The Topanga Culture: Final Report on Excavations, 1948Treganza, Adan E. (Adan Eduardo)
History
The Topanga Culture: Final Report on Excavations, 1948
Treganza, Adan E. (Adan Eduardo)
California -- Antiquities; Topanga Canyon (Calif.)
Presented here is a modification and more limited view of the earlier
chronological chart (table 8), differing from the chronology presented by
Wallace mainly in the duration of time, and the inclusion of more recent
data. Without knowledge of two phases of the Topanga Culture and without
the aid of complete data, Wallace dates Topanga at about 2000 B.C. but not
over 3000 B.C. Sites (or cultures) such as Oak Grove, Little Sycamore,
Malaga Cove II, and La Jolla I are given a date between 0 B.C. and 3000
B.C. (average, 1500 B.C.). With more specific dating for the peripheral
areas, especially the central California Middle and Early Horizons, a date
of 2000 B.C. for Topanga seems far too conservative to fit comfortably
into any over-all generalized chronology for California. Likewise, if
Phase I of Topanga is related, as is suggested, to the San Dieguito of San
Diego County, and the latter is related to the ancient Lake Mohave (Playa)
Culture of the eastern desert, then the acceptance of a date of a little
over 3000 B.C. for these cultures would suggest the geologic dating for
ancient Lake Mohave as too early or that coastal southern California has
suffered a considerable cultural lag. It is doubted that either is the
case.
Though claims have been made for Third Interglacial occupation of the
southern California coast, convincing evidence is still lacking. The
organized cultural activities of man first appear as a combination of
shore-line and milling activities directed toward the collection and
preparation of food. This simple ecological adaptation could have occupied
considerable periods of time involving little or no cultural modification
in the direction of technological change. It does not seem to conservative
to date Phase I of Topanga between 4000 B.C. and 8000 B.C. and Phase II
with some overlap from 2500 B.C. to 5000 B.C.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Campbell, E. W., W. H. Campbell, E. Antevs, C. A. Amsden, J. A. Barbieri,
and F. D. Bode
1937. The Archaeology of Pleistocene Lake Mohave, SM-P No. 12.
Heizer, R. F., and E. M. Lemert
1947. Observations on Archaeological Sites in Topanga Canyon,
California. UC-PAAE 44:237-258.
Peck, S. L.
1955. An Archaeological Report on the Excavation Of a Prehistoric Site
of Zuma Creek, Los Angeles County, California. Archaeological Survey
Assoc. of Southern Calif.
Rogers, D. B.
1929. Prehistoric Man of the Santa Barbara Coast. Santa Barbara Museum
of Nat. Hist.
Rogers, M. J.
1929. The Stone Art of the San Dieguito Plateau. AA 31(3):454-467.
Menasha.
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and Adjacent Desert Areas. SDM-P No. 3. San Diego.
1945. An outline of Yuman Prehistory. SWJA 1(2):167-198.
Treganza, A. E.
1950. The Topanga Culture and Southern California Prehistory.
Unpublished Ph. D. Dissertation. University of California.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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