Colonies of ancient
puffins lived on the island in the
Late Pleistocene. There is also fossil evidence for a giant
mouse and
dwarf mammoth during the same time period. San Miguel was occupied by the ancestors of the Chumash people for many millennia, who developed a complex and rich maritime culture based on marine fishing, hunting, and gathering. Rough seas and risky landings did not daunt the
Chumash people. They called the island
Tuqan in the
Chumash language, and for many centuries, they built and used sophisticated canoes, called
tomols, made from sewn planks caulked with asphaltum (bitumen). In tomols, they fished and hunted in island waters and participated in active trade with their neighbors on the other islands and mainland.
Tuqan Man The skull and bones of a man buried between 9,800 and 10,200 years ago, as indicated by radiocarbon dating and evaluation of artifacts buried with him, were exposed by
beach erosion and discovered in 2005 by
University of Oregon archaeologists. They were analyzed, but it was not possible to extract the
Tuqan Man's DNA, though increasingly better testing and methods became available and were utilized. The remains were studied before their return to the island, which was delayed by resolution of tribal identification and ownership issues contingent on the precedent setting
Kennewick Man case in Washington State. Under the
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), they were restored to the claiming Chumash tribe in May, 2018, for reburial on the island. A remaining population of
a dwarf species descended from
Columbian mammoths, existed on Santarosae Island when it was first visited by Paleoindians, but were extinct for perhaps three millennia prior to the death of Tuqan Man. * A
metacarpal bone of a
short-faced bear was found in the cave. It may have been carried from the mainland by a bird as other evidence of the bear living on the islands has not been found.
Chumash villages There is evidence of the fishing prowess of inhabitants using their tomols, and which included nets, spears, rods, lines, and hooks. Two Chumash villages were active with about 100 inhabitants at the time of
Cabrillo's visit in 1542 aboard the
San Miguel. San Miguel is the name
George Vancouver gave the island on his 1793 chart. Vancouver adopted the name from a Spanish chart that had come into his possession. The first
European explorer to land was the explorer
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542, who commanded three Spanish ships that spent several weeks on the island while exploring the Santa Barbara Channel and California Coast. Cabrillo died on the island and is thought by many to have been buried there. The last of the island Chumash were removed to mainland missions and towns in the 1820s, leaving San Miguel largely uninhabited until ranchers raised sheep there from 1850 to 1948. One of the ranch families that homesteaded the longest was the Lesters, a family of four that left the island at the time of
Pearl Harbor due to the dangers posed by the war. Bruce was one of the island's squatters. Nidever set up a sheep operation, but sold out to Hiram and Warren Mills in 1869. The Mills brothers eventually sold out to the Pacific Wool Growing Company. They sold their interest to David Fitzgibbon in 1887, who sold it back to Warren Mills, in partnership with William Waters. Warren Mills sold his interest to Elias Beckman in 1892. In 1897, Waters formed the San Miguel Island Company with Jeremiah Conroy, consisting of 3000 sheep and other livestock. However, the
United States General Land Office ruled that no one had ever made claim to the island and that it remained in federal ownership. In 1911, the federal government assigned ownership of the island to
United States Department of Commerce. In 1948, the navy reclaimed the island as a target in its Pacific Missile Range for guided missiles and bombing. The National Park Service initiated a visitor program run by a resident ranger in 1978, but the navy retained ownership. Urchin diver James Robinson is believed to have been killed by a shark off Harris Point in the area known as Shark Park in 1994. == Park Service operations ==