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5.3 CULTURAL RESOURCES
<br /> least the past 11,500 years. There is also fragmentary,but growing,evidence that humans
<br /> were present long before that date.Linguistic and genetic studies suggest that a date of
<br /> 20,000 to 40,000 years ago for the human colonization of the New World may be possible.
<br /> The evidence of this earlier occupation is not yet conclusive,but it is beginning to be
<br /> accepted by archaeologists. The Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania and Monte
<br /> Verde in Chile,for instance, are two early sites that have produced apparently reliable dates
<br /> as early as 12,500 years before present. These earliest known remains indicate very small,
<br /> mobile populations,apparently dependent on hunting of large game animals as the primary
<br /> subsistence strategy.
<br /> The earliest sites in the San Joaquin Valley are Fluted Point Tradition and Western Pluvial
<br /> Lakes Tradition sites found at Tracy,Tulare,and Buena Vista lakes. These sites are few in
<br /> number and remain undated by scientific means but the assemblage types indicate probable
<br /> ages of 11,500 to 7,500 years old. Deposition in the San Joaquin Valley is quite active;many
<br /> older sites are likely buried under rapidly building alluvial deposits (Moratto, 1984).
<br /> 5.3.1.2.1 Windmiller Pattern (5,000 to 3,000 years ago)
<br /> The Windmiller Pattern generally coincides with Fredrickson's Early Horizon (1974) and the
<br /> majority of the known Windmiller Pattern sites date to approximately 5,000 to 2,250 years
<br /> ago. A small number of Windmiller sites date as late as 1,250 to 750 years ago. Windmiller
<br /> populations moved seasonally between the valleys in the winter and the Sierra Nevada
<br /> foothills in the summer.Fishing and hunting were the primary subsistence strategies and
<br /> Windmiller sites are characterized by tools related to hunting,fishing, as well as milling and
<br /> include mortars,baked clay balls,trident fish spears,two types of angling hooks,pecan
<br /> sized baked clay that appear to have been used as fish line sinkers,bone awls and needles,
<br /> polished charmstones, shell working and shell applique, and flaked tools,including
<br /> projectile points (Moratto, 1984).
<br /> 5.3.1.2.2 Berkeley Pattern (3,000 to 1,250 years ago)
<br /> The Berkeley Pattern coincides roughly with the Middle Horizon and the majority of known
<br /> Berkeley Pattern sites date to approximately 2,500 to 1,250 years ago. A small number of
<br /> Berkeley sites extend outside of this time frame and date as early as 3,200 years ago and as
<br /> late as 500 years ago. In response to environmental technological factors, economies became
<br /> more diversified, and sedentism developed further while population growth and expansion
<br /> occurred. The Berkeley Pattern subsistence relied less on hunting and fishing than the
<br /> Windmiller Pattern;rather the focus appears to have been on acorns. Mortars and pestles
<br /> are present in far greater numbers at Berkeley sites. Other artifacts characterizing Berkeley
<br /> sites include greater numbers of bone tools of superior manufacture, distinctive diagonal
<br /> flaking of large concave base points, shell beads and ornaments.
<br /> 5.3.1.2.3 Augustine Pattern (1,250 to 250 years ago)
<br /> The Augustine Pattern coincides approximately with the Late Horizon and generally dates
<br /> from 1,250 to 250 years ago. Augustine Pattern sites are much more widespread than
<br /> Berkeley Pattern sites and are characterized by intensive fishing,hunting, and acorn
<br /> gathering. Population densities are much higher; exchange systems are more sophisticated
<br /> and include the advent of using clamshell disk beads for good exchange. High variability in
<br /> funerary artifacts seems to indicate more social stratification. Cremations and flexed burials
<br /> are common. Artifacts associated with the Augustine Pattern include the bow and arrow,
<br /> SACI3713221082330008(LEC_5.3_CULTU RAL.DOC) 5.3-3
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