Abstract
The present thesis is a study of late prehistoric projectile point morphology in the southern North Coast Ranges of California and the degree to which it reflects patterns of social interaction. Late prehistoric projectile points in the southern North Coast Ranges exhibit considerable morphological variability. This thesis explores the hypothesis that this temporal and geographic variability resulted from social and historical factors rather than functional ones. The thesis further suggests that, especially within the last 500 years, the observed morphological variability corresponds with late nineteenth-century ethnolinguistic territories of the Pomo and Coast Miwok. In addition, patterns of morphological variability shed light on the social processes attendant to the linguistic divergences inferred by historical linguists. Specifically, the thesis addresses three interrelated questions: 1) whether the study area, encompassing the subregions Point Reyes Peninsula, Santa Rosa Plain, and Warm Springs-Lake Sonoma, exhibits a single regional seriation; 2) whether projectile point morphology in Point Reyes, Santa Rosa, and Warm Springs reflects historical relationships within each subregion; and 3) whether projectile point seriations from the study assemblages corroborate, falsify, or amplify the findings of previous researchers concerning exchange patterns within the study area and beyond. The theoretical framework of the thesis is evolutionary, drawing heavily from the work of selectionist evolutionary archaeologists (e.g., O'Brien and Lyman 2000). The problems outlined above are approached by attempting to identify projectile point traditions and exchange of projectile points in the study area. The occurrence seriation method, which involves ordering archaeological phenomena according to morphological properties, is employed to determine whether such processes are identifiable in the study areas. Published and unpublished archaeological sources from the southern North Coast Ranges were examined to identify artifact collections and documentary sources suitable for inclusion in the present study. In addition, archaeological collections at several repositories were examined. Data concerning projectile points in reports and collections were collected via photography, digital scanning, and written notes. The thesis concludes that local traditions of projectile point morphology likely have the greatest influence over artifact morphology because the regional analysis failed to produce a valid serdation. Only two valid subregional seriations were obtained, for the Santa Rosa Plain and Warm Springs Creek assemblages. The Point Reyes, Warm Springs, and Upper Dry Creek seriations all failed to produce valid orderings. The thesis finds that projectile point seriations from the study assemblages can corroborate, falsify, and amplify the findings of previous researchers concerning exchange relationships within the study area and beyond. Evidence for exchange between the Point Reyes and the Santa Rosa Plain is identified. In addition, it was found that some serrated projectile points were exchanged after 450 B.P., contradicting Jackson's (1986) hypothesis that serrated: points were exchanged only before that time. Finally, at Warm Springs, two distinct seriation groups were found that exhibit divergent obsidian source profiles, presumably reflecting different geographic foci of social interactions.