Fisher-Hunter-Gatherer Complexity on California’s Channel Islands

The Late and Historical Period Chumash and Tongva societies of southern California are canonical examples of complex maritime hunter-gatherers. This chapter explains the origins of economic and political complexity on southern California’s islands and coasts by focusing on the need of leaders to provision feasts, ceremonies, and other ritual activities. Drawing on the concept of the Ritual Economy, the chapter focuses on the evidence for the procurement and conveyance of numerous resources, including raw materials and formal tools, that were required for ritual performances and ceremonial activities. Many high-value items such as soapstone bowls, charmstones, bone whistles, and red ochre were patchily distributed across the region, of which some originate from single islands or sources, and would have been exchanged between islands as well as across the mainland coast. Shell beads produced by island bead specialists would have circulated in tandem with many of these goods. Surplus foods may also have been exchanged to support feasting. The ritual economy perspective employed in this chapter represents a move away from models of hunter-gatherer exchange focused on subsistence provisioning and toward an approach that accounts for the agency of individuals who sought to fulfill their ritual obligations.