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AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Giant Rock Scallop (Hinnites Multirugosus) Artifacts from San Miguel Island, California, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Todd J Braje ,
Torben C Rick  and
Jon M Erlandson
Todd J Braje*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California 95521, USA
Torben C Rick
Affiliation:
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Department of Anthropology, Washington DC 20013-7012, USA
Jon M Erlandson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-1218, USA. Also: Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-1224, USA
*
Corresponding author. Email: tjb50@humboldt.edu
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Abstract

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For at least 100,000 yr, marine shell beads have been important ornamental and symbolic artifacts intimately associated with the behavior of anatomically modern humans. In California, giant rock scallop (Hinnites multirugosus) beads were once thought to have been used only for the last 1000 yr, where they were considered to be markers of high social status among the Chumash Indians of the Santa Barbara Channel region. Direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating of 1 giant rock scallop ornament and 2 beads from San Miguel Island extends the use of this shell for personal adornment to at least 8000 cal BP. Our study emphasizes the importance of direct AMS 14C dating of artifacts to enhance cultural chronologies and clarify the antiquity of various technologies and associated behaviors. Our results also caution archaeologists when equating artifact rarity with sociopolitical complexity.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , 2008 , pp. 223 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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