In 1959-60, two femora were excavated by Phil C. Orr, curator of anthropology and natural history at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, at Arlington Springs on Santa Rosa Island, off the coast of California. Orr thought the remains were those of a 10,000 year old man. Hence, he dubbed them the "Arlington Springs Man", after the location of the find.

The Arlington Springs Man was later re-examined by Orr's successor at the museum, John R. Johnson. It was determined that the Arlington Springs Man was actually the Arlington Springs Woman. Radiocarbon dating determined that the remains dated to 13,000 years B.P., thusly making her the oldest known skeleton in North America.

The Arlington Springs Woman lived on Santa Rosae at the end of the Pleistocene. Her presence on an island at such an early date demonstrates that the earliest Paleoindians had watercraft capable of crossing the Santa Barbara Channel. It also gives credence to the theory that the Americas were peopled by boats sailing down the Pacific coast.