This small collection of archaeological materials has a marked diversity
of types, with little duplication. Compared to similar artifacts from
habitation caves, the specimens of the Palmer Collection are complete
with the exception of the fragile garments and the netting.
There are few household goods of any variety. Most of the specimens are
ornamental or have a ceremonial significance. A number of artifacts,
specifically the tubular stone pipes, human hair cape, cane whistles,
and the probable bull-roarer, were associated with shamans among the
historic peoples of the peninsula. It is most likely that one of the
burials was a shaman, who had been interred with his paraphernalia in
this burial cave.
Most of the material from Bahía de Los Angeles can be duplicated from
various sites in the Desert Area; however, a few have been recorded only
in the archaeology or ethnography of Baja California. These include the
human hair cape and the exclusive square-knot netting.
The majority of the artifacts and traits occur in the archaeological
collections from Baja California and are mentioned in the ethnographic
accounts for that region and for the north of the peninsula. Only the
feathered cape and the specific type of bone awl, or "dagger," are not
recorded. This material bears little resemblance to the collections or
ethnographic descriptions from the extreme south of the peninsula.
There is absolutely nothing in this collection and in the affiliation of
its artifacts with cultural materials from central Baja California to
support the contentions of Malcolm Rogers (1945, p. 191 passim). Without
a doubt the Yumans of the peninsula entered long before the advent of
pottery-making in the Colorado Desert region. Neither the Palmer
Collection nor identical materials from historic levels in the central
part of the peninsula can be explained as being due to a post-1450
invasion of Baja California by peoples representing the last phase of
the Yuman sequence in southern California.
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