The Four Ages of Tsurai, A Documentary History of the Indian Village on Trinidad Bay. By Robert F. Heizer and John E. Mills.

Abstract

Tsurai was a Yurok village on the northwest coast of California already well established when the first recorded visit of Europeans to Trinidad Bay was made in 1775, and finally abandoned in 1916. Heizer and Mills have presented the long history of this village in four sections: the prehistoric age is represented by the results of archaeological excavations conducted at the site by the University of California in 1949; the period of exploration, from 1775 to 1800, by a series of extracts from the diaries and journals kept by officers of the exploring expeditions; the period of exploitation by the fur traders, from 1800 to 1850, by extracts from the trader's journals; and the period of American Colonization, from the accounts of gold seekers and settlers. There are three figures illustrating archaeological specimens, ten plates showing the village and its environs between 1850 and 1949, and six maps of the site and of the bay. There is an appendix listing Indian place names on Trinidad Bay (after T. T. Waterman), and the notes are also appended at the back of the volume. This latter feature is indicative of