INDEPENDENT OR ATTACHED SPECIALIZATION - THE ORGANIZATION OF SHELL BEAD PRODUCTION IN CALIFORNIA

Shell bead manufacturing on California's northern Channel Islands appa rently played a critical role in the rise of a simple chiefdom and the operation of a lively regional exchange economy. Recent research has focused on expanding our understanding of the economic and sociopoliti cal context of this rich tradition of shell bead production and the me ans by which bead makers articulated with other specialists, elites, a nd consumers. Analyses suggest that bead makers were specialists, yet we find that widely used concepts of independent and attached speciali zation are difficult to apply to the Channel Islands case for a number of reasons. We explore these reasons and suggest a simplification of definitions of specialization so they better accommodate variability i n the archaeological record. Analysis of several dimensions of bead pr oduction data from the region illustrates a dramatic increase in inten sity of bead production and a shift from the manufacture of simpler to more labor-intensive bead types at ca. A.C. 1150-1300. These changes appear linked to the emergence of elites approximately seven or eight centuries ago in this region.