2007/04/01 by Jeanne E. Arnold · 58 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · Engineering · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies #Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies #Plank #Watercraft #History #Empirical evidence #Empirical research #Archaeology #Engineering #Geology #Oceanography #Epistemology
paper · doi:10.2307/40035811
published in American Antiquity 72(2), 196-209 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 2007/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Recent publications debate the origins of the Chumash plank canoe (tomol) of southern California. The timing of its appearance is of considerable scholarly interest because of its significant role in the evolution of sociopolitical complexity among the coastal Chumash, who were among the world's most complex hunter-gatherers. This paper closely considers: (a) what constitutes reliable empirical evidence for canoe making and maintenance; (b) the most current estimate for the date of origin of this sophisticated watercraft (and the empirical foundations for such an estimate); (c) a scenario for the development of the tomol as a complex technological system (CTS) and why credit is appropriately assigned to the coastal Chumash for its development; and (d) the impacts of this technological system on Chumash sociopolitical evolution.