Pristine benchmarks and indigenous conservation? Implications from California zooarchaeology

The superabundance of tame wildlife during the early historic period in California astonished European explorers. And the historic accounts of incredible animal densities, most notably artiodactyls, have influenced a long-held perception that California Indians lived in harmony with nature. However, analyses of archaeological faunal materials from sites covering a wide range of ecological contexts provide evidence for substantial impacts on a variety of large vertebrate taxa as human population densities expanded over the last c. 3000 years. The evidence suggests that many large vertebrate species, including sturgeon (Acipenser spp.), geese (Anser, Chen, Branta), tule elk (Cervus elpahus nannodes). mountain sheep (Ovis canadensis), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and pronghorn (Antilocapra americans), were driven to extremely low numbers by human hunting by late prehistoric times. The early historic accounts of large game superabundances almost surely reflect irruptions of those populations after preceding waves of European-based disease dramatically reduced their chief predators - the California Indians. These results have implications for conservation policies that are founded on early historic period landscape benchmarks and proposals involving the management of wilderness areas through the use of indigenous hunting and harvesting methods.