The Chumash World at European Contact: Power, Trade, and Feasting Among Complex Hunter-Gatherers

by Lynn H. Gamble, 2011. Paperback, 376 pages.

When Spanish explorers and missionaries came onto Southern California's shores in 1769, they encountered the large towns and villages of the Chumash, a people who at that time were among the most advanced hunter-gatherer societies in the world. The Spanish were entertained and fed at lavish feasts hosted by chiefs who ruled over the settlements and who participated in extensive social and economic networks.

In this first modern synthesis of data from the Chumash heartland, Lynn H. Gamble weaves together multiple sources of evidence to re-create the rich tapestry of Chumash society. Drawing from archaeology, historical documents, ethnography, and ecology, she describes daily life in the large mainland towns, focusing on Chumash culture, household organization, politics, economy, warfare, and more.

About the Author

Lynn H. Gamble is a professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her interests include long distance exchange, cultural and ritual landscapes, social identity, shell bead money, culture contact, and long-term change among hunter-gatherers in California. She has directed excavations throughout southern California and most recently at a large shell mound on Santa Cruz Island. She recently edited a volume entitled First Coastal Californians and is the author of the book The Chumash World at European Contact: Power, Trade, and Feasting Among Complex Hunter-Gatherers and numerous articles and chapters on California archaeology.