Chronological Limits

A. L. Kroeber (1925:702) observed that "the introduction of this art from the Colorado River to the desert and the coast is not altogether recent, as the presence of sherds in the upper layers of an ancient site at La Jolla proves.... On the other hand, it can not be doubted that the art came to the coast frm the east at no very remote period."

Malcolm J. Rogers (1945) proposed chronological divisions labelled Yuman I, Yuman II, and Yuman III, beginning respectively in the A.D. 800s, ca. A.D. 1050, and ca. A.D. 1500. In Baja California, Yuman I was represented only in the Colorado River valley, Yuman II expanded slightly to include the Laguna Macuata basin, and Yuman III included all of the peninsula as far south as Bahía de las Animas. Rogers' estimates for the chronology were evidently based primarily on associations with intrusive Hohokam and Anasazi sherds.

James Robert Moriarty (1966:27) noted a radiocarbon date from La Jolla, immediately north of San Diego, as representing the earliest date associated with pottery in that region. The date was 1270 ± 250 B.P., based on mussel (Mytilus californianus) shell (Hubbs et al. 1962:235); calibrated and with a reservoir correction factor of 236 ± 80, this would correspond to a two-sigma rance between A.D. 816 and 1825. The association between the pottery and the radiocarbon sample was not discussed.

Christopher E. Drover (1971, 1975, 1978; Drover et al. 1979) and Judith F. Porcasi (1998) argued that brownware ceramics were in use as early as 1500 B.C. or 3000 B.C. in portions of southern California to the north of ethnographic Yuman territory, on Santa Catalina Island and in Orange and Riverside counties. These claims were variously based on cultural associations, thermoluminescence dating, and associations with radiocarbon dates.

Ronald V. May (1976) reported a radiocarbon date calibrated to A.D. 890-1260 as marking the earliest appearance of brownware ceramics at a site in the mountains of southeastern San Diego County.

Michael R. Waters (1982) renamed Rogers' periods at Patayan I, II, and III. He dated Patayan I as beginning around A.D. 700. This estimate was based on the association of Lower Colorado Buffware sherds with intrusive Hohokam Colonial period sheerds at an Imperial County site and on radiocarbon dates as early as 1125 ± 80 B.P. (calibrated to a two-sigma range between A.D. 680 and 1040) in southwestern Arizona.

Suzanne Griset (1996) directly tested the carbon residues on brownware sherds from nine sites in San Diego and Riverside counties, primarily to the north of ethnographic Kumeyaay territory. Three of the 22 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates suggested local ceramic use prior to A.D. 1000; the earliest of these dates calibrated to a two-sigma range of A.D. 545-950.

John A. Hildebrand (2003) reported radiocarbon dates based on charcoal from subsurface features associated with buffware sherds at the North Stollard Locality (CA-IMP-7911/H) in the lower Colorado River valley. The earliest of Hildebrand's dates were from Feature 19c/d, 1780 ±90 B.P. and 1240 ±60 B.P. (calibrated to two-sigma ranges of A.D. 20-440 and A.D. 660-950 respectively) and from Feature 19y, 1530 ±40 B.P. (A.D. 420-620). Hildebrand (2003:258) concluded that "ceramic usage on the lower Colorado River was ongoing by perhaps A.D. 500."

References Cited

Drover, Christopher E. 1971. Three Fired-Clay Figurines from 4-Ora-64, Orange County, California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 7(4):45-49.

------. 1975. Early Ceramics from Coastal Southern California. Journal of California Anthropology 2:101-107.

------. 1978. Prehistoric Ceramic Objects from Catalina Island. Journal of California Anthropology 5:78-83.

Drover, Christopher E., R. E. Taylor, Thomas Cairns, and Jonathon E. Ericson. 1979. Thermoluminescence Determinations on Early Ceramic Materials from Coastal Southern California. American Antiquity 44:285-295.

Griset, Suzanne. 1996. Southern California Brown Ware. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis.

Hildebrand, John A. 2003. Ceramics Excavated from the Lower Colorado River Region by the North Baja Pipeline Project. In: A View across the Cultural Landscape of the Lower Colorado Desert: Cultural Resource Investigations for the North Baja Pipeline Project, by James H. Cleland and Rebecca McCorkle Apple, pp. 245-259. EDAW, San Diego.

Hubbs, Carl L., George S. Bien, and Hans E. Suess. 1962. La Jolla Natural Radiocarbon Measurements II. American Journal of Science Radiocarbon Supplement 4:204-238.

Kroeber, A. L. 1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, D.C.

May, Ronald V. 1976. An Early Ceramic Date Threshold in Southern California. The Masterkey 50:103-107.

Moriarty, James Robert. 1966. Cultural Phase Divisions Suggested by Typological Change Coordinated with Stratigraphically Controlled Radiocarbon Dating at San Diego. Anthropological Journal of Canada 4:20-30.

Porcasi, Judith F. 1998. Middle Holocene Ceramic Technology on the Southern California Coast: New Evidence from Little Harbor, Santa Catalina Island. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 20:270-284.

Rogers, Malcolm J. 1945. An Outline of Yuman Prehistory. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 1:167-198.

Waters, Michael R. 1982. The Lowland Patayan Ceramic Tradition. In: Hohokam and Patayan: Prehistory of Southwestern Arizona, edited by Randall H. McGuire and Michael B. Schiffer, pp. 275-297. Academic Press, New York.