California social climbers: low water prompts high status
Fischman, J.
Science 272(5263): 811-812
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 8629008 Document Number: 467925
Researchers have linked the first signs of inherited status among the Chumash, the original inhabitants of Southern California, to growing evidence of climate change and social disruption at approximately the same time, the period from A.D. 1100 to 1300. Data from drowned tree trunks indicate a severe drought, and other evidence points to a warming of local ocean currents. Furthermore, bodies in Chumash cemeteries indicate that the locals were experiencing hard times in this period: As water levels dropped, arrow injuries, broken skulls, and signs of disease climbed to unprecedented heights. Based on evidence from the cemeteries, archaeologist Mark Raab of California State University, Northridge, contends that harsh times drove groups to start banding together for protection, staking out territory, and forming alliances. Skilled politicians and dealmakers thus became the new elite among the once egalitarian Chumash.