Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T05:01:34.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Antiquity of Pearling in the Americas: Pearl Modification Beginning at Least 8,500 Years Ago in Baja California Sur, México

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2019

Amira F. Ainis Open the ORCID record for Amira F. Ainis [Opens in a new window] ,
Harumi Fujita  and
René L. Vellanoweth
Amira F. Ainis*
Affiliation:
Museum of Natural and Cultural History, and Department of Anthropology, 1218 University of Oregon, Eugene 97403, USA
Harumi Fujita
Affiliation:
Centro INAH BCS, Calle Legaspy 1637, Col. Los Olivos, La Paz, BCS, 23040 México ([email protected])
René L. Vellanoweth
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 5151 State University Dr., California State University, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA ([email protected])
*
([email protected], corresponding author)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

AMS radiocarbon dating of two modified pearls from the Covacha Babisuri site, Espíritu Santo Island, Baja California Sur, México, corroborates associated midden dates suggesting that traditional indigenous use and modification of pearls as items of adornment began at least 8,500 years ago. To our knowledge, these are the oldest modified pearls found in dated archaeological contexts anywhere in the world. The presence of similarly modified pearls in later components at Covacha Babisuri suggests that this custom continued throughout the Middle Holocene, and ethnohistoric accounts indicate that similar modifications of pearls continued up until the Historic Era. These data show a long history of cultural continuity in the region in pearl harvesting, modification, and use as adornment.

La datación radiocarbónica por AMS de dos perlas modificadas procedentes del sitio Covacha Babisuri, isla Espíritu Santo, Baja California Sur, México, corrobora las fechas obtenidas de los depósitos arqueológicos asociados, sugiriendo que la modificación y el uso de perlas como ornamentos se inició hace al menos 8.500 años. Según nuestro conocimiento, estas son las perlas modificadas más antiguas provenientes de contextos arqueológicos fechados a nivel mundial. La presencia de perlas modificadas de manera similar en los depósitos más tardíos de Covacha Babisuri sugiere que esta costumbre continuó a lo largo del Holoceno medio. Asimismo, las fuentes etnohistóricas indican que esta práctica se extendió hasta la era histórica. Estos datos muestran una larga historia de continuidad cultural en la región con respecto a la recolección, modificación y uso de perlas.

Keywords

Baja Californiapearl artifactsEspíritu Santo IslandBaja Californiaartefactos de perlaisla Espíritu Santo
Type
Report
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , September 2019 , pp. 637 - 643
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by the Society for American Archaeology 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Ainis, Amira F., Guttenburg, Richard, Vellanoweth, René L., Erlandson, Jon M., Kendig, William, Colston, Jessica, and Thomas, Lisa 2017 A Cache within a Cache: Description of an Abalone “Treasure-Box” from the CA-SNI-14 Redwood Box Cache, San Nicolas Island, Alta California. California Archaeology 9:79–105.Google Scholar
Bravo, Jaime 1970 Razón de la Entrada al Puerto de La Paz: Conquista de la nación Guaycura, y fundación de la Misión de Nuestra Señora del Pilar en California, año de 1720. In Testimonios sudcalifornianos, edited by León-Portilla, Miguel, pp. 9–67. UNAM, México City.Google Scholar
Cannon, Amanda C. 2006 Giving Voice to Juana Maria's People: The Organization of Shell and Exotic Stone Artifact Production and Trade at a Late Holocene Village on San Nicolas Island, California. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California.Google Scholar
Del Barco, Miguel 1973 Historia natural y crónica de la Antigua California. UNAM, México City.Google Scholar
Des Lauriers, Matthew R. 2010 Island of Fogs: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Investigations of Isla Cedros, Baja California. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Des Lauriers, Matthew, Davis, Loren, Turnbull III, J., Southon, John R., and Taylor, R. E. 2017 Earliest Shell Fishhooks from the Americas Reveal Fishing Technology of Pleistocene Maritime Foragers. American Antiquity 82:498–516.Google Scholar
Frantz, Brian R., Kashgarian, Michaele, Coale, Kenneth H., and Foster, Michael S. 2000 Growth Rate and Potential Climate Record from a Rhodolith Using 14C Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. Limnology and Oceanography 45:1773–1777.Google Scholar
Fujita, Harumi 1995 Informe de la quinta temporada de campo del Proyecto “Identificación y Catalogación de los sitios arqueológicos del Area del Cabo, Baja California Sur.” Manuscript on file, Technical Archives, INAH, México City.Google Scholar
Fujita, Harumi 2008 Informe final del proyecto “El Poblamiento de América visto desde la isla Espíritu Santo, B.C.S.” Manuscript on file, Technical Archives, INAH, México City.Google Scholar
Fujita, Harumi 2010 Prehistoric Occupation of Espíritu Santo Island, Baja California Sur, México: Update and Synthesis. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 30:17–33.Google Scholar
Fujita, Harumi 2014 Early Holocene Pearl Oyster and Circular Fishhooks and Ornaments on Espíritu Santo Island, Baja California Sur. Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist 7:129–134.Google Scholar
Fujita, Harumi, Cáceres-Martínez, Carlos, and Ainis, Amira F. 2017 Pearl Ornaments from the Covacha Babisuri Site, Espíritu Santo Island, Baja California Sur, México. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 53(2/3):63–86.Google Scholar
Fujita, Harumi, and Melgar, Emiliano 2014 Early Holocene Use of Pleistocene Fossil Shells for Hide-Working at Covacha Babisuri on Espíritu Santo Island, Baja California Sur, México. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 9:111–129.Google Scholar
Fujita, Harumi, and de Paz, Gema Poyatos 1998 Settlement Patterns on Espíritu Santo Island, Baja California Sur. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 34(4):67–105.Google Scholar
Heye, George G. 1921 Indian Notes and Monographs: Certain Artifacts from San Miguel Island, California. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York.Google Scholar
Holmes, Willaim H 1997 El arte de la concha entre los antiguos americanos. Translated by Díez, Lourdes Suárez and de la Fuente, Rufina Bórquez. INAH, México City.Google Scholar
Koerper, Henry, and Desautels-Wiley, Nancy A. 2010 Prehistoric Employments of Pearls in Coastal Southern California with Special Attention to Specimens Recovered at Bolsa Chica Mesa, Orange County. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 43(3):65–82.Google Scholar
Krzemnicki, Michael S., Cartier, Laurent E., and Hajdas, I. 2017 Radiocarbon Age Dating of 1,000-Year-Old Pearls from the Cirebon Shipwreck (Java, Indonesia). Journal of Gemology 35:728–736.Google Scholar
Kunz, George Frederick 1890 Gems and Precious Stones of North America. Scientific Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Mathes, Michael (editor) 1970 Californiana II: Documentos para la historia de la exportación comercial de California, 1583–1632. 2 vols. José Purrúa Turanzas, Madrid.Google Scholar
Rick, Torben C., Vellanoweth, René L., Erlandson, Jon M., and Kennett, Douglas J. 2002 On the Antiquity of the Single-Piece Shell Fishhook: AMS Radiocarbon Evidence from the Southern California Coast. Journal of Archaeological Science 29:933–942.Google Scholar
Queen's University Belfast, Center for Climate, the Environment, and Chronology. 2018 14CHRONO, Marine Reservoir. http://calib.org/marine/index.html?npoints=10&clat=24.171614064178293&clon=-110.29751923104618, accessed June 2018.Google Scholar
Saunders, Nicholas J. 1998 Stealers of Light, Traders in Brilliance: American Metaphysics in the Mirror of Conquest. Anthropology and Aesthetics 33:225–252.Google Scholar
Saunders, Nicholas J. 1999 Biographies of Brilliance: Pearls, Transformations of Matter and Being, c. AD 1492. World Archaeology 31:243–257.Google Scholar
Stuiver, Minze, and Reimer, Paula J. 1993 Extended 14c Data Base and Revised Calib 3.014 Age Calibration Program. Radiocarbon 35:215–230.Google Scholar
Stuiver, Minze, and Reimer, Paula J. 2014 CALIB 7.0.4. Calib Manual. Quaternary Isotope Laboratory. University of Washington, Seattle.Google Scholar
Vetancurt, Augustin De 1961 Teatro mexicano. 4 vols. José Porrúa Turanzas, Madrid.Google Scholar