California Maritime Archaeology

A beautifully written synthesis of one of the most archaeologically fascinating places in western North America: San Clemente Island. The authors describe their findings from nearly two decades of intensive research on the island, from which they've established a cultural sequence that defies many longstanding assumptions about the prehistory of foragers in the northeastern Pacific. Their work addresses many of the most important issues in recent hunter-gatherer studies including coastal colonization of the New World, maritime intensification, the impacts of environmental variability on human populations, and social and cultural responses to European contact. They show that initial colonization of San Clemente Island was considerably earlier than anyone thought possible 20 years ago, and argue convincingly that the early Holocene settlers were not bumbling, failed big-game hunters who reluctantly took to the sea, but rather sophisticated maritime peoples with good woodworking and boatbuilding skills. From this improbable beginning, island societies progressed rapidly toward full sedentism at mid-Holocene and eventually became susceptible to extreme climate change during the late Holocene. Raab, Cassidy, Yatsko, and Howard have compiled an outstanding book that should be required reading for anyone interested in the archaeology and prehistory of western North America.