LATE HOLOCENE CLIMATIC CRISIS AND WARFARE IN COASTAL SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Human skeletal data from Chumash Indian archaeological sites on the Southern California Coast show a marked increase in rates of disease and war-inflicted wounds during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, ca. AD 800 to 1100. Climate proxies from California and the Western U.S. suggest that MCA had a marked impact on coastal Southern California, including depression of terrestrial food and water resources and violent competition arising from resouce competition.