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Comments on Cottrell's Long Distance Jasper Trade Hypothesis: In Defense of Renfrew's Trade Models

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Henry C. Koerper ,
Donald L. Fife ,
Clay A. Singer  and
Jonathon E. Ericson
Henry C. Koerper
Affiliation:
Anthropology Department, Cypress College, Cypress, CA 90630
Donald L. Fife
Affiliation:
Donald L. Fife and Associates, Tustin, CA 92681
Clay A. Singer
Affiliation:
Center for Public Archaeology, California State University, Northridge, CA 91330
Jonathon E. Ericson
Affiliation:
Program in Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92717; Division of Geological Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
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Abstract

This paper critically assesses Cottrell's model of prehistoric exchange of jasper said to have been transported through the Mojave Desert to the Tomato Springs site in coastal southern California. We point out numerous conceptual and analytical errors which cast doubt on Cottrell's interpretation of the Tomato Springs site as a control center for the importation, production, and trade of this supposedly nonlocal material. Cottrell has not demonstrated a desert origin for the jasper found at Tomato Springs, and thus has no grounds for testing any of Renfrew's distance-decay models. The presence of local natural sources of jasper better explains the occurrence of this mineral at Tomato Springs and nearby sites.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , July 1987 , pp. 623 - 630
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1987

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