Lithic Procurement and Prehistoric Exchange on the Santa Barbara Coast: The Role of Franciscan Chert

Abstract

The development of inter-regional exchange systems is one of the outstanding achievements of the native Chumash of southern California, a coastal hunting and gathering society characterized by a relatively high level of cultural complexity. Understanding the evolution of inter-regional exchange is a major research domain, and one element is to characterize the nature and intensity of prehistoric exchange between three macrozones: the offshore islands, the coastal plain, and the interior. Unfortunately, biases in the archaeological record downplay the significance of trade from the interior to the coast and thus skew current views about the evolution of inter-regional exchange. Analysis of an important lithic material—Franciscan chert—documents the significant movement of this resource from the interior to the coast and outlines new research approaches.