Photos: Native American artifacts on Santa Cruz Island threatened by rising sea levels

Heavy erosion near an excavation site on Santa Cruz Island. Scientists predict erosion will speed up as the climate continues to change.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

Archaeologists, journalists and scientists set out to excavate and search for Chumash relics in eroding areas of the island.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

Kristina Gill, an archaeologist from UC Santa Barbara, sifts dirt for early signs of the Chumash people.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

UCSB archaeologist Kristina Gill breaks up chunks of dirt to be sifted for relics.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

Some of the relics found during an excavation of early Chumash land that is eroding into the sea.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

An artifact from an early Chumash site that is threatened by erosion.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

Chumash relics from Santa Cruz Island are bagged and labeled for inventory.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

The Smithsonian’s Torben Rick takes notes after looking for samples to carbon date.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

Torben Rick found this bead near a Chumash house pit on Santa Cruz Island.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

Torben Rick of the Smithsonian, University of Oregon archaeologist Jon Erlandson and Chumash consultant Gilbert Unzueta, from left, take a break from surveying on Santa Cruz Island.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

The rising sea encroaches on old Chumash house pits on Santa Cruz Island.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

A Santa Cruz Island fox, a subspecies that evolved separately from its cousins on the other Channel Islands.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)

Jon Erlandson, an archaeologist from the University of Oregon, heads to an excavation site on Santa Cruz Island.  (Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times)