Douglas J. Kennett is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Oregon.

"'The most important study to come out of the Chumash area, and one of the best examples of research on culture change in contemporary archaeology." - L. Mark Raab, coeditor of Prehistoric California 'The most comprehensive effort yet made to apply the theoretical framework of behavioral ecology to a problem in human prehistory. The result is not only an excellent demonstration of the power of the approach but a major contribution to the pre-European history of California." - James O'Connell, University of Utah"

• CHAPTER 1 Introduction Study Area, Climate Change and Emergent Cultural Complexity, Note on Chronology CHAPTER 2 Human Behavioral Ecology and Maritime Societies Maritime Foraging Strategies, Diet Choice in Maritime Settings, Return Rates for Marine Resources, Central Place Foraging and Maritime Foragers, Intensification and the Ideal Free Distribution, Competition and the Formation of Social Hierarchies in Coastal Settings, Summary CHAPTER 3 Environmental Context General Physiography, Geology, Climate, Hydrology, Terrestrial Resources-Spatial Distribution, Marine Resources-Spatial Distribution, Seasonal Variability, Short-Term Climatic Variability, Paleoenvironment, Sea-level, Marine Climate History, Terrestrial Climate History, Summary CHAPTER 4 Cultural Context The Ethnohistoric Record, Chumash Population Levels, Subsistence, Settlement, Sexual Division of Labor, Sociopolitical Organization, Exchange and Specialization, Warfare and Territoriality, Ethnohistoric Summary, The Prehistoric Record, Chronology, Cultural Overview, Development of Sociopolitical Complexity, Punctuated Cultural Development, Prehistoric Summary CHAPTER 5 Historic Island Communities Historic Island Villages, Santa Cruz Island, Santa Rosa Island, San Miguel Island, Geographic Analysis, Viewshed Analysis, Rank-Size Analysis,Summary CHAPTER 6 Terminal Pleistocene to Middle Holocene Records Terminal Pleistocene Record, Early Holocene Record, Middle Holocene Record CHAPTER 7 Late Holocene Population Growth and Demographic Expansion, Territoriality and Warfare, Economic Intensificaton, Increases in Trade and Exchange, Emergent Sociopolitical Complexity CHAPTER 8 Synthesis Diet Breadth Central Place Foraging, Intensification and the Ideal Free Distribution, Competition and the Formation of Social Hierarchies References Index