ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the morphological differentiation in tool types through the lens of specialization for violence in the Santa Barbara Channel region of southern California. It examines the possibility directly through a model based on theories of technological investment. The study of violence among hunter-gatherer societies is challenging in many ways. A co-efficient of variation (CV) has been used to gauge standardization in dimensions of spear, dart, and arrow projectile point types found in these skeletons with a particular focus on those dating to the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA), a time associated with drought-related resource stress in the Santa Barbara Channel and elsewhere in California. Bio-archaeological analysis has demonstrated that violent injury in the form of depressed cranial fractures, ulnar shaft parry fractures, and projectile point wounds were the most prevalent types of the injuries in the Santa Barbara Channel.
