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Exploring the beautiful nature of California


California Nature: Native Americans


The Native Americans that flourished in the central coastal California region before the arrival of European settlers are now collectively know as the Chumash. Anthropologists have found evidence that suggests that the Chumash settlements out on the Channel Islands were among the first in North America. The Chumash were excellent shipbuilders. Their boats, called tomols, were built from redwood planks sealed with local, natural substances such as tar.

The Chumash tribe was located from modern day Pismo to below Oxnard in California. They had settlements along the coast inland to the Cuyama River. Many of the modern names for these central coast towns were derived from the original Chumash name. The Chumash hunted shellfish, clams, crabs. They used baskets to catch sardines with cactus bait. Many different kinds of plants grew wild in California. They gathered seeds in the early summer and red fruit in fall or winter. They gathered any time of year. The Chumash made baskets and canoes. They made the canoes from redwood logs that washed up on  shore. The Chumash made spears from stones and wooden poles.  The women decorated themselves with shells bracelets headbands, and necklaces. Women sewed small shells to animal skin shirts. 
map of indian tribes in California The Maidu lived in the northeast part of California in the Sierra mountains between the Feather and American Rivers. The Maidu Indians were hunters, fishers, and gatherers. They weren't farmers because they had no need for farming. Their food was in the area they lived in. The Maidu ate roots, berries, seeds, nuts, fish, insects, meats, and grasses. They hunted for rabbits, birds, deer, elk, geese, ducks, and sometimes bears. They didn't hunt for coyotes, or owls. They'd fish for salmon, crayfish, and eel. They gathered roots, berries, grasses, bulbs, tubers, acorns, and other nuts.

The Maidu made coiled baskets from willow and unpeeled redbud. They also made skirts and mats out of tule from the marshes. When they hunted bear, they would make blankets from the bear hide. Sometimes they would use bird feathers to make beds. They used shells, roots, and stems to make necklaces. They made buckskin aprons for the men. The buckskin would cover the front and back side of them. They would also make various kinds of buckskin skirts for the women and children. They made ceremony face paint out of white and red clay, charcoal, and the grindings of red stones. The Maidu women were skilled basket weavers and the women would do most of the cooking. Men would hunt and build the houses.
The Mojave Indians lived east of the San Gabriel Mountains and west of the Colorado River. The Mojave were hunters, fishers, and farmers. They planted corn, beans, pumpkins, and melons. They hunted deer, big horn sheep, rabbits and skunks. They made pottery from sedimentary clay and crust sandstone. They also made clubs and bows. Men hunted and fished while women farmed and made pots and wove. They traded pots, beaver skunk fur for baskets from the Chumash. They walked from the Colorado River to the coast.

Mojave Indian homes were made of arrow weed, mud and sand. They were large rectangular buildings. The villages were large. Besides shelters there were sweathouses and mud huts. The Mojave Indians had many religious beliefs. One of the things they believed was a legend about how the world was made. They believed all living things belonged where they were placed. They believed if you had a "real" dream something great will happen just like in the dream, and they would also share the dream. The tattoo they wore was important to the tribe. The tattoo was a cosmetic and fashionable decoration.
Native Americans played a key role in California Nature The Paiutes were located on the eastside of California. They were spread out from the Oregon border all the way to the Southern California border to Arizona. The Paiutes were hunters, fishers, farmers, and gatherers. They hunted rabbit and would make rabbit stew. The gatherers gathered pinenuts, acorns, berries, seeds, wild rice, plants, fruit, water cress, and wild onions. The fishers caught a variety of fish.

The Paiutes made jerky out of meat, mainly rabbit. The acorns were used for acorn mush. Pine nuts were used for pine nut flour. They also made flat bread from pine nut flour. Flat bread is like fry bread people use on Indian Tacos made today only thinner. The Paiutes made baskets, pottery, and weapons. tulle, willow, birch, sage root, and bracken fern were used to make baskets. Clay was used for pottery.

Hammer stone, grinding stone, and arrowheads were used for weapons. The Paiutes would trade pelts, pine nuts, salt, and basalt to other tribes. The Paiutes walked until horses came to Inyo County. They would walk to the other side of the Sierra Nevada. Harmie Jefferson was the first Native American in Inyo County to ride a horse. Piute men hunted animals of all sizes. They assisted the men hunting. The woman and girls helped prepare the pine nut mash.
The Yurok lived on the Pacific Coast of Northwest California. Some of the Yuroks lived along Klamoth River. They also lived in villages in the winter and went around in bands in the summer. They were neighbors of the Karuk. The houses were about 20 feet tall. They built their houses with wood. Their houses were half underground. They lived in rectangular redwood plank houses. The Yurok used spears and weirs to catch the salmon. A weir is a woven stick fence. The Yurok placed the weirs across the river to stop the salmon from leaping upstream. The men went fishing and the women collected shells.

The Yurok left behind baskets and some woodcarving they carved. They carved things out of Redwood trees. They carved the Redwood into things like household items, stools, storage boxes, and cooking things.
 
 
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