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Mortuary Ambiguity: The Ventureño Chumash Case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jeanne E. Arnold  and
Terisa M. Green
Jeanne E. Arnold
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 341 Haines Hall-Box 951553, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1553 ([email protected])
Terisa M. Green
Affiliation:
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1510
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Abstract

The later evolution of Chumash polities in various subareas, including the Channel Islands, has attracted considerable scholarly attention. Most investigations on this topic during the past decade have focused on economic and political evolution through the use of residential data (e.g., Arnold 1992a; Arnold, ed. 2001; Kennett 1998). Earlier, and now again with the publication of Gamble et al. (2001), cemetery data are marshaled to examine cultural change. While we applaud this recent effort, the utility of the results is constrained ultimately by factors including the representativeness of the excavated Malibu cemetery data, Mission period disruption of Ventureño Chumash culture, and insufficient attention to the consequences of mourning ceremonies. The authors add to an understanding of later Ventureño mortuary behavior, but their discussion conflates social ranking and political evolution. The results do not, contrary to their expectations, alter extant interpretations of Island Chumash production, specialization, and trade, nor the timing of changes in islanders' labor organization and political integration. The ultimate logical implication of their discussion would be that a single Chumash chiefdom evolved before (within?) the Middle period and operated in lockstep throughout the region—joining the Ventureño and Island Chumash at the political hip, so to speak. We see no evidence to support any part of this proposition for either of the subregions in question.

Résumé

Résumé

La última evolución de las unidades políticas de los Chumash en varias subregiones, incluyendo la de las Channel Islands, ha atraído mucha atención en los círculos académicos. Durante la última década la mayoría de las investigaciones sobre este tema se han concentrado en las evoluciones políticas y económicas a través del uso de datos residenciales (e.g., Arnold 1992, Arnold, ed. 2001; Kennett 1998). Anteriormente y ahora nuevamente con la publicación de Gamble et al. (2001), se reúne la información obtenida en los cementerios para examinar cambios culturales. Mientras aplaudimos este reciente esfuerzo, la utilidad de estos resultados está últimamente constreñida por factores que incluyen la representatividad de los datos obtenidos en la excavación del cementerio de Malibú el período de la cultura Chumash Ventureña interrumpida por las Misiones, y la falta de suficiente atención a las ceremonias fúnebres y sus consecuencias. Los autores aportan al entendimiento de las costumbres fúnebres de los más recientes Ventureños, pero sus discusiones no distinguen evolución política de rangos sociales. Los resultados no alteran, a pesar de sus expectativas, interpretaciones existentes acerca de la producción, especialización, y comercio de los Chumash Isleños, como tampoco el tiempo en que ocurren los cambios en la organización del trabajo y la integración política de los isleños. La implicación lógica de esta discusión es que el cacicazgo se desarrolló antes (ó dentro) del período Medio y funcionó en forma muy precisa, como reloj, a través de toda la región—en otras palabras los Ventureños y los Chumash Isleños se desarrollaron al mismo tiempo. Nosotros no encontramos evidencia que soporte esta proposición en las subregiones en cuestión.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 67 , Issue 4 , October 2002 , pp. 760 - 771
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2002

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