Robert L. Bettinger: Hunter-Gatherer Foraging: Five Simple Models

Clinton Corners, New york: Eliot Werner Publications, Inc., 2009, 111 pp., 20 gures, 42 tables, 8 appendices, $29.50 (paper)

Layton: Western Pomo Prehistory: Excavations at Albion Head, Nightbird's Retreat, and Three Chop Village, Mendocino County, California

Western Pomo Prehistory: Excavations at Albion Head, Nightbird's Retreat, and Three Chop Village, Mendocino County, California. Thomas N. Layton (with contributions by Dwight D. Simons ans Glen Wilson). Los Angeles: University of California Institute of Archaeology Monograph No. 32 1990, 229 pp., 77 figures, 74 tables, $20.00 (paper)

Sutton: Archaeological Investigations at the Owl Canyon Site (CA-SBR-3801), Mojave Desert, California

Archaeological Investigations at the Owl Canyon Site (CA-SBR-3801), Mojave Desert, California Mark Q. Sutton. Salinas: Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory No. 9, 1986, 72 pp., 17 figures, 3 Appendices, $3.95 (paper)

To Trade, or Not to Trade: a Pomo Example

This paper will attempt to demonstrate the inadequacy of this simplistic approach to trade. It will do so using ethnographic data from the Pomo Indians of California

Sutton: Archaeological Investigations at the Owl Canyon Site (CA-SBR-3801), Mojave Desert, California

Archaeological Investigations at the Owl Canyon Site (CA-SBR-3801), Mojave Desert, California Mark Q. Sutton. Salinas: Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory No. 9, 1986, 72 pp., 17 figures, 3 Appendices, $3.95 (paper)

Archaeology and Linguistics: Pomoan Prehistory as Viewed from Northern Sonoma County, California

The present paper, then, compares archaeological data from the Warm Springs Dam Project in northern Sonoma County (Fig. 1) with various linguistically derived reconstructions of Pomoan prehistoryin an attempt to determine the time-depth of Pomoan presence in the area. The paper argues for the necessity of such a "combined approach" and examines the requirements and assumptions inherent in it. In so doing, what follows can be seen as a test case of at least one way in which culture process may be elaborated. Two cultural breaks are present in the Warm Springs sequence, one of which seems best explained by the influx or impingement of Pomoan-speaking peoples and one which can be explained in terms of in situ functional reorientation, perhaps linked with social intensification

Morphological and Temporal Variations in Bifurcate-Stemmed Dart Points of the Western Great Basin

There continues to be controversy regarding the typological affinities and temporal placement of bifurcate-stemmed dart points across much of the Great Basin. Morphological analysis of 688 projectile points from eight localities suggests that much of this variation conforms to two formal expressions, gracile artifacts equating to the Gatecliff Split-stem series in more northern areas and robust artifacts consistent with historical descriptions of the Pinto series in the southwestern Great Basin. Available chronological data place Pinto forms significantly earlier than their gracile counterparts. Empirical assessment of material profiles further implies that morphological variation among Pinto points can be explained in terms of toolstone availability and knapping qualities, which alter blade form more profoundly than stem/shoulder characteristics. This may have general implications for debates concerning artifact recycling trajectories, typological integrity, and the utility of dart points as time markers

Aboriginal Exploitation of Pandora Moth Larvae in East-Central California

This paper examines one insect, the Pandora moth (Coloradia pandora lindseyi Barnes and Benjamin), and its role in the native subsistence systems of east-central California. Exploitation of Pandora moth larvae by the Mono Lake and Owens Valley Paiute has been the focus of varied attention in the literature for over seven decades. By and large, however, these accounts were not based on firsthand observation, and thus there has developed a corpus of misleading, often conflicting, information. The first part of this paper presents a critical evaluation of these discrepancies using both published and unpublished ethnographic, entomological, and archaeological data. Subsequent sections assess the importance of this resource relative to both short- and long-term regional subsistence strategies

Barrow Island lithic scatters: A unique record of occupation patterns on the North West Shelf before insularisation

A key inquiry in Pleistocene human coastal adaptations asks whether coastlines were productive littoral patches that were consistently utilized over time or did fluctuating sea levels make them marginally productive patches that only supplemented terrestrially oriented foraging. Investigating this issue is challenging because rising glacio-eustatic sea levels submerged most evidence of Pleistocene coastal occupation. We address the question directly by integrating this analysis of open-air lithic assemblages with previously reported cave excavations on Barrow and adjacent islands in Western Australia. Well-dated, stratified cave deposits bracket occupation of Barrow Island from c. 50 ka to 7 ka, when rising sea levels severed pedestrian access to the mainland. Consequently, the open-air sites are a solely Pleistocene to Early Holocene record of land-use when the extensive North West Shelf was as a vast coastal plain. These assemblages offer evidence of human interaction with Pleistocene sea-level change that were undetectable from cave deposits alone. While local calcarenite dominates cave lithic assemblages, it is rare among surface artifacts that are predominately lithologies that originate either on the mainland, or from now-drowned sources. The distribution of surface materials is statistically patterned across the island reflecting broader land-use patterns across the coastal plain. Expedient flake and core tools made mostly of igneous material are prevalent on sites in the north, whereas curated food processing and fabrication tools, and sedimentary lithologies, are more common in the south. While this study bolsters findings from the cave excavations that early Aboriginal people regularly moved across the coastal plain targeting coastal resources, it sheds light on their access to inland resources and suggests they were linked to the continental mainland by mobility, social networks, and exchange. Additionally, this research links contemporary Aboriginal communities from northwest Australia to the continental islands of the North West Shelf. The Barrow Island Archaeology project received support from the Buurabalayji Thalanyji Aboriginal Corporation, involving Thalanyji Knowledge Holders and elders: Glenys Hayes, Anne Hayes, Robyn Davison, and Jane Hyland