Join SCAS for a presentation by Dusty McKenzie on: “Native Californian Fishing Practices Along the Central Coast During the Late Pre-Colonial Period.”
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 2024
TIME: 7:30 – 8:30 PM (Pacific)
This is a hybrid event! We invite you to join us in-person at the Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, or via Zoom (see below for Zoom registration form)!
ZOOM REGISTRATION FORM: SCAS Zoom Registration Form
***RSVP for Zoom by 6:30 PM on Thursday, October 10, 2024 *** Or show up to the Resource Center for Nonviolence by 7:30 to join us in-person!
A recently identified pattern shows an increased exploitation of small bodied intertidal fish along the shore of Central California during the latest pre-Colonial period. Fish including pricklebacks (Xiphister spp.) were unlikely caught with known types of fishing technology used by indigenous Californians but were rather captured by hand. Foraging experiments suggest that hand capturing small intertidal fish is associated with reduced caloric payoffs when compared to larger fish caught with hook and line or small schooling fish procured with nets. In fact, return rates for small intertidal fish is comparable with low-ranked shell fish species such as turban snails and small crabs that also increase in frequency within the Late Holocene archaeological record. It is argued that increased reliance low return-rate methods and taxa is the result of regional trends that included resource intensification and territorial circumscription. In addition, the minimal technological investments and reduced risk associated with hand capturing fish in the intertidal zone presumably appealed to an expanded demographic of foragers such as mothers, children, the elderly, and others with reduced mobility.
Dusty McKenzie has been involved in archaeology for over twenty-five years. During this time, he has conducted archaeological investigations in California, the Great Basin, Mexico, Germany, and Australia. His research interests have focused on hunter-gatherer maritime adaptations (especially fishing), experimental methodologies, and the cultural impacts of technology change. Dusty currently teaches archaeology and cultural anthropology at Cabrillo College and develops student-based research projects and archaeological field schools. When he is not in a classroom or playing in the dirt, Dusty loves piña coladas and getting caught in the rain…but he’s not into yoga!
