Primary Investigator:
Megan Watson (Master’s Thesis Project)
Faculty Sponsors:
Dr. Charlotte Sunseri, Dr. Marco Meniketti, Mr. Alan Leventhal
Background: Prehistoric site CA-ALA-329 (Ryan Mound) is a moderate sized mortuary earth mound site containing some shellfish, hundreds of human burials, and perhaps the largest population of San Francisco Bay sea otter remains. The Ryan Mound was originally excavated in 1959 by Stanford University and later was joined by San Jose State University from 1962 to 1968, under the direction of Dr. Joseph Hester and Dean Pritchett. Since the terminus of the excavations numerous published articles and Master’s theses have been conducted on the human burial population and archaeological assemblage. With the exception of some preliminary sorting, identification and classification of the faunal remains contained within eighty archival boxes, no comprehensive study has been conducted on either the birds or mammals recovered from this site.
Based upon radiometric conducted by Dr. Bert Gerow, Alan Leventhal and Randall Groza, CA-ALA-329 spans approximately 1900 years (100 BC – AD 1760) covering the Late Middle Period through Phase 2 of the Late Period. Leventhal in his 1993 study laid out the stratigraphic components identified at this mound, which will be utilized in this sea otter study.
Sea Otter Study
Current study of the sea otter skeletal remains from the site attempts to address two alternative hypotheses: 1) An established interpretation as expressed through an optimal foraging model, that sea otters were hunted and eaten for subsistence by the inhabitants residing at the Ryan Mound; and 2) That sea otters were procured by the Native Ohlone Indians for their furs, used as prestige items or moiety markers and possibly used in mortuary-related wrapping of the dead, rather than as food within a normative subsistence-related diet.
College of Social Sciences Foundation Research Grant:
Through a review of the literature and discussions with Bay Area faunal analysts, it appears that no researcher has yet attempted to contextually date sea otter remains from any of the shellmound or earth mound sites in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nor has anyone attempted to conduct stable isotope studies on San Francisco Bay sea otters. Megan Watson was awarded a grant from the College of Social Sciences Foundation Research to conduct C14 AMS dating of the sea otters from CA-ALA-329 as part of her graduate research with the Applied Anthropology program. With the award of this grant, sea otter skeletal remains will be selected from various contexts within the site and sent to Lawrence Livermore Labs for AMS dating. Furthermore, selected samples will also be sent to Dr. Eric Bartelink, Department of Anthropology, California State University at Chico, for stable isotope analysis. Once the results have been obtained, they will be posted here on the Department’s website.