Ancient Seafood Buffet Uncovered on Channel Islands

livescience.com ^ | 03-03-2011 | by Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer

[Red Badger]

On the menu for the earliest colonizers of the Americas: seabirds, seals and sardines That's according to findings from three new archaeological digs on the Channel Islands off Southern California. The sites have yielded dozens of delicate stone tools and thousands of bone and shell fragments from meals more than 11,000 years old, researchers report in this week's issue of the journal Science.

The finds reveal more about how early Americans lived and ate, said study researcher Torben Rick, a curator of North American archaeology at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The tools found also link the seafaring people of the Channel Islands to populations living far inland in North America including the area that is now Utah and Nevada, Rick told LiveScience"These are very refined tools," Rick said. "Similar technologies had been found in the Great Basin, the interior of North America, [but] we didn't really have any on the West Coast, especially on the Channel Islands, found in situ." ( In situ means the tools were found where they were eft thousands of years ago.) Seafaring tool-makers During the last several million years, the Channel Islands have been separated from the mainland by at least 11 to 32 miles (7 to 20 kilometers) of water. Archaeologists have long

[Red Badger]

Pictures at link.....

[Red Badger]

GGG ping.....

[Repeal The 17th]

Seagulls is tasty?

[Sacajaweau]

Seafood while living on an island...Who would have thunk...

Who got paid for this study??

[Rio]

No abalone?

[stubernx98]

But, but the world is only 6,000 years old!

[AndrewB]

My thought exactly. This reminds me of the recent article where an ancient shoe was found and they surmised it was probably used for foot protection.

[DTogo]

In 1959, human remains dating back 13,000 years were discovered on Santa Rosa Island, one of the five islands that now make up Channel Island National Park. Back in those days, sea levels were lower, and Santa Rosa and its neighbor, San Miguel Island, were connected by land. The increase in sea levels is a problem for exploring coastal archaeological sites, Rick said, because any beachside settlements have long been swamped.

Rising sea levels in the past... NOT caused by man-made global warming.

[hecht]

Did they eat blue dolphins?

[Red Badger]

Tastes like fishy chicken.....

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“Who got paid for this study?? “

More importantly,,, who paid for this study?

[Red Badger]

Protein is protein......

[Red Badger]

No license......

[Red Badger]

From the link:

The San Miguel sites yielded more than 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of shell fragments. Evidently, the island inhabitants enjoyed crab, mussels and abalone, along with escargot — the remains of black turban snails were found, along with pitted stones likely used to crack the snails’ shells

[Lmo56]

Did they also find a Ho Jo’s sign announcing the clam & oyster bar ???

[org.whodat]

Sardines, must be some really old cans. LOL

[Repeal The 17th]

“...The San Miguel sites yielded more than 22 pounds of shell fragments...”
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That could have been just one good weekend outing for a paleo family.

[GreenLanternCorps]

[JRandomFreeper]

I've been to fairly small parties (less than 50 guests) where seafood was served and there was much more than 22 lbs of shells in the dang heavy trash can when it was over.

/johnny

[Cold Heart]

I like to burn my seashells. Turns em to powdered calcium for the garden. Best do it in an incinerator. They pop like .22’s if you just put them in a campfire.