Giant Rock Scallop Beads from California Studied

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA—Phys.org reports that two beads made from giant rock scallops have been unearthed at the Turkey Flats and Lichtenstein sites, both located far from the Santa Barbara Channel where giant rock scallops usually live. The creatures live below the tide line, making them difficult to reach, and have thick, hard shells, making them difficult to shape into beads. Researchers suggest these factors made the beads rare and a sign of high status among the Indigenous Chumash, Salinan, and Yokuts peoples. The bead from Turkey Flats has been radiocarbon dated to 8,500 years ago—the oldest such bead ever found. “It’s cool that this is the oldest of its kind identified so far, but cooler still to view it as part of a broader Early Holocene cultural landscape seemingly well-established in this locale as much as 10,000 years ago,” said archaeologist Barry A. Price of Applied EarthWorks, Inc. The bead from Lichtenstein was dated to 3,674 years ago, indicating that the tradition of crafting and trading giant scallop shell beads lasted for more than 5,000 years. Isotope analysis of the materials revealed that the Turkey Flats shell came from southern California, while the Lichtenstein shell came from central or southern California. “There’s a more-than-reasonable chance the beads were manufactured on the Channel Islands and moved northward via networks of trade that could have extended hundreds of miles,” Price said. “That’s the most likely scenario, though it’s also possible that individuals from the Channel Islands or Santa Barbara coast carried them northward as part of their personal ornamentation,” he concluded. To read more about the Chumash homeland in this region, go to "Off the Grid: Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park, California."