Bead Types: Classification of Nursery Site (CA-SCLI-1215) Beads and Ornaments in Light of Central California Typology

Southern California’s Channel Island native groups produced shell beads and ornaments that were exported to the mainland and were traded extensively throughout southern California, the western Great Basin, and into the American Southwest. The Channel Islands are known to have been inhabited by two linguistically different Native American groups, the Chumash in the northern islands and Gabrielino/Tongva in the southern islands. It is clear that the northern islands were major producers of shell beads. There are not many accounts of shell bead production in the southern islands. Data recovered from the Northridge Center for Public Archaeology at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) excavations from 1990 to 1993 at CA-SCLI-1215, the Nursery Site, a Middle Holocene habitation site, provides an assemblage of shell beads that have not been examined. These bead materials were compared to the currently accepted but geographically inappropriate shell bead typology to distinguish if the bead types present were represented here. Four objectives were pursued in the study of this assemblage, (1) identify the typology of beads and ornaments in the assemblage, (2) identify the shell species used, (3) identify if shell beads were being manufactured here, and (4) determine chronological placement of the site as indicated by the time sensitive shell artifacts. Overall, the bead types present at the Nursery Site are represented in the typologies for the northern areas. Interestingly, there were significant bead type outliers that did not fall under the typology, indicating that there may be exclusive southern bead styles that are only represented in Southern California. Overall, indicating a clear separation of production areas, a northern and a southern sphere.