Climate Change and Subsistence Exchange in Southern California : Was Western Sea-Purslane a Channel Island Trade Good?
(2017) In American Antiquity 82(1). p.183-188- Abstract
- A popular model for social evolution in the Santa Barbara Channel region holds that, during times of resource stress, islanders would trade with mainlanders for plant foods in order to supplement island diets. Recently, western sea-purslane (Sesuvium verrucosum) has been suggested as a primary food product involved in this exchange. This report presents new caloric values for Sesuvium verrucosum and other plant foods that have been indicated as possible cross-channel trade goods. We argue that western sea-purslane is unlikely to have been a major trade item and suggest an alternate possibility for the presence of sea-purslane seeds in archaeological middens on Santa Cruz Island. While climate change may indeed have impacted social... (More)
- A popular model for social evolution in the Santa Barbara Channel region holds that, during times of resource stress, islanders would trade with mainlanders for plant foods in order to supplement island diets. Recently, western sea-purslane (Sesuvium verrucosum) has been suggested as a primary food product involved in this exchange. This report presents new caloric values for Sesuvium verrucosum and other plant foods that have been indicated as possible cross-channel trade goods. We argue that western sea-purslane is unlikely to have been a major trade item and suggest an alternate possibility for the presence of sea-purslane seeds in archaeological middens on Santa Cruz Island. While climate change may indeed have impacted social histories in the Channel Region, we argue that current data do not support the transportation of plant foods as having been a major component in this process. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/b8a05d77-aee3-4fdc-9e77-935bbbca420c
- author
- Fauvelle, Mikael
LU
; Esch, Ellen and Somerville, Andrew
- publishing date
- 2017
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- American Antiquity
- volume
- 82
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 183 - 188
- publisher
- Society for American Archaeology
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85016033776
- ISSN
- 0002-7316
- DOI
- 10.1017/aaq.2016.3
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- b8a05d77-aee3-4fdc-9e77-935bbbca420c
- date added to LUP
- 2021-07-02 10:20:26
- date last changed
- 2023-04-18 22:33:14
@article{b8a05d77-aee3-4fdc-9e77-935bbbca420c, abstract = {{A popular model for social evolution in the Santa Barbara Channel region holds that, during times of resource stress, islanders would trade with mainlanders for plant foods in order to supplement island diets. Recently, western sea-purslane (Sesuvium verrucosum) has been suggested as a primary food product involved in this exchange. This report presents new caloric values for Sesuvium verrucosum and other plant foods that have been indicated as possible cross-channel trade goods. We argue that western sea-purslane is unlikely to have been a major trade item and suggest an alternate possibility for the presence of sea-purslane seeds in archaeological middens on Santa Cruz Island. While climate change may indeed have impacted social histories in the Channel Region, we argue that current data do not support the transportation of plant foods as having been a major component in this process.}}, author = {{Fauvelle, Mikael and Esch, Ellen and Somerville, Andrew}}, issn = {{0002-7316}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{1}}, pages = {{183--188}}, publisher = {{Society for American Archaeology}}, series = {{American Antiquity}}, title = {{Climate Change and Subsistence Exchange in Southern California : Was Western Sea-Purslane a Channel Island Trade Good?}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2016.3}}, doi = {{10.1017/aaq.2016.3}}, volume = {{82}}, year = {{2017}}, }