The two phases of the Topanga Culture are derived primarily through differences in projectile points and burial customs. Phase I is characterized by large percussion-flaked blades and points (pl. 21) which occur in the Tank Site (LAn-1) from the surface to 60 inches in depth with the greatest frequency below 18 inches (see table 4), and no similar type points or blades have been found in LAn-2. Phase II projectile points are smaller, varied in type, and are pressure flaked (pls. 22, 23, f-m). These points are confined to the upper 18 inches of the Tank Site and are exclusive to LAn-2. There are three forms of interment in the Tank Site, all of which characterize Phase I: (1) primary inhumation, extended, prone or supine, head southerly; (2) reburial, segments of long bones only, generally under an inverted metate; and (3) fractional burial with interment of long bones only. By virtue of its deep occurrence the reburial is the most ancient in the Tank Site (Treganza and Malamud, 1950, p. 135, burial 8). Phase II burials are flexed, with no specific orientation, and occur both with and without rock cairns. These burials were all limited to LAn-2.
Since clear-cut stratigraphic evidence is lacking it is difficult to assign other classes of artifacts as being definitely associated with any one specific phase of the Topanga Culture. Some general statements can be made. The large quantity of basalt core tools, especially scraper planes, occur deep in the Tank Site and are far less common in LAn-2. Manos and metates bear out the same relationship; however, both these types of artifacts span the time gap from early occurrences to the historic period. It is only when one or both of these elements characterize or dominate a site, such as in LAn-1, that they have diagnostic or comparative value in so far as the Topanga Culture is concerned.
Cog stones, discoidals, and crescentic stones, or “amulets,” are unique types of artifacts, and when found in the right association with other artifacts may prove to be valuable horizon indicators. Cog stones and discoidals occur most commonly along the interior margin of the southern California littoral, and, where documented, the mano and metate are also present. Crescentic stones, as an artifact type, have been most objectively associated with the San Dieguito of the San Diego coast and the San Dieguito-Playa (Lake Mohave) Culture of the eastern desert. However, the crescentic stone in its various forms expresses considerable latitude in time and space.
Certain elements in the Topanga Culture might be viewed as “index artifacts” when they occur as associates. To have comparative value it is the combination of traits which create the cultural pattern and not the isolates. Phase I is characterized by a combination of extended burial with the head south, reburial of long bones under metate, fractional burial, percussion-flaked projectile points and blades, dominance of flake and core tools, dominance of milling stones with wide variation in the hand stone (mano), crescentic stones, stone cogs, and stone discoidals. The latter two may occur late in this first phase. Phase II has flexed burials with no specific orientation, an occasional rock cairn in association, pressure-flaked projectile points constituting several types, and dominance of the cobble mortar and pestle as milling implements, though the latter may occur toward the end of Phase I.
Through lack of clear-cut stratigraphic evidence, all other artifacts described for the Tank Site will have to be considered either as late Phase I or early Phase II. Unless subsequent excavations at LAn-2 produce data of a nature different than that already described, this latter site should represent the type site for Phase II of the Topanga Culture.
Following the first published Topanga report, two village sites along the adjacent coast have been excavated, both of which share comparative traits with the two phases of Topanga Culture (Wallace, 1954, 1955; Peck, 1955). Both authors were handicapped in making comparisons, since this final report was not available. With future comparisons to be made, a clarification of some statements might be in order. Wallace (1955, Table I, p. 220) in presenting “milling stone horizon cultural assemblages” uses nine broad comparative categories for five different geographical areas in which each area is known by one or more excavation sites. The traits listed by Wallace under the heading of Topanga are those characteristic of Phase I with the possible exception of the mortar and pestle. “Few clam disk beads” are also listed. The only shell artifact found in the Tank Site was a single massive clam-disk bead which, because of its shallow occurrence (4 inches), is probably a Phase II artifact.
Peck (1955, p. 70), comparing Zuma Creek with Topanga, mentions the following as occurring at the Tank Site (LAn-1): “... hard calcareous mass at lower levels.” Reference must be to the nonculturally altered sandstone base of the site, since the lowest portion of the cultural deposit, the C profile, is rather soft (Treganza and Malamud, 1950, p. 130). Peck notes burial markers as: “stone platforms, red ocher abundant, and flint tools.” Large aggregates of stone were common in the Tank Site and are termed features, being composed of large quantities of boulders, whole and broken artifacts, and frequently a segment of human long bone (fig. 1). Frequently one or more metates occurred with burials. Red ocher was abundant in small granules throughout the site and appeared more frequently in the burial areas, but not to the extent as to class an interment as being a red-ocher burial in the traditional meaning or even as a burial marker. Flint tools consist of a single chert blade. Varied silicates occur as artifacts in the Tank Site but not as grave markers. Peck (1955, p. 70) also lists manos as occurring in pairs. Two was not characteristic for the Tank Site as mano caches occurred, numbering from two up to six (pl. 19, a, b).
It has been difficult to place the Topanga Culture in a compatible time perspective with the other known early cultural assemblages of southern California. Topanga, between its two phases, has elements in part comparable to all of these earlier cultures but lacks a majority of artifacts common to any one. Paramount for an explanation is the “abnormal” quantity of lithic artifacts classed under the broad heading of core and flake tools which occur in the Tank Site. Most characteristic are scraper planes, choppers, and a variety of heavy-duty scrapers. Western archaeologists fail to share any common understanding as to what these artifacts mean in time and function. The many subvarieties into which these major classes have been divided suggest they are more the product of a too elaborate or overextended typology rather than varieties that have cultural significance. In part, the Topanga papers make the same error in attempting to describe objectively a large mass of data and at the same time devise some system whereby not only the Topanga artifacts but other materials could be made more meaningful in terms of cultural comparisons. Needed is a reëxamination of the entire concept of “core tools” in western North America. Earlier, few people recognized or reported such tools. Now the other extreme has the artifact versus the “naturifact” and the talk of culture in such loose terms as preblade industries.
Habitual thinking has perhaps contributed to the general idea that a lithic assemblage of core tools characterized by percussion flaking has come to represent both antiquity and a hunting- or skin-dressing economy. This may be true in instances where the physical and the biological evidence are sufficient to support such a claim.
The general antiquity of the Tank Site can be established on the grounds of physical evidence but the great quantity of core tools invites speculation to account for their occurrence in a nonhunting culture. Some 4,994 core tools were collected from the Tank Site of an estimated presence of 50,000. This figure is exceptionally high, compared to other southern California sites of assumed similar age. Greatest in amounts were scraper planes and core hammerstones. Curiously enough, none of the scraper planes, regardless of finish, shows any degree of wear of battering on the presumed working edge or polishing on the under surface as would be expected to occur with use. This is true of similar artifacts from the San Dieguito, La Jolla, and Lake Mohave cultures. Possibly as a fleshing tool no such wear would result, but evidence of skin dressing is lacking with so little mammal bone occuring in the site. A wood-working or plant-fiber economy likewise would hardly necessitate any great quantity or variety of tools. The large pulping plane used to remove mescal fiber from a leaf was rare even among the historic Diegueno.