Jim Selley is an avocational archaeology enthusiast writing from Ontario
Canada. His review of Before California was submitted last week and flew
through review without alterations.


Before California:
An Archaeologist Looks at
Our Earliest Inhabitants
by Brian Fagan.
2003.
Walnut Creek, CA:
Altamira Press. 288pp.
$21.95




Reviewed for Archreview
by Jim Selley,



Before California: An Archaeologist Looks at Our Earliest Inhabitants is a
popular
account of the aboriginal inhabitants of
the state prior to the arrival of the Spanish
in 1542. It is intended as an
introduction to the prehistory of California. The
author, Brian Fagan, hopes to provide an
adequate summary of human adaptation
in California in spite of the general
inaccessibility of what he terms as the "'gray
literature', publications of limited
circulation resulting from cultural resource
management projects." (p. xi)

Part 1 is entitled "The Archaeologist's
Tale". In its sole chapter, "A Stream of
Time", Fagan gives a quite lengthy
overview of the subject. Included are very
useful descriptions of several
fundamental archaeological principles, as well as
data on tribal, linguistic and
demographic distributions at the time of European
contact. Fagan also outlines three
common themes that will drive his telling of the
story. These are cultural continuity,
interconnectedness of peoples, and complex
spiritual beliefs. Cultural continuity
relies on the people constantly moving,
searching for food. Interconnectedness
refers to the networks of exchange, both
social and economic, that underpinned
native existence in prehistoric California.
Spiritual beliefs permeated every aspect
of that existence as well.

Fagan attempts to tackle the thorny
issue of the first peopling of the Americas to
2500 B.C. in "Beginnings", Part 2 of the
book. In particular, he notes that there
seems to be very little evidence in
favour of the coastal migration theory into the
Americas, and what there is, is very
sketchy. Fagan also takes on the "big-game
hunter" theory, characterized by the
Clovis point, referring to the theory of intrepid
hunters spreading across the New World
as "intellectually bankrupt" (p. 49),
especially with regard to early
California. Instead, prehistoric Californians engaged
in a variety of subsistence activities
such as seal, sea lion, and dolphin hunting,
mollusk gathering, and processing grass
and other plant seeds using baskets and
milling stones.

In Part 3, Fagan shows how "The Web of
Interconnectedness" became
predominant in California between 2500
and 1500 B.C. The chapters here first
point out how acorn processing became of
primary importance, leading to social
stratification as economic surpluses
started to be produced. Another factor
leading to ranked society was the
development of the obsidian trade. Obsidian
was used for the manufacture of
blades. Fagan then shows the importance of the
shaman in ancient California, relating
the shamanic role to a broad tradition of
ritual and belief. The writer adeptly
gives a portrait of the often conflicting and
controversial theories that snake their
way through very limited and often
conjectural archaeological evidence. The
same applies to Fagan's treatment of
California rock art.

"A Crowded World", Part 4, describes
native California from 1500 B.C. to A.D.
1542. This part is divided up
geographically, showing the different cultures that
arose, starting with the salmon culture
of the northwest coast. Subsequent
chapters provide depth on San Francisco
Bay, the central valley, the south and
southeast, and the Santa Barbara
Channel. Each region's adaptations are treated
clearly, yet comprehensively. The whole
reveals a picture of a cultural complexity
not even hinted at in the name "Digger",
the epithet given contemptuously to native
Californians by the first Anglo
Americans to settle the state.

The book is concluded by the chapter
entitled "Entrada", a brief overview of the
European "discovery" of California and
its inhabitants. The chapter sets the stage
for the horrible devastation that was to
be wrought upon native California.

Before California is Fagan at his
best. It is a well written summary reflecting the
current state of knowledge of
prehistoric California. Done in his typically engaging
style, the book is an antidote to the
commonly held view that aboriginal California
was rather a backwater in comparison to
the loftier cultural achievements in other
parts of the New World.

Jim Selley