Baja California, stretching 800 miles south into the Pacific Ocean from the California-Mexico border, has been called the "forgotten peninsula," a remote frontier whose natural wonders and history have remained largely unexplored. One of the world's longest peninsulas, Baja California harbors astonishing evidence of the hunting and gathering peoples who once lived here, yet the region has been little studied, and not much has been published about its archaeology and prehistory. This volume brings together recognized U.S. and Mexican scholars who have been actively engaged in primary research on the peninsula during the last two decades. It is the first comprehensive book-length study to describe and document new insights into an ancient past. Because of its relative isolation, the richness of its early historical record, and the comparatively pristine character of many parts of the peninsula, Baja California's prehistory is of particular interest to archaeologists and anthropologists. Beginning with topical essays on the emerging evidence from paleoenvironmental studies, linguistics, early historical documents, and 20th-century ethnographic studies, followed by chapters on the prehistory of seven of the peninsula's best studied regions, the authors also discuss potential directions for future research and the problem of protecting and preserving the physical traces of the prehistoric past. This book will be a standard reference for archaeologists, anthropologists, scientists, geographers, instructors of courses in North American prehistory, university libraries, and tourists.

Narratives of Persistence charts the remarkable persistence of California's Ohlone and Paipai people over the past five centuries. Lee M. Panich draws connections between the events and processes of the deeper past and the way the Ohlone and Paipai today understand their own histories and identities.

The Baja California peninsula is home to many forms of life found nowhere else on earth. This, combined with the peninsula's rugged and inaccessible terrain, has made the area one of the last true biological frontiers of North America. L. Lee Grismer is not only the foremost authority on the amphibians and reptiles of Baja California, but also an outstanding photographer. He has produced the most comprehensive work on the herpetofauna of the peninsula and its islands ever published. With its stunning color images, detailed accounts of many little-known species, and descriptions of the region's diverse environment, this is the definitive guide to the amphibians and reptiles of a fascinating and remote region. The culmination of Grismer's quarter century of fieldwork on the Baja peninsula and his exploration of more than one hundred of its islands in the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortés, this book gives information on the identification, distribution, natural history, and taxonomy of each species of amphibian and reptile found there. Preliminary accounts of the life history of many of the salamanders, frogs, toads, turtles, lizards, and snakes are reported here for the first time, and several species that were almost unknown to science are illustrated in full color. The book also contains new data on species distribution and on the effect of the isolated landscape of the peninsula and its islands on the evolutionary process. Much of the information gathered here is presented in biogeographical overviews that consider the extremely varied environments of Baja California in both a contemporary and a historical framework. An original and important contribution to science, this book will generate further research for years to come as it becomes a benchmark reference for both professionals and amateurs.