Santa Rosae

The northern four Channel Islands of California are shown here in dark green

Santa Rosae was an ancient landmass off the coast of present-day southern California, near Santa Barbara County and Ventura County, of which the northern Channel Islands of California are remnants. At its largest, Santa Rosae was roughly 3-4 times bigger than the northern Channel Islands of today, stretching for nearly 125 km from east to west. Between about 20,000 and 5,000 years ago, Santa Rosae lost about 70% of its land mass to rising post-glacial seas, leaving behind a vast submerged landscape currently being explored by scientists.

Before the end of the last ice age, the four northern Channel Islands of California were linked in a single contiguous island located only about 5 miles offshore. Santa Rosae broke up between ~11,000 and 9,000 years ago and the geography of the northern Channel Islands took their present shape after the continental ice sheets melted and sea levels rose ~100 meters. There is also evidence to suggest that a submerged island, Calafia,[1] lay between Santa Rosae and the mainland.

Santa Rosae is perhaps best known for having had a population of pygmy mammoths (Mammuthus exilis), which became extinct roughly 13,000 years ago, and for the ~13,000-year-old skeleton of Arlington Springs Man, which is among the oldest human remains yet found in North America. As Santa Rosae was not connected to the mainland at the time, the Arlington Man remains show that Paleoindians settled the island with boats. Archaeological evidence shows that these Paleocoastal peoples had sophisticated maritime technologies and fished, hunted marine mammals and birds, and harvested island plant foods [2]

These Paleocoastal peoples, who survived on the island until about 8,000 years ago, may be the ancestors of the Island Chumash tribe, who lived on the northern Channel Islands for millennia until they were removed to mainland missions by Spanish authorities in the 1820s.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Institutional Advancement UC Santa Barbara
  2. ↑ Erlandson, J.M., T.C. Rick, T.J. Braje, M. Casperson, B. Culleton, B. Fulfrost, T. Garcia, D. Guthrie, N. Jew, D. Kennett, M.L. Moss, L.. Reeder, C. Skinner, J. Watts, & L. Willis. 2011. Paleoindian seafaring, maritime technologies, and coastal foraging on California’s Channel Islands. Science 441:1181-1185.
  3. ↑ Braje, T.J., J.G. Costello, J.M. Erlandson, M.A. Glassow, J.R. Johnson, D.P. Morris, J.E. Perry, & T.C. Rick. 2010. Channel Islands National Park Archaeological Overview and Assessment (M. Glassow, editor). National Park Service, digital volume (http://www.cfr.washington.edu/research.cesu/reports/J8W07060007_final_report.pdf ).

Coordinates: 34°00′N 120°00′W / 34.000°N 120.000°W / 34.000; -120.000


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