Goleta Slough Prehistory

The series of papers in this volume, taken together, present a status report of what is currently known about the prehistory of the people who lived at the habitation sites adjacent to the extensive estuary that became the modern Goleta Slough. They consider the nature of prehistoric occupation at seven of these sites, and they relate what is known about the sites of the broader prehistory of the Goleta Slough vicinity and beyond. In addition, two of these papers concern what is known about the Chumash inhabitants of the Goleta Slough vicinity on the basis of information recorded by the first Spanish explorers and mission padres. The analyses presented in the papers demonstrate that the rich variety and quantity of natural resources of the estuary and the lands and ocean waters immediately surrounding it were undoubtedly the main attraction in the eyes of many generation of Chumash people who occupied sites along its margins.