The Fraser River Valley Project (2002-present) in Southern British Columbia, Canada, is co-directed by Arnold and several colleagues from University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser Univiersity, and the Sto:lo Nation. Investigations of household and community organization in later prehistoric and early contact-era Sto:lo pithouse villages are providing new insights into status, diet, identity and regional interaction.

Arnold has served for 14 years on the Society for American Archaeology's National Historic Landmarks Committee, preserving the nation's cultural heritage in association with the National Park Service. This work has been acknowledged by the U.S. Department of the Interior. She also serves in a frequent advisory role to California's Channel Islands National Park. Her recent published work includes investigations into the relationship between political power, labor rights, and kinship in traditional societies and explorations of the costs and benefits of participation in hierarchies. Arnold has published several books, most recently Emergent Complexity: The Evolution of Intermediate Societies (1996), The Origins of a Pacific Coast Chiefdom: The Chumash of the Channel Islands (2001), and Foundations of Chumash Complexity (2004).

Island Chumash villagers were maritime peoples, engaged heavily in using the rich faunal resources of the Pacific Ocean. They traded extensively with mainland Chumash neighbors across the Santa Barbara Channel, using their renowned plank canoes. Villagers lived in large, permanent communities along the coasts, and many of them specialized in the manufacture of microdrills or shell beads. Millions of drills and shell beads were made by islanders during the last half-millennium before the arrival of Europeans. Team members began fieldwork on early Historic period Island Chumash households and communities in 1995. Field teams sampled roughly 35 houses at four large Historic village sites on Santa Cruz Island, exploring wealth and social status, participation in craft specializations, and diet in these households. More intensive excavations were carried out at five houses in these villages, with fieldwork concluding in the late 1990s. Arnold’s earlier field research at three Historic-era houses at an island microblade manufacturing village was recently incorporated into this project. Several publications have emerged from this large corpus of data (Arnold 2004; Arnold, Ambos, and Larson 1997; Dietler 2003; Graesch 2000, 2004; Noah 2005), and analyses are ongoing.

II. Southern British Columbia: The Fraser River Valley Project (2002-present)

A multi-year collaborative field project in southwestern British Columbia with Canadian colleagues and students was carried out during  the 2002-2005 seasons. Financial support includes the UCLA Academic Senate and CIOA Field Research funds. A team of six researchers from UCLA and several researchers from Simon Fraser U., U. of British Columbia, and the Sto:lo Nation tested an early Historic village site along the upper Fraser River Valley: the village of Ts'qo:ls (DiRi 1) at Hope, B.C., under Arnold’s direction. UCLA team members are focusing on late precontact and early Historic Sto:lo household economic dynamics and villagers’ social and exchange relationships with Sto:lo people (and Europeans) situated along the massive Fraser River system, which extends from deep in the Canadian Plateau to the Gulf of Georgia. Anthony Graesch (Ph.D. 2006, UCLA) and Michael Lenert (UCLA Ph.D. student) are conducting household-level investigations at the nearby sites of Welqamex (DiRi 15) and Sxwoxwiymelh (DiRj 1).

III. UCLA Sloan Center on Everyday Lives of Families (CELF) (2001-present)

Arnold is a faculty co-founder of the project, directing the Ethnoarchaeology component. This study focuses on 32 Los Angeles area middle-class, home-owning, working families with children. Project teams are gathering a range of data about people’s uses of their homes, including mapping homes and grounds, taking detailed digital photographic series of their houses and household objects, and doing videotaping and timed tracking of their uses of space and artifacts within the home. Analyses include examination of shared space, gendered uses of space, remodeling, storage, and other dimensions of space and place in the home. Other researchers are exploring family interactions, health and well-being, social networks, stress, and education, among other topics.

STUDENTS:

Arnold has a number of graduate students working in a variety of cultural and geographic settings. Graduate students Julie Bernard, Ray Corbett, John Dietler, and Michael Lenert are currently at various stages of their dissertation research. Kelly Fong  is conducting Masters thesis research.  Recent Ph.D. recipients include Anthony Graesch, Mike Hilton, Terisa Green, Anna Noah, Scott Pletka and Andy Yatsko. Further information regarding the research interests and activities of my students can be found at the California Channel Islands Laboratory website or on their individual web pages (links above).

If you are interested in graduate work on complex hunter-gatherers or emergent sociopolitical complexity here at UCLA, please feel free to contact me. General information on academic programs in anthropology at UCLA can be found at the UCLA Department of Anthropology website and general information regarding graduate research and admissions can be found at the UCLA Graduate Division website.

• 2002-2005. Fraser River Valley Project, Southern British Columbia, Canada. Co-director. In 2003 and 2005, director of excavations at the Sto:lo Village of Ts'qo:ls, Hope, B.C.

• 1995-1999. Santa Cruz Island, California. National Science Foundation Project: "Inter-Household Variability in Status, Wealth, and Production in the Later Prehistory of the Channel Islands." P.I.: Research excavations, households, remote sensing, low-impact collection techniques.

• 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997. Santa Cruz Island, California. Director. Archaeological Field School: excavation, survey, mapping, and laboratory training for undergraduate and graduate students.

• 1998. Stunt Ranch Reserve /Santa Cruz Island. Director. Archaeological Field School: excavation, survey, mapping, and laboratory training for undergraduate and graduate students.

• 1993, 1995, 1998. Santa Susana Mountains or Stunt Ranch Reserve, California. Director. Archaeological Field Course: excavation, mapping, and laboratory training.

• 1988-1991. Channel Islands, California. National Science Foundation Project: "Emergent Complexity in the Prehistoric Channel Islands, California." P.I.: Research excavations and survey, early evolution of chiefdoms among California hunter-gatherers.

• 1990, 1991, 1992. Denmark (Northern Jutland). Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age excavations (T. Earle, M. Rowlands, and K. Kristiansen, directors).

• 1981-1983. Northern Channel Islands, California. Director. Survey and excavation at quarries and craft production localities.

• 1976-1977. Michigan. Co-Principal Investigator, Surveys, including Field Co-Director (1976), Season II of the River Raisin Survey. University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology.

• 1976. The Netherlands. National Science Foundation (R. Whallon, Director). University of Michigan and the Biologisch-Archaeologisch Institut, U. Groningen, Netherlands. Excavations, Mesolithic/ Neolithic.

• 2007.  Arnold, J.E., and U.A. Lang.  “Changing American Home Life: Trends in Domestic Leisure and Storage among Middle-Class Families.”  Journal of Family and Economic Issues Vol. 28 (March 2007).

• 2006.  Arnold, J.E.   “Comment on Constraints on the Development of Enduring Inequalities in Late Holocene Australia.”  Current Anthropology 47:19-20.

• 2006.  Arnold, J.E.    “Households on the Pacific Coast: The Northwest Coast and California in Comparative Perspective.”  In Household Archaeology on the Northwest Coast (E. A. Sobel, D. A. Trieu Gahr, and K. M. Ames, eds.), pp. 270-285.  International Monographs in Prehistory, Ann Arbor.

• 2005.  Arnold, J.E., and J. Bernard.   “Negotiating the Coasts: Status and the Evolution of Boat Technology in California.”  World Archaeology 37:109-131.

• 2004.  Arnold, J.E. (Editor).  Foundations of Chumash Complexity.  Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Los Angeles.

• 2004.  Arnold, J.E.., and A.P. Graesch.   “The Later Evolution of the Island Chumash.”   In Foundations of Chumash Complexity (J. E. Arnold, ed.), pp. 1-16.  Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Los Angeles.

• 2004.  Arnold, J.E.   “A Transcontinental Perspective on the Evolution of Hunter-Gatherer Lifeways on the Plateau: Discussion and Reflection.”  In Complex Hunter-Gatherers: Evolution and Organization of Prehistoric Communities on the Plateau of Northwestern North America  (W.C. Prentiss and I. Kuijt, eds.), pp. 171-181.  University of Utah Press.

• 2004. Arnold, J.E., M.R. Walsh, and S.E. Hollimon. “The Archaeology of California.” Journal of Archaeological Research 12:1-73.

• 2003. Graesch, A.P., and J. E. Arnold. “Small-Scale Testing at SCRI-393: An Early Period Ridgetop Site.” Channel Islands National Park, Ventura , CA.

• 2002. Munns, A.M., and J.E. Arnold. “Late Holocene Santa Cruz Island: Patterns of Continuity and Change.” In Catalysts to Complexity: Late Holocene Societies of the California Coast (J. Erlandson and T. Jones, eds.), pp. 127-146. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, Los Angeles.

• 2002. Arnold, J.E. “Review of Exploring Coast Salish Prehistory: The Archaeology of San Juan Island” (J. Stein). American Antiquity 67:178-179.

• 2002. Arnold, J.E., and D. Rachal. “The Value of Pismo Clam Tube Beads in California: Experiments in Drilling.” North American Archaeologist 23(3): 187-207.

• 2002. Arnold, J.E., and T.M. Green. “Mortuary Ambiguity: The Ventureño Chumash Case.” American Antiquity 67(4): 760-771.

• 2002. Graesch, A.P., and J. E. Arnold. “Archaeological Investigations at a Coastal Ventureño Community: Big Sycamore Canyon, Point Mugu State Park, California.” California Department of Parks and Recreation, San Diego, CA.

• 2001. Arnold, J.E. (Editor). The Origins of a Pacific Coast Chiefdom: The Chumash of the Channel Islands. University of Utah Press.

• 2001. Arnold, J.E. "The Chumash in World and Regional Perspectives." In The Origins of a Pacific Coast Chiefdom: The Chumash of the Channel Islands (J.E. Arnold, ed.), pp. 1-19. University of Utah Press.

• 2001. Arnold, J.E. "The Channel Islands Project: History, Objectives, and Methods." In The Origins of a Pacific Coast Chiefdom: The Chumash of the Channel Islands (J.E. Arnold, ed.), pp. 21-52. University of Utah Press.

• 2001. Arnold. J.E., and A.P. Graesch. "The Evolution of Specialized Shellworking among the Island Chumash." In The Origins of a Pacific Coast Chiefdom: The Chumash of the Channel Islands (J.E. Arnold, ed.), pp. 71-112. University of Utah Press.

• 2001. Arnold, J.E., A.M. Preziosi, and P. Shattuck. "Flaked Stone Craft Production and Exchange in Island Chumash Territory." In The Origins of a Pacific Coast Chiefdom: The Chumash of the Channel Islands (J.E. Arnold, ed.), pp. 113-131. University of Utah Press.

• 2001. Arnold, J.E. "Social Evolution and the Political Economy in the Northern Channel Islands." In The Origins of a Pacific Coast Chiefdom: The Chumash of the Channel Islands (J.E. Arnold, ed.), pp. 287-296. University of Utah Press.

• 2000. Arnold, J.E. "Revisiting Power, Labor Rights, and Kinship: Archaeology and Social Theory." In Social Theory in Archaeology (M.B. Schiffer, ed.), pp. 14-30. University of Utah Press.

• 2000. Arnold, J.E. "The Origins of Hierarchy and the Nature of Hierarchical Structures in Prehistoric California." In Hierarchies in Action: Cui Bono?, (M.W. Diehl, ed.), pp. 221-240. Southern Illinois University Press.

• 1998. Arnold, J.E. Review of "The Chumash and Their Predecessors" (M.S. Holmes and J.R. Johnson, eds.). Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 20:289-291.

• 1998. Colten, R. H., and J. E. Arnold. "Prehistoric Marine Mammal Hunting on California's Northern Channel Islands." American Antiquity 63:679-701.

• 1998. Arnold, J.E. Review of "Political Structure and Change in the Prehistoric Southeastern United States" (J.F. Scarry, ed.). Southeastern Archaeology 16:79-80.

• 1997. Arnold, J.E., E.L. Ambos, and D. Larson. "Geophysical Surveys of Stratigraphically Complex Island California Sites: New Implications for Household Archaeology." Antiquity 71:157-168.

• 1997. Arnold, J.E. "Bigger Boats, Crowded Creekbanks: Environmental Stresses in Perspective." American Antiquity 62:337-339.

• 1997. Arnold, J.E., R. H. Colten, and S. Pletka. "Contexts of Cultural Change in Insular California." American Antiquity 62:300-318.

• 1996. Arnold, J.E. "The Archaeology of Complex Hunter-Gatherers." Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 3:77-126.

• 1996. Arnold, J.E. "Review of Prehistoric Exchange Systems in North America." American Anthropologist 98:429-430.

• 1996. Arnold, J.E. (Editor). Emergent Complexity: The Evolution of Intermediate Societies. International Monographs in Prehistory, Ann Arbor.

• 1996. Arnold, J.E. "Understanding the Evolution of Intermediate Societies." In Emergent Complexity: The Evolution of Intermediate Societies, (J.E. Arnold, ed.), pp. 1-12. International Monographs in Prehistory, Ann Arbor.

• 1996. Arnold, J.E. "Organizational Transformations: Power and Labor among Complex Hunter-Gatherers and Other Intermediate Societies." In Emergent Complexity: The Evolution of Intermediate Societies, (J.E. Arnold, ed.), pp. 59-73. International Monographs in Prehistory, Ann Arbor.

• 1995. Arnold, J.E. "Transportation Innovation and Social Complexity among Maritime Hunter-Gatherer Societies." American Anthropologist 97:733-747.

• 1995. Arnold, J.E. "Social Inequality, Marginalization, and Economic Process." In Foundations of Social Inequality, (T.D. Price and G.M. Feinman, eds.), pp. 87-103. Plenum, New York.

• 1995. Arnold, J.E. "Review of Early Hunter-Gatherers of the California Coast." American Anthropologist 97:600-601.

• 1995. Arnold, J.E. "Did Ocean Changes Alter Island Society: Handling El Nino." Alolkoy; Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary 7(4):15.

• 1994. Arnold, J.E. "Studies in Prehistoric Sociopolitical Complexity on the Northern Channel Islands and Preliminary Results from Prisoners Harbor." The Fourth California Islands Symposium: Update on the Status of Resources. (W.L. Halvorson and G.J.Maender, eds.), pp. 193-200. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

• 1994. Arnold, J.E., and A. Munns. "Independent or Attached Specialization: The Organization of Shell Bead Production in California." Journal of Field Archaeology 21:473-489.

• 1994. Arnold, J.E. "Review of Before the Wilderness: Environmental Management by Native Californians." Ethnohistory 41(4):689-691.

• 1993. Arnold, J.E. "Labor and the Rise of Complex Hunter-Gatherers." Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 12:75-119.

• 1993. Arnold, J.E., and B. Tissot. "Measurement of Significant Marine Paleotemperature Variation Using Black Abalone Shells from Prehistoric Middens." Quaternary Research, 39:390-394.

• 1993. Arnold, J.E., and J. O'Shea. "Review of Evolution of Chumash Society." American Antiquity, 58:770.

• 1993. Arnold, J.E. "Chumash Technology: New Discoveries of Uses of Imported Redwood and Asphaltum on the Channel Islands." Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology, Vol.6:277-285.

• 1992. Arnold, J.E. "Complex Hunter-Gatherer-Fishers of Prehistoric California: Chiefs, Specialists, and Maritime Adaptations of the Channel Islands." American Antiquity, 57:60-84.

• 1992. Arnold, J.E. "Cultural Disruption and the Political Economy in Channel Islands Prehistory." In Essays on the Prehistory of Maritime California, (T. L. Jones, ed.). Center for Archaeological Research at Davis, Vol. 10: 129-144.

• 1992. Arnold, J.E. (Editor) Stone Tool Procurement, Production, and Distribution in California Prehistory. Institute of Archaeology, UCLA.

• 1992. Arnold, J.E. "Early-Stage Biface Production Industries in Coastal Southern California." In Stone Tool Procurement, Production, and Distribution in California Prehistory, pp. 67-129. Institute of Archaeology, UCLA.

• 1992. Arnold, J.E. "Lithic Analyses and Recent Research in California." In Stone Tool Procurement, Production, and Distribution in California Prehistory, pp. 1-3. Institute of Archaeology, UCLA.

• 1991. Arnold, J.E. "Transformation of a Regional Economy: Sociopolitical Evolution and the Production of Valuables in Southern California." Antiquity 65:953-962.

• 1990. Arnold, J.E. "Lithic Resource Control and Economic Change in the Santa Barbara Channel Region." Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 12(2):158-172.

• 1990. Arnold, J.E. "An Archaeological Perspective on the Historic Settlement Pattern on Santa Cruz Island." Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 12(1):112-127.

• 1989. Arnold, J.E. "Review of Chiefdoms in the Americas." The Latin American Anthropology Review 1:74-75.

• 1988. Arnold, J.E. "Review of The Material Culture of the Chumash Interaction Sphere, Vol. IV: Ceremonial Paraphernalia, Games, and Amusements." American Antiquity 53:216.

• 1987. Arnold, J.E. Craft Specialization in the Prehistoric Channel Islands, California. University of California Press, Berkeley.

• 1987. Arnold, J.E. "Technology and Economy: Microblade Core Production from the Channel Islands." In The Organization of Core Technology, (J.K. Johnson and C.A. Morrow, eds.), pp. 207-237. Westview Press.

• 1985. Arnold, J.E. "Review of The Material Culture of the Chumash Interaction Sphere, Vol. III: Clothing, Ornamentation, and Grooming." Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 7:274-275.

• 1985. Arnold, J.E. "The Santa Barbara Channel Islands Bladelet Industry." Lithic Technology 14(2):71-80.

• 1985. Arnold, J.E. "Economic Specialization in Prehistory: Methods of Documenting the Rise of Lithic Craft Specialization." In Lithic Resource Procurement: Proceedings from the Second Conference on Prehistoric Chert Exploitation, (S.C. Vehik, ed.), pp. 37-58. Center for Archaeological Investigations Occasional Paper 4. Southern Illinois University.

• 1982. Ford, A., and J.E. Arnold. "A Reexamination of Labor Investments at Tikal: Reply to Haviland, and Folan, Kintz, Fletcher, and Hyde." American Antiquity 47:436-440.

• 1980. Arnold, J.E., and A. Ford. "A Statistical Examination of Settlement Patterns at Tikal, Guatemala." American Antiquity 45:713-726.