Functions and Life Histories of “Donut Stones” in Southern California: San Clemente Island

Project Dates:
February-August 2011

Project Location:
San Diego Archaeological Center
16666 San Pasqual Valley Road
Escondido, CA
Tel:  760-291-0370
Fax: 760-291-0371

Project Personnel:

• Margie M. Burton, PhD, Lead Investigator, Wear Analysis, and Photomicrography (Research Director, San Diego Archaeological Center) mburton@sandiegoarchaeology.org
• Adolfo A. Muniz, PhD, Photography and GIS (Collections Manager, San Diego Archaeological Center)
• Jenny L. Adams, PhD, Ground Stone Consultant (Research Archaeologist, Desert Archaeology, Inc.)
• Patrick L. Abbott, PhD, Geology Consultant (Professor of Geology, San Diego State University)

San Diego Archaeological Center Interns: Liz Ferguson (GIS), Erin Yetts-Teeling and Robbie Malebranche (Photography), Kathy Dickey (Database and metrics)

Goals and Background:

This descriptive study aimed to discern the functions and life histories of perforated stones or “donut stones” found on San Clemente Island and other insular and coastal areas of southern California. Previous research suggests a wide range of secular and ritual functions, including the frequently cited “digging stick weight” hypothesis based on ethnographic reports.  However, many provenienced donut stones are found in mid-Holocene contexts, pre-dating the ethnographic record by thousands of years.  Results show that systematic analysis, including microscopic analysis of wear patterns, has the potential to improve our understanding of mid-Holocene donut stone manufacture and use.

Materials:

Forty-six artifacts (including complete objects and fragments) curated at the San Diego Archaeological Center were studied.  Collections from Federal lands were studied with the permission of the U. S. Department of the Navy.

Methods:  

Study methods included macroscopic and microscopic (to 90x) examination of manufacture and wear traces following methods developed by J. Adams, photography, analysis of metric dimensions, and hand specimen (10x) lithic typing.

Photomicrographs were taken with a Leica EC-3 camera mounted on an Olympus SZX-12 microscope. Multifocal images were processed using Helicon Focus Lite.

Results and Dissemination:

All data, including images, resulting from this project are published on Open Context (opencontext.org). Because site location data can be sensitive, geographic coordinates for sites and find locations for these objects are provided at only a low level of precision. Please contact the San Diego Archaeological Center to make requests for more specific locational data and other data that may be sensitive.

Additional information including an interpretive report is on file at the San Diego Archaeological Center.