T66 Archaeological and Geoarchaeological Records of Natural and Human—Induced Disasters
Monday, 23 October 2006
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
LATE HOLOCENE CLIMATIC CRISIS AND WARFARE IN COASTAL SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Paper number: T66-14
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 11:20 AM – 11:35 AM
Authors
Abstract
Human skeletal data from Chumash Indian archaeological sites on the Southern California Coast show a marked increase in rates of disease and war-inflicted wounds during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, ca. AD 800 to 1100. Climate proxies from California and the Western U.S. suggest that MCA had a marked impact on coastal Southern California, including depression of terrestrial food and water resources and violent competition arising from resouce competition.