Artifact of the Week: Discoidal

These almost perfectly round tools indicate sophisticated technology. The exact use of these tools is unknown, although suggestions have included games, ceremonial uses, and weights. They do not appear to have been used for grinding foodstuffs or other material. They are found in Middle Holocene sites in coastal areas from Ventura into Baja.

Discoidals belong to a culture known as the La Jolla Tradition. Malcolm Rogers found a younger layer at the Harris Site with tools that were different from the older San Dieguito Complex tools. The tools indicate that these people were more dependent on littoral resources. The people of the La Jolla Tradition left large shell  middens along the coast. More and more of these sites were found in what is now La Jolla, so the culture became known as the La Jolla Tradition.

Date: La Jolla Tradition (7,500 ya – 3,000 ya)
Material Class: Lithics – Ground Stone

Want to learn more? Visit the exhibit By Land and By Sea currently on view at the Center.