The Henge Monuments of the British Isles: Myth and Archaeology
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4 Internal Links: External Links: Morro Creek submitted by C_Michael_Hogan
Settlement Site in San Luis Obispo County, California.Morro Creek is a very large Chumash coastal archaeological site in San Luis Obispo, California. The site was used in the Millingstone Period (prior to 3500 BC), but became a more continuous settlement in the Early Period (3500 to 1000 BC). An extensive midden, evidencing diverse exploitation of estuarine resources, has yielded numerous human burials, stone tools, flaked weapons and diverse faunal remains.
ENVIRONMENT Morro Bay has undergone significant shrinkage and siltation since the Millingstone Horizon, which would have seen a flourishing of marine exploitation for the early Chumash. Prior to the Millingstone Horizon the sea level would have likely been 15 to 20 meters lower than present due to glacial ice storage in the early Holocene; moreover, Morro Bay would have been a more open saline system unprotected by the present day sand spit that emerged in the early to middle Holocene, allowing a mixture of brackish.and fluvial fresh water influence within the bay. (Haltiner, 1991) In that early habitation period of the Morro Creek Chumash site, the bay would have had a rockier character, since the fluvial sedimentation of streams entering the estuary had not begun their rapid deposition scenario after formation of the protective sand spit. This more sheltered and less saline bay likely engendered a denser population at Morro Creek as revealed by the archaeological record. Morro Creek would have discharged directly to the estuary in the Millingstone and Early Periods, and could have supported a freshwater or anadromous fishery in prehistoric times. (Mikkelsen, 2000)
OCCUPATION The earliest occupation period of the Morro Creek site dates from the Millingstone Horizon (6500 to 3500 BC), and it is logical that these early peoples were migrants from the even earlier Chumash settlement slightly inland (e.g. from the Cross Creek site, where the archaeological record indicates Paleoindian habitation). This theory would also fit with the known environmental evolution, which demonstrates that, prior to the Millingstone Horizon, the Morro Creek estuarine region was a less sheltered, more saline environment, which would have made the estuarine food supply less diverse and also more difficult to harvest with rougher, rockier waters. The Chumash in this northerly territory used tule balsa canoes rather than the wood plank canoes of the Santa Barbara Channel tribe. Slightly to the north on the Cambria coast another Millingstone Horizon streamside site is recorded that exhibits similar mussel and abalone exploitation as the Morro Creek site.
Most of the recovered archaeological record at Morro Creek pertains to the Early Period (especially between 3500 to 2500 BC); in this era a variety of ornamentation, flaked and ground stone weapons and tools as well as faunal remains appear in addition to shell evidence of marine exploitation witnessed in the Millingstone Horizon. The intensive Early Period at Morro Creek is mirrored by settlement of the Morro Bay sandspit at the same time.
Middle Period occupation at Morro Creek (1000 BC to 1000 AD) is also evident, but at a lesser intensity as the Early Period. Shell fishhooks begin to appear in the later part of the Middle Period, indicating a lessening of dependence on net fishing and shellfish exploitation, although this transition may also suggest an overharvesting of marine resources available from the latter methods. Such a depletion of estuarine resources is mirrored at the Los Osos Back Bay Chumash site, although at a decidedly later date (Hogan, 2008). Middle Period food supply also has a clearly larger terrestrial component including arrowpoints and corresponding bird and mammal bones that reflect an influence of interior native peoples' hunting technology.
RADIOCARBON AND HYDRATION DATING Dating of the Millingstone Horizon at Morro Creek is supported by corrected radiocarbon dating of materials at the lower terraces at the west end of the site. These materials generally lay at a depth of 2.0 to 2.5 meters below present grade and yielded dates of 6000 to 5200 BC, or within the early Millingstone Period. Use of obsidian hydration techniques was also applied; obsidian materials were shown to derive from the Napa, Coso, Casa Diablo and Bodie Hills sites, with Coso representing the greatest abundance. Napa and Casa Diablo obsidian materials showed up in Millingstone Horizon strata at Morro Creek, although a much greater assemblage of Early and Middle Period obsidian was recovered chiefly from Coso and Casa Diablo sources.
HUMAN BURIAL A total of eight human burials have been discovered to date at the Morro Creek site, including some fully intact skeletons. Specific radiocarbon dating shows that some of these graves date to as early as 3326 BC. The individuals were in the age range of 20 to 40 years, and some exhibited signs of spinal osteophytosis and severe dental abrasion. Some of the burials included grave ornaments. One Late Period male burial had a thoracic embedded elongated basaltic arrowpoint with asphaltic traces (indicating the attachment to a wooden haft). This find indicated likely conflict with a neighboring tribe, since basalt is not a local material. Such evidence of inter-tribal violence is not uncommon among other coastal Chumash. (Lambert, 1993)
PROJECTILE POINTS A variety of projectile point shapes are represented at Morro Creek including large side-notched, Rossi square-stemmed, contracting-stemmed and lanceolate. The large side notched are clearly indicative of Hunting Culture influence, and appear suddenly at Morro Creek and other Central Coast sites at the end of the Millingstone Horizon. (Jones, 1993) The specimens recovered at Morro Creek derive both from Monterey and Franciscan chert.
Of the Central Coast stemmed series projectile points, only contracting-stemmed and Rossi types have been found at Morro Creek. The Rossi occurrence manifests a large, thick excurvate form, and is characteristic of Early and Middle Period use. The contracting-stemmed types, representing a lower proximal shoulder angle than Rossi, are found of both Franciscan and Monterey chert. Lanceolate point occurrence at Morro Creek includes both Franciscan and Monterey chert material types, with lengths of 30 to 40 mm. Most commonly on the Central Coast these artifacts are associated with the early Millingstone Horizon. These ovate specimens at Morro Creek exhibit their maximum width at the proximal end.
STONE TOOLS A variety of stone tools have been recovered including drills, bifaces, cores, hammer-stones, grooved stones, flaked tools, battered cobbles, milling-slabs, mortars and pestles. Over 25,000 debitage flakes have also been retrieved, mostly of chert. The low ratio of debitage to flaked tools implies that much of the tool manufacturing was conducted ex-situ. Cobble tools apparently derive from material collected by the Chumash from the streambed of Morro Creek. Early Period cobble tools are chiefly of Franciscan chert or meta-volcanic rock. Considerable numbers of Early Period cobble cores were recovered, mostly of Monterey or Franciscan chert. Over 13,000 stone tools have been recovered from the Early Period alone, that era representing the most intense period of tool usage at Morro Creek.
A considerable biface collection has been recovered from the site dating to the Millingstone Horizon, but with the greatest numbers from the Early Period. Millingstone specimens emphasize locally originated stone, whereas Early Period bifaces include some clearly imported materials such as obsidian. The bifaces tend to be highly robust and have been produced chiefly from flaked stone.
Three bowl mortars from the Early Period were recovered including one rhyolite specimen. Another specimen made of siltstone had curious grooves on the outside suggesting decoration, similar to a piece I examined from the Wappo culture at NAP-58. A number of pestles were recovered from the Early Period, mostly from igneous rock including diorite.
SHELL AND BONE A number of different shell species and drilling styles have been recovered at Morro Creek. Manufacturing styles of bead include end-ground, barrel, cap, lipped, saucer, rectangle, ovoid rectangle and face-ground types. The unusual find of an applique ‘'Haliotis cracherodii'‘ pendant. This pendant has asphaltum traces on the nacrous side and dates to the Middle Period. Specimens of shell fishhooks were found, one specimen having a notched hook tip deemed to date from the terminal Middle Period. (King, 1990)
An almost complete ‘'Tresus nuttalli'‘ shell was recovered, which contained a thick asphaltum residue and evidence of applique olivella shells; this Early Period find was classified as a ‘'scoop'‘ implement. Numerous bone needles, pins, awls and punches were found at the Morro Creek site, with a working theory that the pins were likely "hairpins". Fish bones, bird bones and deer antlers were also found in polished and worked forms to create tools. In the case of antlers, one specimen was recovered used as some type of dowel. Other bone tools had the deduced uses of dagger, drilled bead and awl.
VEGETATIVE RECOVERY A variety of plant materials were found to be consumed by the ancient Chumash at this site; specific vegetative species found include plantain, acorn, sunflower, maygrass, fiddleneck, bean, wild cucumber, manzanita, sage and a variety of seeds. Recovery of mortar and pestle implements at the start of the Early Period suggest the use of experimental if not full scale acorn processing, which finding places an earlier seriation of acorn storage among California tribes than thought before study of this site. The wide diversity of vegetative species from the Early Period illustrates a sophistication of gathering skills; more importantly, decline of this diversity by the Late Period indicates an increasing reliance on a narrowing crop palette, a very early precursor to the ecologically adverse monoculture farming of modern times.
SHELLFISH in the Millingstone Horizon were dominated by estuarine species such as "Saxidomus nutalli", "Protothaca staminea", "Macoma secta", "Ostrea lurida", "Clinocardium nutalli" and "Macoma nasuta". This harvest is further confirmation that the estuary was larger in the Millingstone prior to creek siltation and inward migration of the sand spit. In the Early Period rocky shore species rose in relative numbers, which species include "Tegula funebralis", "Polycipes polymerus", "Cryptochiton stelleri", "Nucella canaliculata", "Crepidula norrisiarum", "Ocenebra circumtexta", "Epilucina californica" and "Littorini scutulata". By the Middle Period, rocky shoreline species were in decline, possibly from overharvesting as well as more sandy beach formation from a stabilizing ocean level, and from siltation of rocky components of the estuary. Open sandy coast species such as "Tivela stultorum" and "Olivella biplicata" were exploited in all periods, indicating an early and continuing far ranging harvest for the Morro Creek site.
FISH species recovery consists of 51 taxa including members of the shark and ray families. In the Millingstone Horizon species identified from excavations include "Myliobatus californica", "Triakis semifasciata", "Ophidon elongatus", "Engraulis mordax", "Porichthys notatus", "Scorpaenichthys marmoratus", "Platyrhinoidis triseriata" and numerous unspeciated silversides. The Early Period exhibited much more intensive fish exploitation and added the following species: "Sardinops sagax", "Citharichthys sordidus", Merluccius productus", "Cebidichthys violaceus", "Xiphister mucosus", "Icelinus tenuis", "Atherinops affinis", "Spirinchus starksi", "Embiotoca jacksoni" and "Rhacochilis vacca". Aside from the Elasmobranchiomorphi, Millingstone catches were mainly of schooling fishes, herring being the greatest in number, which were caught with nets. Later eras evolved into a combination of net and line fishing.
MAMMAL recovery from the Millingstone Horizon is dominated by terrestrial species including "Odocoileus hemionus", "Canus latranus", "Taxidea taxus", "Mustela frenata", but also is represented with marine mammals such as "Enhydra lutris" In the Early Period, remains of land mammals "Cervus elaphus", "Lynx rufus" and "Scapamus latimanus" occur along with larger marine mammals such as "Phoca vitulina", "Callorhinus ursinus", "Zalophus californicus" and "Eumetopias jubatus". These facts fit with the seriation of projectiles recovered, illustrating higher sophistication, numbers of projectile points and size of flaked specimens for later eras.
BIRD SPECIES A diversity of avafauna species have been recovered from this site. First appearing in the Early Period strata are ‘'Puffinus creatopus", "Pelicanus californicus", "Uria aalge" and "Bartramia longicauda", although unspeciated ducks, shearwaters and geese make up the greater number of specimens from that era. Appearance of increased occurrence of Hunting Culture artifacts such as arrowpoints are well correlated with greater numbers of bird remains from the Early Period.
MODERN DAMAGE Most of the site is urbanized within the municipality of Morro Bay; however some of the area has not been developed with intrusive building foundations and thus may be relatively undamaged. When CALTRANS conducted the widening of Highway 41, extensive testing and artifact recovery was conducted; however, the city of Morro Bay compromised much of the area by land development not complying with requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act that require avoidance or mitigation to prevent destruction of significant cultural resources.
REFERENCES
* J.P.Haltiner and Devin Thor (1991) ‘'Sedimentation processes in Morro Bay'‘, State of the Bay Conference Proceedings, Oct. 4-12, 1991
* Patricia Mikkelsen, William Hildebrandt and Deborah Jones (2000) ‘'Prehistoric Adaptations on the Shores of Morro Bay Estuary: Excavations at Site CA-SLO-165, Morro Bay, California'‘, San Luis Obispo County Archaeological Society, Occasional Paper No. 14
* C.Michael Hogan (2008) ‘'Los Osos Back Bay'‘, The Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham
* P.M.Lambert (1993) ‘'Health in Prehistoric Populations of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands'‘, American Archaeology 58(3):509-522
* T.L.Jones (1993) ‘'Big Sur: A Keystone in Central California Cultural History'‘, Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 29(1):1-78
* C.D.King (1990) ‘'The Evolution of Chumash Society: A Comparative Study of Artifacts used in Social System Maintenance in the Santa Barbara Channel Region Before AD 1804'‘, Garland Publishing, New York
(The above is original work of C.Michael Hogan prepared for the Megalithic Portal. I am grateful to the San Luis Obispo County Archaeological Society, which provided valuable insights as well as access to elements of the Society's Chumash artifact collection.)
Note:Another of C.M. Hogan's detail archaeologic site descriptions from western North America.
Morro Creek submitted by C_Michael_Hogan Artifact from Settlement Site in San Luis Obispo County, California, USA Chumash chert stone preform tool of a type found at the Morro Creek site. This specimen is in the collection of the San Luis Obispo County Archaeological Society, through whose courtesy this photograph was taken.
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Re: Morro Creek (Score: 0) by Anonymous on Friday, 13 February 2009
What does Michael Hogan mean by Early Period, Middle Period, Late Period ? There are many different uses and definitions of those wiords. PLEASE what are the dates or approximate dates? For example, 2000 BC or 4000 C , etc.
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