An Archaeological And Historical View Of Quiroste Tribal Genesis

The ethnographic Quiroste tribe has been described as the most powerful tribe on the San Francisco Peninsular coast (Milliken 1991:186). Archaeological and historical information from within their ancestral territory, especially at Ano Nuevo State Park, reveals a long tradition of in situ cultural developments spanning the middle and late Holocene. Ano Nuevo State Park was the center for Monterey chert stone tool production, and a source of export for economically important olivella and abalone shell. These resources, along with abundant terrestrial and marine foods and materials, established the Quiroste as a prominent polity among the many others that controlled territories throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.