106
6 Transoceanic Voyaging in the Pacific
fish)” associated both with the new boat technology and the appearance of a
Polynesian style two-piece bone fishhook in the Santa Barbara channel in about
AD 300.
Jones and Klar’s evidence for sudden significant technological change in the
period belonging to first-wave contact is matched by evidence for significant
technological diffusion following second-wave Spice Island contact:
After the end of King’s Phase M3 (A.D. 300) and by the beginning of Phase M5 (A.D. 900),
compound hooks show an intriguing stylistic change toward hook parts made by carving and/or grinding bones to create more complex multifaceted, curved shanks and hooks.
These implements were still in use at the time of historic contact and complete examples
are known from museum collections. . . .They are nearly identical to two-piece hooks from
Polynesia illustrated by Buck (1957:332) and Emory et al. (1968: Plate 2 specimens 38–45)
(Figure 5). The appearance of this Polynesian composite hook type sometime between AD
300 and 900 is nearly contemporaneous with archaeological evidence for the first use of
sewn-plank canoes in the Santa Barbara Channel. The bone pieces used to make these more
elaborate hooks are similar but still distinct from bone barbs associated with composite harpoons that also appeared in the Santa Barbara Channel around A.D. 300 (King 1981:357).
Not insignificantly, earlier scholars have concluded that the more elaborate two-piece hooks
were most effective not in still water but for trolling (Tartaglia 1976:99), which is the way
they were employed in Oceania to capture bonito (Anell 1955:152; Reinman 1967:135). In
California this type is associated with open-water, mid-channel fishing for pelagic species
(Salls 1988:134). Like the tomolo [sewn-plank boat], this type of compound hook is absent
from culture areas immediately north (Greenwood 1972; Jones and Ferneau 2002; Jones
2003) and south (Gallegos 2002) of the Chumash/Gabrielino region for the A.D. 300–900
and all other time periods (p. 466).
Jones and Klar’s case for Polynesian contact with southern California, in this
period of second-wave exploration, centres on the appearance of sewn-plank boat
technology at some time in the period AD 300–800. They note that sewn-plank
boat technology is common throughout the Pacific but is known from only the
Santa Barbara Channel in North America and they note similarities in tools and
constructional techniques used in Polynesia and Santa Barbara:
Tools (including short-handled adzes with shell blades and bone drills or punches) and
techniques (construction within a special hut or protective framework of poles and mats)
used to manufacture these craft are nearly identical in both areas (p. 477).
They link the appearance of sewn-plank boats with what they describe as
punctuated adaptive changes:
Punctuated adaptive changes in the Santa Barbara Channel during this same era highlighted
by a marked increase in exploitation of pelagic fish are the direct results of initial use and
increased reliance upon sewn-plank watercraft. Appearance of two-piece bone fishhooks of
a type commonly found in Polynesia, following 5,000–6,000 years of stasis in bone hook
styles, completes a body of evidence that we feel is substantial enough to offer no reasonable
alternative other than cultural diffusion via direct contact (p. 477).
Jones and Klar’s case for Polynesian contact with southern California in this
period is further supported by linguistic evidence. Indeed they see the linguistic
evidence as being as strong as artefactual evidence, arguing, for example, that
6 Transoceanic Voyaging in the Pacific
fish)” associated both with the new boat technology and the appearance of a
Polynesian style two-piece bone fishhook in the Santa Barbara channel in about
AD 300.
Jones and Klar’s evidence for sudden significant technological change in the
period belonging to first-wave contact is matched by evidence for significant
technological diffusion following second-wave Spice Island contact:
After the end of King’s Phase M3 (A.D. 300) and by the beginning of Phase M5 (A.D. 900),
compound hooks show an intriguing stylistic change toward hook parts made by carving and/or grinding bones to create more complex multifaceted, curved shanks and hooks.
These implements were still in use at the time of historic contact and complete examples
are known from museum collections. . . .They are nearly identical to two-piece hooks from
Polynesia illustrated by Buck (1957:332) and Emory et al. (1968: Plate 2 specimens 38–45)
(Figure 5). The appearance of this Polynesian composite hook type sometime between AD
300 and 900 is nearly contemporaneous with archaeological evidence for the first use of
sewn-plank canoes in the Santa Barbara Channel. The bone pieces used to make these more
elaborate hooks are similar but still distinct from bone barbs associated with composite harpoons that also appeared in the Santa Barbara Channel around A.D. 300 (King 1981:357).
Not insignificantly, earlier scholars have concluded that the more elaborate two-piece hooks
were most effective not in still water but for trolling (Tartaglia 1976:99), which is the way
they were employed in Oceania to capture bonito (Anell 1955:152; Reinman 1967:135). In
California this type is associated with open-water, mid-channel fishing for pelagic species
(Salls 1988:134). Like the tomolo [sewn-plank boat], this type of compound hook is absent
from culture areas immediately north (Greenwood 1972; Jones and Ferneau 2002; Jones
2003) and south (Gallegos 2002) of the Chumash/Gabrielino region for the A.D. 300–900
and all other time periods (p. 466).
Jones and Klar’s case for Polynesian contact with southern California, in this
period of second-wave exploration, centres on the appearance of sewn-plank boat
technology at some time in the period AD 300–800. They note that sewn-plank
boat technology is common throughout the Pacific but is known from only the
Santa Barbara Channel in North America and they note similarities in tools and
constructional techniques used in Polynesia and Santa Barbara:
Tools (including short-handled adzes with shell blades and bone drills or punches) and
techniques (construction within a special hut or protective framework of poles and mats)
used to manufacture these craft are nearly identical in both areas (p. 477).
They link the appearance of sewn-plank boats with what they describe as
punctuated adaptive changes:
Punctuated adaptive changes in the Santa Barbara Channel during this same era highlighted
by a marked increase in exploitation of pelagic fish are the direct results of initial use and
increased reliance upon sewn-plank watercraft. Appearance of two-piece bone fishhooks of
a type commonly found in Polynesia, following 5,000–6,000 years of stasis in bone hook
styles, completes a body of evidence that we feel is substantial enough to offer no reasonable
alternative other than cultural diffusion via direct contact (p. 477).
Jones and Klar’s case for Polynesian contact with southern California in this
period is further supported by linguistic evidence. Indeed they see the linguistic
evidence as being as strong as artefactual evidence, arguing, for example, that