When Marine Mammals Clash With Archaeological Heritage
On California’s San Miguel Island, seals and sea lions are taking a heavy toll on the area's cultural treasures.
When Marine Mammals Clash With Archaeological Heritage
Todd Braje
Todd Braje is a professor of anthropology at San Diego State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 2007 and has worked along coastal regions around the world for over 15 years. Braje has conducted research on a variety of archaeological sites ranging from 12,000-year-old shell middens (ancient trash piles) and stone tool scatters to 19th-century fishing camps. His interests center on the archaeology of maritime societies, human-environment interactions through time, and maritime migrations. Braje is a co-editor of the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. His most recent book is Shellfish for the Celestial Empire: The Rise and Fall of Commercial Abalone Fishing in California.
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How Chinese Immigrants Built—and Lost—a Shellfish Industry
They founded California’s first commercial abalone fisheries, but after a few short decades, they were forced out by institutional racism. Let’s not repeat the same mistakes with current and future immigrants.