Late Southern California

By Sarah Berry and John R. Johnson

See "REGIONAL SUBTRADITIONS," below.

3000 B.P.-150 B.P.

Follows the terminal Early period, and encompasses the Middle, Late, and Spanish-Mexican periods.

Santa Barbara County south to about fifty miles south of the United States/Mexican border.

Shell middens with sea mammal and fish remains; chert microblade drills; a great variety of Olivella biplicata beads, including saucer and other wall disc beads, lipped beads, and callus cup beads; many types of Haliotis shell beads and ornaments; Megathura ring ornaments; clam cylinder, tube, and globular beads; serpentine tubular beads; chlorite schist disc beads; large mammal tube beads; shell bead applique attached with asphaltum used to decorate bowls, mortars, and other items; shaped, tapered, and cylindrical pestles; shaped globular mortars and flat-rimmed, "flower-pot" mortars; J-shaped and circular shell fishhooks; harpoon barbs; contracting stem dart points; small foliate and concave-based arrowpoints; small side-notched arrowpoints in the San Diego region; steatite cooking vessels; bird bone whistles; deer tibia flutes; stone pipes; charmstones, birdstones, and incised tablets; Southern California brownware; Yuman fired clay "bow" pipes and figurines

Prehistorically the area can be broken into the Santa Barbara Channel subregion in the north and the Los Angeles-San Diego subregion in the south. The term Canalino frequently has been used to describe the late subtradition in the north, and in the south the Archaic subtradition (this term has recently replaced the terms Encinitas, La Jolla, and Pauma) was superceded relatively late in prehistory by the San Luis Rey and Cuyamaca complexes. The term Intermediate horizon has seen use for a broad period that spanned portions of the Early and Late Southern California Traditions, but most recently has been redefined as an equivalent term for the Middle period. Based on the native languages used at European contact, the Southern California region can be divided into three culture areas. From north to south these are: (1) Chumash, representing an isolated linguistic family divided into Northern, Central, and Island branches; (2) Takic, a division of Uto-Aztecan, including the Tataviam, Gabrielino, Juaneño, an d Luiseño; and (3) Yuman, part of the Hokan superfamily and represented by the Kumeyaay or Diegueño (Ipai and Tipai).

NOQTO (CA-SBA-210), MIKIW (CA-SBA-78), Tecolote Canyon (CA-SBA-71, 72, and 73), Mescalitan Island (CA-SBA-46), Burton Mound (CA-SBA-28), Prisoners Harbor (CA-SCRI-206), Pitas Point (CA-VEN-27), Mission San Buenaventura (CA-VEN-87), SIMO'MO (CA-VEN-26), Malibu (CA-LAN-264), TA'LOPOP (CA-LAN-229), Medea Creek (CA-LAN-243), Ripper's Cove (CA-SCAI-26), Eel Point (CA-SCLI-43), Upper Newport Bay (CA-ORA-119), Pelican Hill (CA-ORA-662), French Flat (CA-ORA-672), PITUIDEM (CA-ORA-855), MOLPA (CA-SDI-308), TOM-KAV (CA-SDI-682), Dripping Springs (CA-SDI-860), YSTAGUA (CA-SDI-4609)

The climate is Mediterranean with mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers. Rainfall averages around 45 cm a year in the north and is less than 25 cm per year in the coastal plain near San Diego in the south. The climate has varied over the past 3000 years, although just how it varied is not precisely understood and new studies continue to refine the data. Pollen and sedimentation analysis from San Joaquin March, near Newport Bay, California, indicate a colder, wetter climate from 2800 to 2300 B.P. Studies of tree stumps in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and from the Transverse Ranges show periods of drought, many lasting twenty years or more. One severe period of successive droughts lasted from about 1200 to 650 B.P. Some sites were abandoned and new sites were occupied during this time period. A recent study of sea surface temperatures for the Santa Barbara Channel indicates that ocean temperatures were relatively warm and stable from 3000 to 1500 B.P.; were cool, but with highly variable temperatures between 1 500 and 600 B.P.; and sea surface temperatures were warmer and more stable again from 600 B.P to the present. However, a different study, using black abalone shells from archaeological sites, indicates there was a warm water period circa 850 to 750 B.P. followed by cooler water circa 700 to 600 B.P. How the sea surface temperature would have affected the terrestrial climate is debated, but it is known sea surface temperatures affect the health and distribution of marine plant and animal life used by coastal hunter-gatherers.

The topography of the area is dominated by two sets of mountain ranges: the Transverse Ranges, which start in northern Santa Barbara County and run east-west paralleling the coast for half their run, to end in the Mojave Desert; and the Peninsular Ranges, which run from Los Angeles County and run north-south, also paralleling the coast, to end at the tip of Baja California. They mostly range in elevation between 1000-2000 m high, with some peaks over 3000 m. Sheltered bays, lagoons, and a few estuaries are common off the Peninsular Ranges. A coastal plain runs between these mountains and the Pacific Ocean with the Los Angeles Basin forming a large bowl between these two ranges. Only a few major rivers bisect these mountains, draining west. Some major rivers are the Santa Ynez, Santa Clara, Los Angeles, San Gabriel, Santa Ana, San Luis Rey, and San Diego Rivers. Offshore there are two island groups: the Northern Channel Islands, composed of San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Anacapa Islands; and the South ern Channel Islands, composed of San Nicolas, Santa Barbara, Santa Catalina, and San Clemente Islands.

The Transverse Ranges are composed of Cenozoic sediments. The Peninsular Ranges were formed when granites intruded into older metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. The coastal plain is mainly Pleistocene marine terraces. Sea level, which rose rapidly at the end of the Pleistocene, continued a more gradual rise of another 2-3 m after 3000 B.P. Marine cliff erosion has continued throughout the Holocene.

Plant communities include grasslands, chaparral, coastal sage scrub, oak woodlands, riparian woodlands, riparian scrub, and wetlands. Some of the more important food plants were red maids ( Calandrinia spp.), chia ( Salvia columbariae), native barley ( Hordeum intercedens), maygrass ( Phalaris spp.), goosefoot ( Chenopodium spp.), brodiaea, ( Dichelostemma capitatum), yucca ( Yucca whipplei), holly-leaf cherry or islay ( Prunus ilicifolia), and oaks ( Quercus spp.). Terrestrial fauna found in the area included grizzly and brown bear, mule deer, mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, gray fox, skunk, cottontail, jackrabbit, California ground squirrel, and pocket gopher. Birds included eagles, hawks, vultures, owls, woodpeckers, quail, and various songbirds. Important marine and shore species included shellfish, fish, marine mammals (pinnipeds, sea otters, and cetaceans), and waterfowl (cormorants, gulls, ducks, geese, and various seabirds).

Generally people became more sedentary through time, aggregating in large, permanent settlements, especially in the Santa Barbara Channel coastal region. Villages had discrete territories and were generally politically autonomous, although intercommunity marriages linked villages in different ecological zones. Families left these principal villages to stay in camps for extended periods to gather various resources, such as seeds and yucca stalks in the late spring and acorns in the fall. Foraging territories appear to have decreased through time, forcing more intensive use of specific resources and creating a greater range of site types. Settlements were always near potable water.

The increasingly sophisticated exploitation of the productive Santa Barbara Channel fishery starting around 3000 B.P. correlates with increased population and large, permanent coastal settlements. By European contact there were around 150 Chumash villages or towns on the mainland and the islands, with about two-thirds of the Chumash population residing next to the sea. These towns were relatively independent, but there is some evidence for a settlement hierarchy with the chiefs of some centrally located towns having a measure of authority over surrounding villages. Ceremonial fiestas were held at these principal towns at several times during the year. Some mainland coastal villages were trading centers with islanders as permanent residents.

In San Diego County prior to 3000 B.P. people occupied the coastal region most of the year to exploit the rich estuarine environment (shellfish and plant resources were the main components of the diet). Fewer archaeological sites have been found which date between 3250 and 1500 B.P than for the previous or the following 1500 years. This lack of sites is attributed to sedimentation and infilling of coastal lagoons, thus depleting shellfish and other lagoon resources. As this happened, people settled inland and appear to have occupied the coast only seasonally. Coastal sites in this time range are more common around San Diego and Mission Bays where shellfish were still abundant. By 1769 A.D. villages were once again located along the coast north of Mission Bay as noted by the Portolá expedition in 1769. Part of this apparent gap in the archaeological record could result from population decline or movement as people adjusted to resource shifts, but lack of coastal sites during this period may be caused by alluvial deposition, which has covered sites located in the valley floors.

By historic times the Kumeyaay (Diegueño) were organized into territorial bands that controlled 10-30 miles along a drainage. Between 50-75 groups were found throughout Kumeyaay territory, with each band having 5-15 clans. This allowed individuals and families to move from one area to another when necessary.

The incorporation of the native populations into the Mission system started in 1771. By 1833-35 when the missions were secularized, most (all, in some regions) native villages had been abandoned. Those settlements that continued to be occupied were composed of former Mission Indians.

In the Santa Barbara Channel region the Spanish remarked on how some villages were laid out with orderly rows of houses and streets. Most villages, however, consisted of a cluster of houses, a cemetery, and a ceremonial enclosure (a circular area surrounded by a windbreak made of poles and mats), which was often used as a dance floor. Other structures found in villages were semi-subterranean sweatlodges, menstrual houses, windbreaks, and storage and drying facilities.

People lived in domed pole and thatch houses. Wooden poles were inserted in the ground in a circle and then tied together at the top to form a dome. Crosspieces were then tied onto the upright poles and finally, a thatch of grass, reeds, or woven mats were secured to the frame. Houses were usually occupied by a nuclear family of four to seven people. Chumash houses contained permanent furniture in the form of raised, frame beds with divisions between them for privacy. A hearth in the center would be used for cooking and heating. Storage pits could also be located inside a home. Chiefs' houses among the Chumash were larger and better constructed than others.

In the south, the houses were slightly subterranean and a ramada (a square, brush-covered, open structure) would be constructed nearby where most of the women's activities such as cooking would take place.

The migration of Takic speakers into southern California often has been linked to the late prehistoric period, however no consensus has emerged regarding the timing of this expansion and presumed population replacement. A similar migration has been proposed for Yuman speakers from the Colorado River area who are believed to have absorbed or overrun Archaic peoples. The archaeological evidence for such migrations has been inferred largely from changes in material culture and burial practices during the transition from the Middle to Late Periods, including the introduction of small projectile points, ceramics, Obsidian Butte obsidian, and the change from flexed burials to cremation.

At the time of the establishment of the first missions in the Santa Barbara Channel region in the late nineteenth century, about 20,000 people resided in approximately 150 towns on the mainland and the islands. The population of the largest Chumash towns was about 1000 people, but most towns numbered around 100-250 people. In the areas inhabited by speakers of Takic languages, there were at least 300 villages with village populations ranging from 50-200 people per village. Population figures for the Kumeyaay range from 10,000-20,000 people in approximately 85 villages.

During the persistent droughts that occurred during the transition from Middle Period to the Late Period (1200 to 650 B.P.) health declined and malnutrition rose, as is documented in Chumash cemeteries by increasing frequencies of disease and decreasing stature. Populations appear to have declined during this time all over southern California.

The incorporation of the native population into the Mission system began in 1769. Introduced European diseases led to high infant mortality and a dramatic population decline both within mission communities and in native villages.

Throughout the region people mainly gathered, fished, and hunted. Women did most of the gathering, and men fished and hunted. Among the Kumeyaay, ethnographic evidence suggests that deer hunting was undertaken only by certain skilled men. Foraging territory generally decreased in size during the late prehistoric period forcing more intensive use of specific resources and creating a wider range of site types. In spring and early summer people gathered seeds; late summer was spent on the coast for fishing (although anywhere kelp beds grew, people fished throughout the year); pine nuts, wild cherry pits, and acorns were gathered in the fall; and winter was spent in the primary village where the main food supplies were stored.

In areas where the coast was sheltered and allowed for the launching of boats, fishing increased as a means of livelihood throughout the period. More elaborate forms of fishing technology (such as the development of the plank canoe and use of nets, harpoons, and circular shell fishhooks) produced the ability to catch a wider variety of fish species. Sea mammals never contributed significantly to the diet and their importance decreased in the Late Period.

In contrast to the mainlanders, islanders depended more on fish and sea mammals. Some of these resources were traded, along with shell bead money, for seeds and acorns from the mainlanders. In general, foods were traded between ecological zones. For example, among the Chumash, coastal dwellers traded fish and shellfish with people who lived further inland for their local resources such as honeydew sugar, pine nuts, and different species of acorns than those available on the coast.

Fish, shellfish, and marine mammals were the main sources of animal protein along the coast, and these foods increased in importance during this time period. Inland peoples depended mostly on deer and rabbit. Staple plant foods were seeds, such as chia ( Salvia columbariae) and red maids ( Calandrinia spp.) and acorns from various species of oaks, all of which would be eaten as a mush or gruel.

Food procurement became more labor intensive through time. Fishing increasingly relied upon nets and coordinated labor to capture smaller schooling fish such as sardines. Also smaller species of shellfish were gathered, the bean clam ( Donax gouldii) in the south and Tegula spp. in the north, which were cooked by placing the whole shell in a pot to make a soup. Ethnographic evidence suggests intensive exploitation of small mammals, such as mice, and insects. Collecting and processing of plant foods also became more labor intensive. For instance, sites in San Diego County dated before 3000 B.P. to 1300 B.P. have manos and metates which suggest a reliance on seeds, while the mortar and pestle, which can be used to process acorns, apparently appeared after this time. Acorns are more difficult to prepare, because they must be ground, leached, and cooked before they are edible.

Although they did not practice agriculture, Native Californians regularly manipulated their environment with vegetation burning. The deliberate burning promoted fire-following plants such as red maids ( Calandrinia spp.), chia ( Salvia columbariae), native barley ( Hordeum intercedens), maygrass ( Phalaris spp.), goosefoot ( Chenopodium spp.), and brodiaea ( Dichelostemma capitatum). Patchy areas of brush and grassland, which is the outcome of controlled burning, also provides better habitat for deer and rabbit.

Spanish authorities suppressed the practice of grassland burning and introduced large herds of grazing animals, further diminishing the wild seed crops on which people were dependent. Coupled with these changes, environmental conditions during much of the Mission Period generally appear to have been unfavorable, leading to reduced wild foods. The introduction of domestic grazing animals and agriculture encouraged native peoples to shift subsistence practices to ensure a more reliable food supply.

Shell, bone, stone, wood, and ceramics were used to make a wide variety of objects. Shell was used to make fishhooks, beads for trade or decoration, and eating utensils. Bone was used to make awls, harpoon barbs, beads, flutes, and whistles. Flaked stone tools include dart and arrowpoints, drills, knives, and scrapers, which were mostly manufactured from chert, chalcedony, jasper, and fused shale. Other materials used were quartzite, andesite, rhyolite, and basalt. Most obsidian items were finished implements acquired through trade. Ground stone tools include manos, metates, mortars, pestles, and bowls, made from sandstone, steatite, basalt, and granite. Effigies and ritual plaques were made from steatite, schist, and serpentine. Wood was used for many implements, including sinew-backed and self-bows, arrow and harpoon shafts, wooden bowls, clapper sticks, bullroarers, and finely carved bowls. Arrow mainshafts were made from carrizo cane ( Phragmites australis). Basketry techniques include coiling, and open and closed twining, using such preferred materials as Indian rush ( Juncus texilis), sumac ( Rhus trilobata), and deer grass ( Muhlenbergia rigens). Mats were woven from tule or bulrush ( Scripus spp.), which was also used for thatching on domed houses constructed from a willow or sycamore frame. Cordage, nets, and carrying bags were manufactured from dogbane ( Apocynum cannabinum), milkweed ( Asclepias spp.), nettles ( Urtica holosericea), yucca ( Yucca whipplei), and surf grass ( Phyllospadix torreyi). Fiber brushes were made from soaproot ( Chlorogalum pomeridianum). Asphaltum was applied with tarring pebbles used to coat twined water bottles. Asphaltum was also used as an adhesive to repair items or affix beads for decoration. Southern California brownware pottery began to be manufactured after 1300 B.P. in the San Diego region and was adopted generally during mission times by the Chumash and Gabrielino. The technique used was primarily paddle and anvil.

The most important technological innovation among the Chumash and the Gabrielino was the TOMOL, a sturdy watercraft made from pine and redwood planks split from driftwood logs, sewn together with hemp cordage, and caulked with asphaltum mixed with pine pitch. The TOMOL was used for fishing, sea mammal hunting, and transport of cargo (up to a ton or more) and people. Evidence for TOMOL manufacture coincides with the earliest use of harpoons and the appearance of swordfish remains in archaeological deposits around 2000 B.P. Based on the early Spanish descriptions of Chumash towns, it can be estimated that the crew of each TOMOL was fishing to support about 40 people.

Among the Chumash, shell fishhooks made their appearance during the early Middle Period, followed by bone and stone-tipped harpoons with inset bone barbs. Nets were used to harvest schooling fish, such as the Pacific sardine. Sardine remains are abundant in archaeological sites of the Late Period Chumash and Gabrielino. Throughout the southern California region, the bow and arrow replaced the atlatl and dart as implements for hunting and defense about 1500 B.P.

The different techniques of basket-making were used for different types of vessels. For instance, twined jars lined with asphaltum were used for water bottles while coiled baskets were for food preparation (basket mortar hoppers, winnowing baskets, and trays for serving), burden baskets, or storage vessels. Mats were also woven and could be used for doors, beds, or the partitions between the beds, and fencing.

South of the Chumash region during the late prehistoric period clay was made into pipes for smoking tobacco, storage vessels, bowls, and other utilitarian items.

People frequently decorated themselves by tattooing and painting their faces and bodies daily with ochre and other minerals (the women partly doing it to protect their skin from sunburn). Men and women both wore beaded necklaces and the men carried pins and knives in their hair for decoration. Among the Chumash and Gabrielino, everyday items were often decorated with shell inlay and applique, carving, or painting. Basketry decoration was an inherent part of the twining or coiling process, accomplished by changing the color of the material used. In addition to being strung as necklaces, stone, bone, and shell beads were used for decorating hair, clothing, ritual paraphernalia, and utilitarian objects.

By 800 B.P., the increased importance of economic exchange is signaled by the development of shell bead currency. While shell beads of various types had been used throughout the time period as forms of ornamentation, now they acquired an added monetary function, forming a medium of exchange between Chumash and Gabrielino communities and spread throughout much of southern California. One unit of measure was a string of beads essentially run two and one half turns around the wrist and the outstretched fingers. A monetized trade system allowed Chumash and Gabrielino communities to buffer environmentally induced shortfalls that may have been experienced in any one part of the region by promoting greater resource-sharing between towns. Shell bead varieties increased dramatically and the highest-valued bead type was the Olivella callus "cup" bead, which appeared for the first time around 800 B.P. A whole industry of bead production developed on the Northern Channel Islands. Indeed the name "Chumash" was originally applied only to the native islanders by the mainland Indians and appears to be derived from 'ALCHUM, the word for 'bead money.'

Among the Chumash and Gabrielino most exchange took place during periodic ceremonial gatherings and fiestas, but also would occur outside of these fiestas. Islanders tended to export manufactured goods, such as shell beads and stone digging stick weights from Santa Cruz Island and steatite bowls and effigies from Santa Catalina Island. The people on the mainland coast traded fish and shell beads to the people inland and traded seeds, acorns, roots, bows, arrows, furs, burden baskets, large baskets, and deer bone to the islanders. People inland traded acorns and islay ( Prunus ilicifolia) to the islanders and fish, game, seeds, pine nuts, and other fruits, foxskin capes, and blankets to the people on the mainland coast. In all the groups throughout southern California people traded food and raw materials that were common in their local resource areas for items that were common in neighboring areas.

The Chumash also traded with peoples outside their region, although to a lesser extent. They obtained honeydew sugar, carrizo cane, and native tobacco from the Yokuts in the San Joaquin Valley and red ochre and blankets from the Mohave. There is extensive evidence for exchange between Chumash and Gabrielino peoples. The Gabrielino on the mainland also traded with their close linguistic relatives on the Southern Channel Islands. Evidence of long distance trade between the Hohokam (via Mohave traders) and the Takic and Yuman areas has been found in burials with Glycymeris shell bracelets, fired clay anthropomorphs, and Sonoran projectile points. Shifts in long distance trade have been documented in the San Diego area with obsidian from the Coso Range in the Great Basin present in archaeological assemblages dated before 700 B.P. and with obsidian from Obsidian Butte used after this date.

Some of the best archaeological evidence for craft specialization comes from Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina Islands. On Santa Cruz Island after 700 B.P., certain villages specialized in the production of triangular chert microblades that were then traded to other island villages where Olivella shell beads were produced. On Santa Catalina an industry developed to manufacture steatite bowls, pipes, ritual objects, ornaments, and cooking utensils. Among the Chumash, a craft guild was associated with the construction of the TOMOL or plank canoe.

Men were hunters and fishermen and undertook the manufacture of chipped stone, ground stone, bone, and wooden tools. Women wove basketry and mats, and worked with ground stone tools and other items needed for seed-gathering and processing activities. Both men and women participated in the acorn and yucca harvests.

Before 700 B.P., generalized Olivella shell bead manufacture took place on both the Northern Channel Islands and along the mainland coast. During the climatic changes, between 1200-650 B.P., certain individuals or families on Santa Cruz Island appear to have restricted access to the chert sources needed for microblade manufacture, thus acquiring some measure of control over microblade and bead manufacturing processes. Because shell beads were used as a medium of exchange, wealth and power accrued to those who maintained such control. A parallel situation appears to have been present on Santa Catalina Island with respect to the development of the steatite bowl-making industry. On the mainland, certain centrally-located Chumash towns appear to have gained ascendancy over their neighbors through being in a better position for their chiefs to broker trade between island villages and inland settlements.

Most Chumash practiced matrilocal residence, i.e., a husband would move to live among his wife's relatives upon marriage. Chiefs' families were the exception to this rule; most of the time chiefs' wives moved to their husbands' communities. In Chumash society, usually only the chiefs had the prerogative of having more than one wife, partly because marriages between chiefs' families strengthened intervillage alliances. Patrilocal residence was practiced among Takic and Yuman peoples to the south of the Chumash, where both single clan and multi-clan communities have been documented.

Hereditary chiefs existed among the Chumash and probably the Gabrielino. Ethnohistoric accounts document the existence of more than one chief in the largest Chumash towns, of which one was the paramount authority. Throughout most of southern California, villages were politically autonomous with discrete territories, but among the Chumash there is some evidence of settlement hierarchies with certain towns regarded as "capitols" for surrounding villages. A chief's duties included making war or peace, settling disputes, giving advice, scheduling economic and religious activities (such as ceremonial fiestas), contributing money to cover the costs of ceremonies and public performances by shamans, taking care of ceremonial objects, and feeding visitors and the needy. This position was inherited mostly from father to son, even apparently among the otherwise matrilocal Chumash. Chiefs had assistants known as the PAXA (or PAHA) who relayed orders and information and who also had important religious duties such as arranging ceremonies and collecting money at fiestas. Among the Chumash, a messenger who assisted the chief was known as the KSEN.

One of the duties of a village chief was to adjudicate inter-village and intra-village conflicts. Chiefs were allied with shamans and were reputed to have their enemies poisoned, the threat of which helped enhance their political power and encouraged people to conform. Individuals threatening public safety could be executed with the approval of the village chief.

Interpersonal violence (and probably warfare) appears to have increased during persistent droughts that occurred between 1200 and 650 B.P., as competition developed over scarce resources. Warfare between Chumash towns was quite prevalent at the time of European contact, where the men were reported to sleep in sweatlodges at night for safety. Causes of warfare mentioned in early ethnohistoric records include competition for fishing or hunting-gathering territories and retribution for previous attacks or perceived instances of witchcraft. Among most southern California Indian groups, the ethnographic and ethnohistoric literature describes torture preceding the killing of war captives and includes decapitation or scalping for war trophy display from high poles near the village ceremonial enclosure. Warfare was, one means of achieving elevated status. Weapons included war clubs, bows, arrows, wooden sabers, throwing clubs, slings, and reed armor.

Most of what is known about religious beliefs comes from the ethnographic literature.

The Chumash believed everything possessed spiritual power that could be used by humans and supernatural beings for either good or bad. The world was kept in balance when people behaved properly and performed ceremonies correctly. According to Chumash mythology, Sun and Evening Star played a gambling game of peon against Coyote and Morning Star. When Sun's team won there was death, when Coyote's team won there was rain, and therefore food and life.

Many California Indians believed the universe was divided into an upper, middle, and lower world, one resting on top of the other. The upper world was the world of supernatural beings; the middle world was the world of people, animals, and plants, usually surrounded by water; and the lower world was inhabited by beings malevolent to humans. For the Chumash, the upper world was inhabited by Sun, Moon, and the First People. A giant eagle, whose wings swept Sun, Moon, and the stars along their paths supported the upper world. The middle world had once been inhabited by the First People until the time of a great flood. After that a council composed of Sun, Moon, Morning Star, Sky Coyote, Lizard, and the Great Eagle created man. With the creation of man came life and death; with all living things going through a cycle of reincarnation.

Among Takic groups to the south of the Chumash, the CHINGICHNGISH religion arose, centered around a dying god motif. The death of the culture hero WIYOT led to the creation of the existing universe by CHINGICHNGISH, whose spirit was worshiped in the WAMKISH (ceremonial dance ground located near a chief's house).

Religious sodalities, such as YIVARAKAM and 'ANTAP, were important for performing religious ceremonies, sacred songs and dances. Such cults, which included people from different villages, helped maintain intervillage ties. Shamans intermediated between this world and that of the supernatural. A person could become a shaman after drinking toloache, a hallucinogenic drink made from jimsonweed ( Datura meteloides), and then having a vision in which he or she acquired a spirit helper. A shaman might possess more than one spirit helper. Shamans used their powers to aid in hunting, decision-making, rainmaking, and healing.

The most important ceremony among the Chumash was the winter solstice celebration, KAKUNUPMAWA, which commemorated the "rebirth" of the sun. Many of the famous Chumash rock painting sites include motifs that are widely interpreted as depictions of the sun and are believed to be connected with Winter Solstice rituals. Another important ceremony among the Chumash was the fall harvest ceremony.

There were a variety of rituals conducted by southern California Indian groups, including ceremonies for birth, naming of children, coming of age, drinking toloache, marriage, illness and recovery from illness, a chief's birthday, and mourning. Most ceremonies would have taken place at the main village, but others would be conducted at shrines or other sacred sites.

Pictographs are most common among the Chumash, with petroglyphs being more common south of the Santa Barbara Channel region. Shamans are believed responsible for most rock art. Most sites are located in caves and rock shelters in remote locations. In the south, however, pictographs are often found on boulders near village sites. Motifs include abstract designs (zigzags, dots, grids, and other geometric forms.), representations from nature (the sun, stars, humans, and animals), and supernatural beings. The most common pictograph colors were red, black, and white, although yellow and blue were also used at some sites. Some rock art sites appear to have been used as observatories where rituals were conducted at the winter solstice. Sand paintings formed an important part of certain rituals among Takic and Yuman peoples south of the Chumash. There are ethnographic records of rock paintings being used in girls' puberty ceremonies among the Luiseño and the Kumeyaay.

Portable art consisted of carved steatite effigies and incised plaques and tablets, some of which were made on Santa Catalina Island and traded elsewhere. Pottery dolls and effigies were used by the Luiseño and the Kumeyaay. Ceramic decoration occasionally included painting with ochre and incising.

Although flexed burials were the predominant method of internment throughout southern California from 3000 to 1300 B.P., some cemeteries contain mostly extended burials during the Middle Period. By 1300 B.P., cremation had become the norm south of the Chumash region, except on the Southern Channel Islands. In addition to flexed burials among the Chumash, reburials were also common. The Chumash believed that a person was reincarnated some years after death and that children were reincarnations of their ancestors. All southern California groups had some form of the mourning ceremony. Among the Gabrielino, the mourning ceremony was held annually in the fall after the acorn harvest and lasted eight days. It included instructing the young in ritual, songs, dances, feasting, and visiting. On the fourth day all children born in the past year were named. On the fifth day life-size images of the deceased were made. The sixth day included an eagle killing ceremony and on the eighth day the images were brought into the village's ceremonial enclosure and burned along with personal items from the deceased.

Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication, and eHRAF document number.

The Late Southern California collection consists of 19 documents, all in English. The collection covers the time period from 3000 B.P. to 150 B.P. The area discussed by these documents extends from northern Santa Barbara County to San Diego County, mostly along the coast, and includes the Northern Channel Islands. The Chumash are the culture group that is the primary focus of the documents in this collection.

Several works focus on the Island Chumash, specifically Santa Cruz Island. Specialized production of chert microblades is explored by Arnold (1987, no.1) and she presents a model of how a simple chiefdom society may have developed in the next work (Arnold, 1992, no.2). Colten (1995, no. 4) uses faunal data to discuss subsistence on the Channel Islands and the mainland.

The Purisimeño Chumash are discussed in Glassow's report on excavations on Vandenberg Air Force Base (1996, no. 5). The Purisimeño Chumash are the northern-most group covered in this collection. This document includes a synopsis of the Chumash culture at the time of European contact.

Many of the documents focus on HELO', a historic Chumash village near Santa Barbara. Gamble (1991, no. 8) reports on the findings from some recent excavations at the site. Other works on HELO' include King's (1990, no. 9) analysis of the beads; Bamforth's (1990, no. 10) lithic analysis of the stone tools and debitage, which includes microwear analysis of some of the tools; Glenn's (1990, no. 11) report on the fish remains and Denardo's (1990, no. 12) study of the shellfish remains. Johnson (1990, no. 13) did ethnohistoric research on HELO' and the other surrounding villages of the Goleta slough to describe the village from first contact in 1769 to 1805.

King (1971, no. 14) conducted ethnohistoric research to explore exchange systems between the Inland, Coastal, and Island Chumash.

Gamble has another work included in this collection (1995, no. 7) which uses archaeological and ethnohistorical data to describe houses and sweatlodges found throughout the Chumash region.

Two works are analyses of cemeteries in the southern range of the Chumash, in the Santa Monica Mountains (King, 1982, no. 15 and Martz, 1992, no. 16).

The non-Chumash works describe the excavations and analyses of the historic village of YSTAGUA in San Diego County (ERC, 1989, no. 3; Christenson, 1989, no. 19; and Christenson, 1989, no 20).

Raab (1997, no. 17) and Arnold (1997, no. 18) discuss climatic disruption and its effects. Arnold's article is a comment or rebuttal to the Raab article.

For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in this collection, see the appropriate abstract in the citations preceding each document.

The major tradition summary is from the article, "Late Southern California," by Sarah Berry and John R. Johnson, in the Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Peter N. Peregrine and Melvin Ember, eds. New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation, forthcoming. We thank John R. Johnson for bibliographic suggestions. The synopsis and indexing notes were written by Sarah Berry in 1999.

Arnold, Jeanne E. 1987. Craft specialization in the prehistoric Channel Islands, California. Berkeley: University of California Publications in Anthropology, 18.

Arnold, Jeanne E. 1992. Complex hunter-gatherer-fishers of prehistoric California: chiefs, specialists, and maritime adaptations of the Channel Islands. American Antiquity, Vol.: 57. 60-84pp.

Colten, Roger. 1995. Faunal exploitation during the Middle to Late period transition on Santa Cruz Island, California. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, Vol.: 17. 93-120pp

ERC Environmental and Energy Services Co. (editor). 1989. Village of Ystagua (Rimbach SDI-4513) testing, significance, and management. San Diego: ERCE.

Gamble, Lynn (editor). 1990. Archaeological investigations at Helo' on Mescalitan Island. Santa Barbara: Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara

Gamble, Lynn. 1995. Chumash architecture: sweatlodges and houses. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, Vol.: 17. 54-92pp.

Glassow, Michael A. 1996. Purisimeño Chumash prehistory: maritime adaptations along the southern California coast. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

Grenda, Donn R., Jeffrey A. Holmburg, and Jeffrey H. Altschul (editors). 1994. The Centinela site (CA-LAN-60): data recovery at a Middle period creek-edge site in the Ballona wetlands, Los Angeles County. Tucson: Statistical Research Technical Series 45.

Holmes, Marie S., and John R. Johnson. 1998. The Chumash and their predecessors: an annotated bibliography, vol. 1-5. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Contributions in Anthropology, No. 1.

Hudson, Travis, and Thomas C. Blackburn. 1982-1987. Material culture of the Chumash interaction sphere, Vol. 1-5. Los Altos and Santa Barbara: Ballena Press/Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Cooperative Publication.

Johnson, John R. 1988. Chumash social organization: an ethnohistoric perspective. Santa Barbara: University of California, Santa Barbara.

Kennett, Douglas J., and James P. Kennett. 2000. Competitive and cooperative responses to climatic instability in coastal Southern California. American Antiquity, Vol.: 65.

King, Chester D. 1976. Chumash inter-village economic exchange. IN Native Californians: a theoretical retrospective, edited by Bean, Lowell J. and Thomas C. Blackburn. Socorro, NM: Ballena Press. 289-318pp.

King, Chester D. 1990. The evolution of Chumash society. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.

King, Linda B. 1982. Medea Creek Cemetery: late inland Chumash patterns of social organization, exchange and warfare. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles.

Koerper, Henry C., Adella B. Schroth, Roger D. Mason, and Mark L. Peterson. 1996. Arrow projectile point types as temporal types: evidence from Orange County, California. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, Vol.: 18. 258-283pp.

Martz, Patricia. 1992. Status distinctions reflected in Chumash mortuary populations in the Santa Monica Mountains region. IN Essays on the prehistory of maritime California. Edited by Jones, Terry L. Davis: Center for Archaeological Research at Davis Publication No. 10. 145-156.

Moratto, Michael J. 1984. California archaeology. Orlando: Academic Press, Inc.

Raab, L. Mark, and Daniel O. Larson. 1997. Medieval climatic anomaly and punctuated cultural evolution in coastal Southern California. American Antiquity, Vol.: 62. 319-336pp.

Raab, L. Mark, Katherine Bradford, and Andrew Yatsko. 1994. Advances in southern Channel Islands archaeology: 1983 to 1993. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, Vol: 16. 243-270pp.

Reinman, Fred, and Hal Eberhart. 1980. Test Excavations at the Ripper's Cove Site. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly, Vol.: 16. 61-105pp.

True, Delbert L. 1966. Archaeological differentiation of Shoshonean and Yuman speaking groups in Southern California. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles.

True, D. L., C. W. Meighan, and Harvey Crew. 1974. Archaeological investigations at Molpa, San Diego County, California. Berkeley: University of California Publications in Anthropology, vol. 11.

True, D. L., Rosemary Pankey, and C. N. Warren. 1991. Tom-Kav: a late village site in northern San Diego County, California, and its place in the San Luis Rey complex. Berkeley: University of California Publications: Anthropological Records, vol. 30.

Van Camp, Gena R. 1979. Kumeyaay pottery: paddle-and-anvil techniques of Southern California. Socorro, NM: Ballena Press Anthropological Papers 15.

Wlodarski, R. 1979. Catalina Island Soapstone Manufacture. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology. Vol.: 1331-355. pp.