Where, when, and under what circumstances did money first emerge? This Element
examines this question through a comparative study of the use of shells to facilitate trade …

How different were the lives of elites and commoners in early complex societies? This paper
examines this question using data from three fisher-hunter-gatherer sites in southern …

Understanding how maritime hunter-gatherer diets changed through time in response to
increasing social complexity can help us understand important transitions in early human …

Asphaltum, often referred to as bitumen, is a naturally occurring form of petroleum that was
used by ancient cultures for thousands of years. Asphaltum deposits are found throughout …

The past several decades of archaeological work across North America have greatly
expanded our understanding of hunter-gatherer complexity. We now know that many small …

The boat stands out as a prominent symbol of the Nordic Bronze Age, depicted at thousands
of rock art sites and on several metal objects throughout Scandinavia. Paradoxically, direct …

The design of a projectile delivery system often plays a critical role in the durability and
breakage patterns associated with spent projectile points. This paper presents the results of …

An important consideration in evaluating the efficiency of subsistence resource exchange in
the Santa Barbara channel region concerns the form in which acorns might have been …

The first few centuries of the second millennium saw drastic changes in Coastal California
and the American Southwest. In both areas, systems of internal trade intensified, and social …

Exciting new discoveries have forced us to reevaluate longstanding assumptions regarding
the origins of social complexity in the area of the Santa Barbara Channel. Whereas previous …