Traditional Marine Management Systems in Northwest California: The Archaeology and Implications of Indigenous Stewardship Practices for Modern Marine Conservation and Restoration
type: CreativeWork
description: Traditional Marine Management Systems (TMMSs) represent deeply intertwined frameworks of ecological stewardship and cultural heritage rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems, socio-cultural practices, and socio-economic relationships within marine ecosystems. These systems have endured over generations through Traditional Ecological Knowledge tied to cultural landscapes, involving integrated strategies of resource procurement and management designed to enhance and sustain the abundance, diversity, and accessibility of marine resources. Despite California being a major focus of archaeological research over the past century - with over 12,000 years of documented coastal occupation - scholars have rarely examined how Indigenous societies have actively shaped marine ecosystems. Practices such as targeted harvesting, habitat enhancement, tenure systems, and resource governance remain largely underexplored, even with ethnographic and archaeological examples around the Pacific Coast.This dissertation explores concepts of TMMSs along California's Lost Coast through the lens of Niche Construction Theory, by investigating specific settlement-subsistence strategies, socio-economic relationships, and marine stewardship practices that sustained or enhanced coastal productivity, promoting cultural resilience during periods of greater seasonal variability and environmental change in the Late Holocene (after 4200 cal BP). I employ a multi-scalar, interdisciplinary approach that integrates archaeological surveys, material studies, faunal analysis, remote sensing, ecological modeling, and radiocarbon dating of coastal sites. Early Middle Period (3500-1500 cal BP) settlements were located near productive marine ecosystems, supporting diversified subsistence strategies. After 1500 cal BP, more permanent villages and a few logistical camps developed along the Lost Coast. Coastal populations increased substantially after 700 cal BP, marked by an expansion of permanent villages, logistical…
abstract: Traditional Marine Management Systems (TMMSs) represent deeply intertwined frameworks of ecological stewardship and cultural heritage rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems, socio-cultural practices, and socio-economic relationships within marine ecosystems. These systems have endured over generations through Traditional Ecological Knowledge tied to cultural landscapes, involving integrated strategies of resource procurement and management designed to enhance and sustain the abundance, diversity, and accessibility of marine resources. Despite California being a major focus of archaeological research over the past century - with over 12,000 years of documented coastal occupation - scholars have rarely examined how Indigenous societies have actively shaped marine ecosystems. Practices such as targeted harvesting, habitat enhancement, tenure systems, and resource governance remain largely underexplored, even with ethnographic and archaeological examples around the Pacific Coast.This dissertation explores concepts of TMMSs along California's Lost Coast through the lens of Niche Construction Theory, by investigating specific settlement-subsistence strategies, socio-economic relationships, and marine stewardship practices that sustained or enhanced coastal productivity, promoting cultural resilience during periods of greater seasonal variability and environmental change in the Late Holocene (after 4200 cal BP). I employ a multi-scalar, interdisciplinary approach that integrates archaeological surveys, material studies, faunal analysis, remote sensing, ecological modeling, and radiocarbon dating of coastal sites. Early Middle Period (3500-1500 cal BP) settlements were located near productive marine ecosystems, supporting diversified subsistence strategies. After 1500 cal BP, more permanent villages and a few logistical camps developed along the Lost Coast. Coastal populations increased substantially after 700 cal BP, marked by an expansion of permanent villages, logistical…
author: McFarland, Jeremy
language: en_US
language: English
date published: 2025
date modified: 2026-07-27T21:48:09Z
provider: University of Nevada - Reno
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Nevada - Reno