Abstract
Recent developments in the Ishi “saga” have generated tremendous media attention, as well as opinions offered by a number of academics. Few of these opinion pieces have been based on much empirical data or historical evidence. An examination of Ishi's stone tool technology, particularly projectile point production, his physical morphology, and regional ethnohistoric oral history suggest a very different persona and cultural history for Ishi than previously reported. Rarely in archaeological or ethnographic contexts do we have an observable relationship between ethnicity, acculturation, and prehistoric technology. In the case of Ishi's short five‐year stay at the Museum of Anthropology, University of California, all of these important elements converge. The data analysis here and resulting inferences have definite ramifications for the current debate surrounding projectile point style and cultural identity, as well as the long term effects of marginalization by invading and hostile non‐Yana societies. [Ishi, projectile point technology, style and information, Native California, cultural identity]
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