Abstract:
Two national commissions recently concluded that the world's oceans are in a state of crisis. A relatively high percentage of commercial fisheries are either fully exploited or overexploited and a number of coastal ecosystems are near collapse. Jackson et al. (2001) and Pauly et al. (1998) have argued that to understand the ocean crisis, we need to develop deeper historical perspectives on the ecology of coastal ecosystems and the impacts that humans have had on them. California's Channel Islands contain a remarkable record of maritime people's interaction with marine and terrestrial ecosystems for the last 12,000 years. Thousands of well-preserved shell middens provide archaeologists, other scientists, and resource managers with information concerning the historical ecology of the islands and the evolving relationship between humans and their fragile island ecosystems. My dissertation studies these relationships on San Miguel Island, where University of Oregon archeologists and an interdisciplinary team of scientists have initiated research on the historical ecology of intertidal, kelp forest, and terrestrial communities in Channel Islands National Park. I examine changes in human demography, subsistence, and technology through time, and their relationship to human impacts on the marine ecosystem through systematic excavations of five well-preserved archaeological sites, ranging from a 9500 year old shell midden to a 150 year old "Chinese" abalone fishing camp. My research fills a major geographic gap on San Miguel Island and the Channel Islands I recorded a total of 73 new sites, obtained 37 radiocarbon dates, and produced an impressive array of archaeological data. By extending historical ecology studies to poorly documented areas on San Miguel, I provide a more complete picture of human sea and land use through time vital information for understanding, interpreting, and managing the past, present, and future of Channel Islands ecosystems. My results indicate that the ancient occupants of San Miguel did impact local marine environments. As populations grew, technologies became more sophisticated and subsistence strategies diversified, leading to local alterations in the marine ecosystem. Compared to the immediate and devastating impacts of historic Euro-American practices, however, they engaged in relatively sustainable strategies focused on the harvest of similar suites of resources over millennia. By understanding the nature of past island ecosystems, we can develop more effective protocols for restoring and managing marine fisheries and coastal ecosystems around the world.
