Archaeological Evidence for the Origin of the Plank Canoe in North America

2002 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn H. Gamble
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Southern California ◽  
New World ◽  
Sociopolitical Complexity ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Elite Group ◽  
Relative Dating ◽  
The Pacific

Advanced maritime technology associated with long-distance exchange and intensified resource acquisition has been linked to the development of stratification and greater sociopolitical complexity in the Pacific Rim region. One such example is the emergence of hereditary chiefs among the Chumash Indians of southern California. Plank boats owned by an elite group of wealthy individuals and chiefs were an integral part of an elaborate economic system that was based on maritime exchange. An artifact assemblage associated with the construction, maintenance, and use of this watercraft was identified and analyzed. It included wooden planks, asphaltum plugs, asphaltum caulking, and chipped stone drills. Radiocarbon dates and other relative-dating techniques provide strong evidence that the plank canoe originated at least 1,300 years ago in southern California. This represents the earliest use of this type of watercraft in North America and probably in the New World. The timing of this innovation provides evidence that sociopolitical complexity developed in the region at least 500 years earlier than previously proposed.

A NEW SUBSPECIES OF SENECIO MOHAVENSIS (COMPOSITAE) REVEALS OLD–NEW WORLD SPECIES DISJUNCTION

2001 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. COLEMAN ◽  
D. G. FORBES ◽  
R. J. ABBOTT
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Genetic Divergence ◽  
New World ◽  
Disjunct Distribution ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
New Subspecies ◽  
The North ◽  
Westerly Direction ◽  
New Treatment ◽  
Fertile Hybrids

Examination of morphology, ploidy and interfertility in the two subspecies of the Old World Senecio flavus (Decne.) Sch. Bip. (Compositae) and the closely related New World S. mohavensis A. Gray does not support the subspecific taxonomy of S. flavus. On the basis of our results S. flavus subsp. breviflorus Kadereit is transferred to S. mohavensis as a new subspecies: S. mohavensis subsp. breviflorus (Kadereit) M. Coleman comb. nov. The new subspecies has a distribution that includes Arabia, the Middle East, Sinai, Iran, Afghanistan, Djibouti, and the Thar Desert of Pakistan. The type subspecies of S. mohavensis occurs in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts of North America, providing an unusual disjunct distribution at the species level. Separation from S. flavus is based upon differences in morphology and chromosome number. Senecio flavus is diploid (2n = 20), while both subspecies of S. mohavensis are tetraploid (2n = 40). Further support for the new taxonomic treatment is provided by the results of controlled crosses. No artificial hybrids have been generated from crosses made between the previously recognized subspecies of S. flavus, while crosses between the newly recognized subspecies of S. mohavensis have produced fertile hybrids. The fertility of the hybrids is significantly lower than the parental taxa (P<0.001), indicating partial genetic divergence since isolation. Previous studies of isozyme and cpDNA variation in all three taxa also support the new treatment. The similarity of the S. mohavensis subspecies suggests a relatively recent separation, although the amount of genetic divergence does not support a post-Colombian introduction. Given that land bridges to North America via Beringia and the North Atlantic last existed in the Oligocene, long-distance dispersal seems the most likely explanation. Natural dispersal to rather than from the New World is supported, but whether this took place in an easterly or westerly direction is unclear. The evolution of S. mohavensis remains equivocal.

scholarly journals Added nerineoid gastropod evidence for a warm Turonian sea in southern California

2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 386-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. R. Saul ◽  
R. L. Squires
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Southern California ◽  
The Other ◽  
Northern California ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Northeastern Pacific ◽  
Pacific Slope ◽  
North America North

Nerineoids, so typical of the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous in Europe, are usually rare and lacking in diversity in North America north of Mexico. This is especially true of the Pacific slope faunas. Only three species of nerineoid gastropods have previously been reported from the Cretaceous of California (Saul and Squires, 1998). The oldest of these species, Aphanoptyxis andersoni Saul and Squires, 1998, is from the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian) in northern California. The other two species are Late Cretaceous (Turonian): Aphanoptyxis californica Saul and Squires, 1998, is from northern California, and Nerinella santana Saul and Squires, 1998, is from a locality and strata in southern California near the occurrence of Nerinella califae n. sp. The description of N. califae n. sp. gives California the greatest diversity of Turonian northeastern Pacific slope nerineoids, namely, Aphanoptyxis californica and two species of Nerinella. These Turonian nerineoids are also, thus far, the geologically youngest North American Pacific slope nerineoids.

Some Amerasian Pottery Traits in North Asian Prehistory

1953 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Tolstoy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North America ◽  
New World ◽  
The United States ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Eastern Siberia ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Old World ◽  
The Subject

Asiatic origins have, at one time or another, been suggested or at least considered for a number of traits connected with the manufacture and decoration of the earlier New World pottery. The well-known paper by McKern (1937) is among the most explicit statements on the subject. Griffin (1946; Sears and Griffin 1950a) has held similar views for some time. Like McKern, he has primarily in mind traits of the Woodland pattern of eastern North America, although he also mentions some non-Woodland traits among those which have counterparts in the Old World (1946, p. 45).Since McKern's paper, the distribution in time of the traits involved has become a lot better established. With the help of the still suspiciously regarded radiocarbon dates, our perspective on ceramic history in the United States has been extended over a span which appears to be that of some four millennia. Among the more significant additions to the Asiatic half of the distributional picture first place must be given to recent Soviet work in eastern Siberia.

Pacific Slope Cretaceous bivalves: eight venerid species

1993 ◽  
Vol 67 (6) ◽  
pp. 965-979 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. R. Saul
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
North America ◽  
Southern California ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Baja California ◽  
The Other ◽  
New Genera ◽  
The North ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Pacific Slope

Four new venerid species from the Cretaceous of the North American Pacific Slope are described and four previously described species are reassigned. Of the new species, two are allotted to new genera: Rhaiphiale based upon Rhaiphiale pharota n. sp. and Egrona based upon Egrona fallax n. sp., both Turonian in age and from southern California. The other new species are Loxo quintense n. sp., of late Maastrichtian age from California, and Paraesa cedrina n. sp., late Albian in age from Baja California, Mexico. The previously described species “Meretrix” arata Gabb, 1864, Turonian, and “?Meretrix” fragilis Gabb, 1869, late Maastrichtian, are placed in the new genus Callistalox; “Meretrix” lens (Gabb, 1864), Campanian age, and Flaventia zeta Popenoe, 1937, Turonian, are provisionally assigned to Paraesa Casey, 1952. This is the first identification of Paraesa from the Pacific Slope of North America. No species of Flaventia Jukes-Brown, 1908, is now known in Pacific Slope faunas.

Paleocoastal Marine Fishing on the Pacific Coast of the Americas: Perspectives from Daisy Cave, California

2001 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torben C. Rick ◽  
Jon M. Erlandson ◽  
René L. Vellanoweth
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
New World ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Economic Importance ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Fish Bones ◽  
Marine Habitats ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Fish Remains ◽  
Marine Fishing

Analysis of over 27,000 fish bones from strata at Daisy Cave dated between about 11,500 and 8500 cal B.P. suggests that early Channel Islanders fished relatively intensively in a variety of habitats using a number of distinct technologies, including boats and the earliest evidence for hook-and-line fishing on the Pacific Coast of the Americas. The abundance of fish remains and fishing-related artifacts supports dietary reconstructions that suggest fish provided more than 50 percent of the edible meat represented in faunal samples from the early Holocene site strata. The abundance and economic importance of fish at Daisy Cave, unprecedented among early sites along the Pacific Coast of North America, suggest that early maritime capabilities on the Channel Islands were both more advanced and more variable than previously believed. When combined with a survey of fish remains from several other early Pacific Coast sites, these data suggest that early New World peoples effectively used watercraft, captured a diverse array of fish, and exploited a variety of marine habitats and resources.

scholarly journals Setting the Stage: The Late Pleistocene Colonization of North America

Quaternary ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael O’Brien
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
New World ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Land Bridge ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Bering Land Bridge ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Northern Half

The timing of human entrance into North America has been a topic of debate that dates back to the late 19th century. Central to the modern discussion is not whether late Pleistocene-age populations were present on the continent, but the timing of their arrival. Key to the debate is the age of tools—bone rods, large prismatic stone blades, and bifacially chipped and fluted stone weapon tips—often found associated with the remains of late Pleistocene fauna. For decades, it was assumed that this techno-complex—termed “Clovis”—was left by the first humans in North America, who, by 11,000–12,000 years ago, made their way eastward across the Bering Land Bridge, or Beringia, and then turned south through a corridor that ran between the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets, which blanketed the northern half of the continent. That scenario has been challenged by more-recent archaeological and archaeogenetic data that suggest populations entered North America as much as 15,300–14,300 years ago and moved south along the Pacific Coast and/or through the ice-free corridor, which apparently was open several thousand years earlier than initially thought. Evidence indicates that Clovis might date as early as 13,400 years ago, which means that it was not the first technology in North America. Given the lack of fluted projectile points in the Old World, it appears certain that the Clovis techno-complex, or at least major components of it, emerged in the New World.

New Paleogene Fimbria (Mollusca: Bivalvia) from the Pacific Coast of southwestern North America

1990 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 552-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Squires
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
North America ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Southern California ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Marine Bivalve ◽  
Baja California Sur ◽  
Lower Eocene ◽  
The Pacific

The marine bivalve Fimbria susanensis n. sp. is reported from the uppermost Paleocene part of the “Meganos Stage” in the upper Santa Susana Formaton, Simi Hills, southern California.Fimbria pacifica n. sp. is reported from the middle lower Eocene “Capay Stage” strata of the Pacific coast of southwestern North America. The new species is present in the lower Bateque Formation, Baja California Sur, Mexico, and in the lower Juncal Formation, Whitaker Peak area and Santa Ynez Mountains, southern California.Fimbria susanensis n. sp. and F. pacifica n. sp. are the only fimbriids known from the Pacific coast of North America. Previously reported Pacific coast species, which gave a range of Late Cretaceous to late Eocene for this genus in this particular area, do not belong to Fimbria.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document