The Pauma Complex is a prehistoric archaeological pattern initially defined by Delbert L. True

Delbert Leroy True

D. L. True was an archaeologist who worked in California, particularly San Diego County, and in northern Chile....

 in northern San Diego County, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

The complex is dated generally to the middle Holocene

Holocene

The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...

 period. This makes it locally the successor to the San Dieguito Complex, predecessor to the late prehistoric San Luis Rey Complex

San Luis Rey Complex

The San Luis Rey Complex is an archaeological pattern representing the latest phase of prehistory in the region occupied at the time of European contact by the Luiseño Indians. Studies by Clement W. Meighan and Delbert L...

, and contemporary with the La Jolla Complex

La Jolla Complex

The archaeological La Jolla Complex represents a prehistoric culture oriented toward coastal resources that prevailed during the middle Holocene period between c...

 on the San Diego County coast.

Pauma Complex sites have been identified primarily in the San Luis Rey River

San Luis Rey River

The San Luis Rey River is a river in northern San Diego County, California. The river's headwaters are in the Cleveland National Forest near Palomar Mountain. The river drains into the Pacific Ocean on the northern end of the city of Oceanside. The river is over long and drains...

 valley and on the Valley Center

Valley Center, California

Valley Center is a census-designated place in San Diego County, California. The population was 9,277 at the 2010 census, up from 7,323 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Valley Center is located at ....

plateau to the south of it.

Archaeological traits distinguishing the Pauma Complex include:

• a high frequency of shaped manos
• the presence of finely worked small domed scrapers
• the presence of knives and points
• the presence of discoidals and cogged stones
• a predominance of grinding tools over flaked tools
• a predominance of deep basin metates over slab metates
• a predominance of cobble hammers over core hammers
• a low frequency of cobble tools
• a scarcity of cobble choppers and cobble scrapers
• a predominance of volcanic rock over quartzite as a source material for flaked lithics
• an extreme scarcity of obsidian