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Tomato Springs: The Identification of a Jasper Trade and Production Center in Southern California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Marie G. Cottrell*
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90024

Abstract

In this report I present evidence of a prehistoric trade network that operated between the inland desert and coastal regions of southern California. Jasper, a nonlocal commodity from sources in the inland deserts, was found in large quantities at the Tomato Springs site, a prehistoric coastal village. This lithic material appears to have been of some value to the inhabitants of the coastal region, as evidence indicates that it was procured in quantity for a period of approximately 4,500 years over distances in excess of 175 km. The available data indicate that jasper trade between the inland deserts and the coast does not fit any distance-decay models proposed for trade in spite of the distances under consideration.

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1985

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References

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