California History and Marine Archaeology

Working to Preserve Our Heritage

California's history is very exciting, made of day-to-day events that start with the Native Americans and continue to this very day. Archaeological resources is the term given to the places and objects that tell us how the people of California lived. Marine archaeology studies those places and objects that tell us how the people of California used the sea. Examples of marine archaeological resources include shipwrecks, prehistoric village sites that are now underwater, objects placed in the ocean by Native Americans during their ceremonies, and cargo lost from the deck of an explorer's ship during a storm. The Bureau works hard to make sure that archaeological resources are not harmed in the effort to find and develop the oil, natural gas and other minerals on the offshore lands of the United States.

To learn more about the marine archaeology of California, especially the Santa Barbara Channel, click on the topics listed below:

• Finding and Exploring Shipwrecks in California
• Native American Watercraft--Chumash and Tongva plank canoes
• Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo--the story first European to explore California
• Manila Galleons--treasure ships sail and wreck along the California coast
• Early California Stories--Island of the Blue Dolphins, the wreck of Peor es Nada and San Buenaventura
• Gold Rush Shipwrecks--Ships taking miners back home wreck along the coast

To learn more about marine archaeology, visit these web sites:

Project Jeremy in Alaska: Finding the Wrecks of the Whaling Fleet

An Index of Shipwrecks in Alaska

Gulf of Mexico Archaeological Information