perhaps represent effigies.
If the ring ornaments are oriented so that the tip end of the
egg-shaped outline points down and the convex surface of the
shell is facing up, traces of asphaltum impression indicating
the presence of a tie can often be seen in the upper right hand
edge of Phase M2a rings and at the tops of Phase M2b through
M4 rings. Perhaps these were suspended as pendants. Olson’s
field notes indicate that Megathura crenulata ring ornaments
were at least once tied to each other to make a row of adjacent
rings in a necklace. David B. Rogers noted that Megathura

Megathura crenulata ring ornaments. The sequence of forms
of Fissurella volcano ring ornaments closely parallels that of
Megathura crenulata ring ornaments.
Summary: Early and early
Middle period Social Changes
The most apparent shift in the prehistoric artifact sequence is
the transition from the Early period to the Middle period
when there was a major change in bead and ornament types.
This shift is apparent in the archaeological record of most of
California and the Great Basin (Bennyhoff and Heizer 1958:
63-65, Elsasser 1979).
Differences in the organization of the Eya and Ez cemeteries
at SCrI- 3 indicate a change from a society in which artifacts
used in the maintenance of power were attained by ability or
age to a society in which material expressions of political
power were acquired through inheritance. In the earlier
cemetery, the presence of relatively equal amounts of wealth
in different areas indicates that wealth was not concentrated
crenulata ornaments were usually found near the heads of
burials and he considered them to be hair ornaments (1929).
It is probable that they were often used to make headbands
and combined with other types of hair ties. All except three
of the Megathura crenulata ring ornaments found at SBa-81
were found in the western half of the cemetery in frequent
association with beads.
During Phases M2 and M3, Megathura crenulata ornaments
and Olivella biplicata disc (saucer) beads served to unite an
area extending at least from the San Joaquin River to San Juan
Capistrano and east including at least a large portion of the
Mojave Desert into a large economic interaction network.
This network was evidently limited generally to the area
south and east of Monterey where Megathura crenulata
shells are found along the coast..
Fissurella volcano Callus Ornaments
Fissurella volcano (Volcano limpets) callus ornaments were
used from Phase M1 through Phase M5a. They were never
as common as the larger Megathura crenulata callus orna-ments.
Their sequence is illustrated to the right of the
Early period and early Middle period (Phase M1 and M2a) abalone ornaments and Megathura crenulata
shaped rings. The end of the Early period is marked by a shift from double perforated sewn on ornaments to
single perforated suspended ornaments. The change from Early period applique to Middle period strung types
is a reflection of a decreased emphasis on frequent wealth display. Megathura crenulata shaped rings begin
to be made during the first phase of the Middle period.

Middle period Phase 1 and 2a large clam pendants
Middle period Phase 1 and 2a large abalone pendants..
5 cm
Clam abalone and bone pendants often with drilled punctate designs were most commonly used
during the beginning of the Middle period and represent a significant portion of the wealth objects
found from Phase M1 contexts. These could not be as easily evaluated as beads, because of their
less standardized form. They also could not be broken down into units of low value as could a string
of beads.
in any particular family. The concentration of wealth in one
area of the later cemetery indicates that wealth was to a large
degree accumulated by a particular group whose members
were buried together. A more consistent eastward orientation
of burials in this later cemetery perhaps reflects an increased
institutionalization of religious beliefs associated with a
more centrally organized political system.
The artifacts associated with Phase Ey and Ez burials also
reflect a change to a more centralized society. Shaped beads

Large bone pendants with punctate
designs used during Middle period
Phase 1. These are contemporary
with similar clam and abalone
pendants and bone tube beads.
Similar punctate designs were also
made on atlatl spurs of whales teeth
and large bone spearpoints.
worn it was probably worn by the members of different
groups when together at festivals in the same way that wealth
was described as being displayed on the Trobriand Islands by
Malinowski (1922: 87-88). There the leaders distributed
wealth to villagers to be worn at feasts but normally stored it
in their homes. The change from Early period applique to
Middle period strung types reflect a decreased emphasis on
frequent wealth display.
The changes occurring during the transition from the Early to
Middle periods can be interpreted as resulting from the
culmination of a shift toward a more centrally organized
society. As a result of this shift, the economic system became
almost completely controlled by hereditary political leaders.
These leaders controlled the stores of food and wealth objects
used in exchanges between groups.
During the first phase of the Middle period, it appears trade
was almost completely controlled by political leaders whose
trade with other political leaders was in the context of
maintaining alliances. Most transactions probably involved
lags in exchanges and strict equivalence of values was not as
important as during times when participation by anyone in
the economic subsystem enabled them to attain power. The
decrease in proportion of manufactured beads that occurred
at the beginning of the Middle period reflects a decrease in
importance of the economic system. Olivella biplicata spire
ground and bone beads are the most common beads used
during the beginning of the Middle period, They required
very little effort to manufacture and large numbers of these
types of beads were often strung together. These beads
required less effort to manufacture than the dominant spire
and base ground Olivella biplicata beads of the terminal
Early period and reflect a shift away from investment in
maintaining the economic system. The increase in use of
5 cm
have been found in approximately the same proportions in
Phase Ey and Ez contexts. Clam disc beads (as opposed to
clam cylinder beads), the most common shaped bead type
made during Phase Ey, ceased to be made by Phase Ez.
Abalone rectangles increased in frequency and became the
most common type of shaped bead found in the Ez cemetery
at SCrI-3. I interpret this shift from clam disc to abalone
rectangles as resulting from a decrease in the use of beads as
money by most people with a corresponding increase in use
of beads as decoration to validate political status. A marked
decrease in occurrence of bone pins during the terminal phase
of the Early period probably also reflects a decrease in
emphasis on attained political power.
The end of the Early period is marked by a change from
rectangular to disc beads made of abalone and Olivella
biplicata and a shift from double perforated abalone orna-ments
to single perforated ornaments. In the Santa Barbara
Channel, the beginning of the Middle period is also marked
by the use of clam and bone pendant ornaments and bone tube
beads often decorated with punctate designs, the first use of
Megathura crenulata ring ornaments, the use of numerous
bone tube beads, the frequent use of Olivella biplicata spire
ground beads that were often diagonally ground, a decrease
in manufacture of shaped beads, and an increase in the use of
punched Trivia sp. shell beads and the first use of bone
whistles. Clam and stone cylinder beads continued to be
made in roughly the same size and shape as they were during
the last phase of the Early period.
As wealth became more concentrated under centralized con-trol,
valuables were less often worn to validate status since
relatively few of these items were needed to distinguish the
political leaders from the other occupants of a settlement.
Although most of the wealth of a group was less frequently

Ez
Eya
5 cm
5 cm
Early period Phase y
stone and bone pipes Early period siltstone effigies
5 cm
Early period Phase y
clay and 'cement' objects
Early period 'charmstones'
5 cm
Ez
Eya
Early period 'trumpet' shell and turtle shell
rattle fragments 5 cm
Pipes, disks with pole impressions, effigies, charms and turtle shell rattlesare all artifacts used by religious
specialists in ceremonies. Their more frequent placement with Early period burials compared with later
periods indicate they may have been owned by individuals. Charms, effigies and perforated disks were
seldom placed with burials during the Late period; although, their use is described in ethnographic sources.

5 cm
5 cm
Early period Phase y bone pins
Early period Phase z
bone pins
Bone pins have been frequently found with Early period Phase y burials. There
is a wide range of decoration. The sizes and numbers of pins with burials are
more similar than are early Middle period pins. It appears that few pins were
used during Phase Ez.

Early Middle period whistles and rattlss:Bone
whistles were first used at the beginning of the
Middle period. Bone whistles were used
historically by California Indian dancers in
dances sponsored by political leaders. These
performances were often paid for by guests and
money or goods collected from the dances was
given to the sponsoring political leader. Use of
whistles in coordinating and adding elaboration
to ceremonial displays probably reflects the
development of dancing groups. They reflect an
increased institutionalization of the religious
system as it evolved to provide support for the
political system. During the Early period, dances
are predicted to have been performed by people
who individually attained power as dancers or by
members of particular age groups or by entire
villages. The most elaborate dances would have
been performed by individual specialists during
the Early period and dancing societies at the
beginning of the Middle period.
Middle period Phase 1 and 2a siltstone
effigies, plummet shaped charmstones
and other shaped stone "charms".
These objects were later rarely placed in
cemeterisa and were apparently owned
by institutions. Charms were kept by
chiefs who allowed them to be used by
specialist priests according to
ethnographic record.
M2b
M2a
Middle period
Phase 2a and 2b
"libation" vessels
M2a
M1
M3
M2b
M2a
M1
5 cm
5 cm

Significance of Ahmanson Ranch Archaeological Sites

Significance of Ahmanson Ranch Archaeological Sites

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