Southern California Tribes

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The Native American tribes of Southern California developed various adaptations to live and thrive throughout the varying geography of Southern California. Although there are many areas of Native American life to analyze; their material culture, art, and sustenance are some of the most intriguing aspects of their lifestyle. Throughout this region tribes primarily spoke dialects of either Hokan or Uto-Aztekan and successfully inhabited some of California’s most diverse environments (e.g. Cahuilla of the low desert to the coastal Chumash) and contributed to their enormous cultural diversity. The material culture of the region like its geography varies greatly, and differs greatly from the cultures of Northern California tribes. Throughout …show more content…
Charmstones were a common piece of art to be identified in California tribes, but in Southern California only the Chumash had been found to incorporate charmstones into their culture. Sand paintings also played an important role in Southern California tribes and were used to explain their known world and destroyed after they were no longer needed. Throughout California though the most prevalent form of art were petroglyphs or rock art, and these petroglyphs appear to be related to hunting magic or luck and would help ensure a successful hunt. Pictographs were found for the most part in Southern California, were typically very abstract but served an important purpose for the tribes. The book suggests Shamans might have used them for healing and also that it’s not sure, yet these paintings appear to play an integral role in the lives and culture of Southern California Native Americans. The tribes of south eastern California also created another unique art in the form of large effigies that are only viewable from above, but create figures that are well over 100 feet in size although they haven’t been able to successfully date the creation for these effigies. Although their styles varied greatly art was a key component to Native American life in Southern California. Another important part of Native American life was their …show more content…
Chumash, Juaneno, or Gabrielino) had access to various resources that the inland tribes of Southern California never had, and is why the Chumash population was far denser than those of the interior tribes like the Cahuilla. The coastal tribes would usually live along the coast during the summer months due to the abundance of shellfish and they would also collect salt as well, so coastal tribes would trade these products for food and resources from inland tribes. Once the summer had ended the coastal tribes would move a few miles inland to avoid the colder temperatures of winter. The coastal tribes would also hunt sea mammals such as seals or sea lions, and whales but only when they had washed up on shore. The desert tribes of southern California had far fewer resources available to them, but made up for it with their diverse diet of flora, for the Cahuilla tribe incorporated over 174 different plants into their diet since there was no real dominant resource in the desert. The desert tribes populations were far smaller than their coastal counterparts due to the lack of readily available food sources, and this is also why the territory of these tribes were also substantially larger than the coastal tribes too. The desert diet consisted of mainly mesquite seeds, small game like rabbits or rats “but [their] diet was dominated by plant foods”(74). The desert tribes would hunt mountain sheep as well but they wouldn’t eat scavengers
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