Introduction to the Cultures ofIntroduction to the Cultures ofNorth American Aboriginal PeoplesNorth American Aboriginal Peoples

CaliforniaCalifornia

CaliforniaCalifornia• California

– Roughly equivalent to modern state of California

• Eastern limit is the Sierra Nevada Mountains/Colorado River

– Mediterranean climate• Cool wet winters and warm dry summers

– Broadleaf evergreen flora• Live oak chaparral (mosaic of oak groves and

grasslands) Sclerophyllous Woodland– Eight species of oak (Quercus sp.)

• Four deciduous and four evergreen• High acorn production (200-400 kg/year)

ClimateClimate

• Mild, moist winters, hot dry summers inland

• Cool, often foggy coasts • High percentage of

sunshine • High summer diurnal

temperature range • Frost danger during

winter • Growing season at lower

elevations/along the coast is year-round

California FaunaCalifornia Fauna

• Virtually all terrestrial species found in North America (except for species restricted to the arctic/sub-arctic)

• Importance of marine species– Shellfish

• Oysters (Ostreiddae)• Clams• Mussels• Abalone (Haliotis)• Sea urchin (Echinoidea)

– Marine mammals• Whales, porpoises, dolphins, sea otters, sea lions, seals

ShellfishShellfish

Resource DiversityResource Diversity

Major CharacteristicsMajor Characteristics

• Acorn as staple food• Basketry• Use of ground stone vessels• Shell bead money• Central villages and specialized resource camps• Importance of trade, craft specialization• Various boat types• Linguistic diversity

DietDiet• Acorn

– Inedible in raw state• Tannic acid

– Water soluble

– Acorns are first ground– Washed with warm water to remove acid (leaching)– Cooked into a mush– Stored in granaries– Formed 30-60% of diet (up to 900 kg/ person/ year)

• Wide range of game from small mammals and birds up to large game (elk, bear)

• Shellfish• Insects• Fish

– Salmon (in N. and Central California)– Trout– Marine species

Leaching acornLeaching acorn

Hunting techniquesHunting techniques

• Stalking– Effective range of bow and arrow is less than

10 meters

• Wide range of point sizes– Use of foreshafts

• Fishing using hooks, harpoons, nets, baskets– Rivers, lakes, estuaries, surf zone, deep sea

fishing

ForeshaftsForeshafts

• Yurok– Each about 20 cm long– 501d is a bird shaft– 501e is a squirrel shaft

• Hupa– Arrow with flint point– Arrow with foreshaft of hard

wood. – -Boy's arrow with two

feathers and simple shaft.

ArrowsArrows

• Left: Yokuts shaft for use with foreshafts; cane shaft with feather fletching attached with sinew and asphalatum, approx. 65 cm long. Center: Hupa-Karok-Yurok; syringa shaft with carved bone point, approx. 75 cm long.

• Far left: Cahuilla type; backshaft of baccharis salicifolia, foreshaft of chamise, obsidian point, fletching attached with deer sinew and pine pitch; approx. 72 cm long

BowsBows

• Top: Paiute type bow shaped from cedar, backed with brain-tanned deer sinew, raw deerskin-wrapped grip, braided sinew bowstring; approx. 112 cm long Center: Hupa-Karok-Yurok bow shaped from aged yew wood, painted with traditional designs, twined sinew bowstring, 90-107 cm long.

• Bottom: Maidu/Miwok bow of mountain mahogany, braided sinew bowstring, 90-100 cm long

Fishing technologyFishing technology

BasketsBaskets

• Made from a wide range of materials– Roots– Stems– Bark

• Three main colors:– White, red, black

• Designs are made using different color materials

• Designs are primarily geometric

BasketryBasketry

• Coiled basketry technique– trays, bowls of all

sizes, treasure baskets and hats

• Twined basketry technqiue– leaching basins,

sieves, fish traps, cradles, and water bottles

Basket functionsBasket functions

• Storage– Food– Water

• Sometimes lined with asphalt

• Burden• Cooking• Clothing (hats)• Decorative (gift baskets)• Fishing baskets• Trays• Winnowing• Baby carriers (cradleboard)

Mortars + Cooking vesselsMortars + Cooking vessels

• Mortar and pestle made from sandstone were used for grinding and processing acorns or seeds.

• The Indians on Santa Catalina Island carved these stone pots from steatite, a soft, easily worked soapstone which they quarried on the island. These heat resistant cooking vessels were traded to the Chumash of the Northern Channel Islands and to people on the mainland coast, in exchange for local resouces.

Bedrock mortars - ChumashBedrock mortars - Chumash

Bedrock mortar - OlompaliBedrock mortar - Olompali

Shell beads Shell beads ((Olivella sp.Olivella sp.))

• Small beads• Ground into circles• Holes drilled• Among Chumash

produced on Santa Cruz Island

• Specialist villages

Settlement PatternSettlement Pattern

• Groups occupied relatively restricted areas• Main village ranges in size from 50 to several hundred

(Chumash)• Villages are semi-permanent

– May move after a period of years• Fair amount of variability• Each village would be politically independent (a “triblet”)

– Yokuts were made up of at least 50 triblets• Short term use of resource camps• Houses were simply structures made of reeds or reed

mats• Semi-subterranean sweathouses were a common

feature and used daily by men

TradeTrade

• Because groups occupied relatively limited areas trade was very important

• Raw materials– Shells– Obsidian– Cherts

• Finished goods– Baskets– Ground stone– Tools

Major sources of obsidianMajor sources of obsidian

Boat typesBoat types

• Tule reed canoes– Bundles of tule reeds are tied together to form a simple canoe– Usually not more than 2-3 m in length– Suitable for lakes, bays, estuaries

• Chumash plank canoes (tomol)– Made from short planks of wood without a frame– Planks are stitched together using sinew or rawhide– Seams are sealed with asphalt– Manufactured by specialists belonging to a guild

• The Brotherhood of the (Canoe) Tomol

– 4 to 9 m long, 1 m abeam– Could carry up to 1800 kg– Capable of travel on the open ocean

Linguistic DiversityLinguistic Diversity

• One of the highest rates of language diversity in the world– Six distinct language families

• Yukian isolate

– 40-50 distinct languages plus at least as many dialects:

• Pomo had seven dialects (territory of c. 4000 km2)

• Distribution of language families reveals something about the movement of peoples in California