Paleoethnobotanical Investigations on the Channel Islands: Current Directions and Theoretical Considerations

This chapter addresses the subsistence and the relative importance of plants among the prehistoric maritime hunter-gatherer-fishers living on California's Channel Islands. While it is clear that island populations had a decidedly maritime focus, ethnographic and archaeological data indicate that plants were used in a variety of ways. Paleoethnobotanical research in particular has a crucial role to play in subsistence and settlement analysis, yet has not typically been given priority in Channel Islands research. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize the extant paleoethnobotanical research conducted on the islands and present some theoretical considerations for contextualizing the role of plants. Given the ethnographic and archaeological evidence, I argue that plants were of considerable importance in subsistence, trade, and ceremonial contexts and therefore should be given careful consideration in Channel Islands research.