Millingstone Horizon is an archaeological period of Native American

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 dominance denoting a period in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, USA involving extensive use of mano

Metate

A metate is a mortar, a ground stone tool used for processing grain and seeds. In traditional Mesoamerican culture, metates were typically used by women who would grind calcified maize and other organic materials during food preparation...

s and other grinding technology. The interval is a subset of the Archaic Period; specifically Millingstone is usually applied to the period 6500 to 1500 BCE. Alternatively this epoch within North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 is known as the Encinitas Tradition. Archaeological recovery from a number of sites in California has yielded evidence of Native American habitation and daily life in this period that ended around 3,500 years ago.

Example sites

The Chumash people, who inhabited much of present day San Luis Obispo County, Santa Barbara County, and Ventura County

Ventura County, California

Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. It is located on California's Pacific coast. It is often referred to as the Gold Coast, and has a reputation of being one of the safest populated places and one of the most affluent places in the country...

 have Millingstone Horizon elements in their history. For example an extensive site at Morro Creek

Morro Creek

Morro Creek is a coastal stream in San Luis Obispo County, California, USA. This watercourse discharges to the Pacific Ocean at the city of Morro Bay.-Natural history:...

 in the present day town of Morro Bay has yielded evidence of coastal Chumash in the Millingstone period.

See also

• Chumash
• Quern
  Quern
  Quern is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany....
  
  
• Native American history of California