CHUMASH INDIANS
The Chumash Indians were natives to the coastlands in California, from Malibu to Paso Robles, as well as on all three of the Northern Channel Islands. There were 150 independent villages with a total population of 18,000 people. People in the other regions spoke a little differently although the languages were similar. The villages were made of ceremonial grounds, semi subterranean sweathouses, cleared playing fields, storage huts, and round thatched dwelling houses up to fifty feet in diameter and able to hold as many as seventy people. Their homeland was first settled about 13,000 years ago and with time, the population got bigger so some of them started migrating to other coastlands of California. With all these other villages they had access to different resources, which they would trade with one another in different villages. Some of the major groups were the Obispeño, Purismeño, Ynezeñ, Barbareño and Ventureño (named after the Franciscan missions San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, La Purisma Concepcion, and Santa Ynez. With all this trading going on among the Chumash villages, it would have taken many days to travel by foot. Living on the coastlands they invented a seagoing plank canoe or in their language a "tomo
Work Cited "Chumash". Encyclopedia Britannica. Chicago. Encyclopedia Britannic Inc, 1997. Volume 3 of Encyclopedia Britannica 24 Vols. Josephy Jr., Alvin M. "500 Nations" Alfred A Knope. New York 1994. Ed. Duane Champagne. "Chronology of Native American History". Gale Research Inc, Detroit 1994. Terrell, John Upton. "American Indian Almanac". Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York 1834. Http://www.sbnature.org/chumash l". They invented the canoe about 2,000 years ago. The plank canoe was anywhere from eight feet to thirty feet and was made from driftwood or redwood. The sides of the plank canoe were about three to four planks high, and was glued in place with "yop", a melted mixture of pine pitch and hardened asphalt. After the glue was dried they drilled holes into the seams of each side and then tying the boards together with plant fiber string made from Indian hemp, then the holes were filled up again with "yop". When the canoe was all put together they would sand it down using sandstone and then finished with sharkskin; then the canoe was painted and decorated. The plank canoes could hold a crew of three and probably were big enough for ten people. Seawater would sometimes seep into the plank canoes, so one of the crewmembers would serve as the bailer. A young boy would usually serve as the bailer as the men paddled the plank canoes. It's not really known how long these canoes would last, it probably depended on how much wear and tear they experienced on the sea. The Chumash kept good care of the canoes, they would store them in moist shaded areas until they were ready to be used. They would check the canoes regularly and make repairs if necessary. They took good care of them as much as possible. The last Chumash canoes were made in about 1850. In 1913 an elderly Chumash man built a canoe for an anthropologist named John P. Harrington to show how they were built. In the past twenty years several of these canoes were built using John's notes to guide them. The Chumash Indians were also excellent basket weavers. The women had this role in the tribe. The baskets were made from whole juncos rush stems or split tule (bulrush). The Chumash used both twined and coiled weaving techniques. Out of this they made coiled baskets, trays, bowls of all sizes, hats, leaching basins, sieves, fish traps, cradles and water bottles. The foundation was a spiraling of three slender rods of juncos rush, wrapped and sewn together with sp
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1641
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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