[CINC] January 7th lecture about SCI

[TARA BROWN]

Kristina M. Gill of the Anthropology Dept at UCSB will present an illustrated lecture on "Diablo Valdez: Use of Plant Foods Through Time on Santa Cruz Island" on Monday, January 7th at 7:30 p.m. in Farrand Hall at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol in Santa Barbara.   The lecture is presented by the Santa Barbara County Archaeological Society and admission is free.
 
Here is what the the flyer reports:
 
Largely known as expert sea mammal hunters, fishers, and shell fishers, the Island Chumash were adept at navigating and exploiting the marine and nearshore environments of the Channel Region.  However, local plant foods, and carbohydrates from geophytes in particular, would have been important in balancing the protein-rich marine diet.   Ethnographic information indicates Blue Dicks were harvested in considerable amounts on the islands, and roasted in large communal roasting pits.  Excavations of the Diablo Valdez Bedrock Mortar Comples (SCRI-619/620), occupied from 5700 years ago through the Missionization (AD 1782) revealed numerous hearth clearing pit features, several living surfaces and postholes, a substantial midden accumulation, and a roasting pit feature measuring over a meter across.  Moreover, carbonized geophytes, most likely Blue Dicks corms, were recovered in large quantities from multiple strata, representing the most substantial
 recovery in southern California.
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