Evidence for an Island Chumash Geophyte-Based Subsistence Economy on the Northern Channel Islands

We synthesize northern Channel Islands archaeobotanical data to discuss broad, diachronic patterns in ancient plant use. Using quantitative and qualitative comparisons, we explore the relative importance of plant foods through time and consider how plant food rankings on the islands may have differed from those on the mainland.We argue that geophytes were the highest ranked plant food resource, valued for their contribution of easily procured carbohydrates in an island environment rich in marine protein and fat resources. Geophytes are phenomenally abundant on the islands, and were used consistently by the Island Chumash and their ancestors for at least 10,000 years with no signi cant change through time. We also explore the representation of various other plant foods through time and consider what archaeobotanical data indicate about the use of groundstone, division of labor, and island-mainland exchange networks