Material Culture of the Chumash Indians
Material Culture of the Chumash Indians
Jaimi Velazquez
NATA 105
T/R 11:10-12:45
Kristina Foss
4-12-2013
The disruption of trade life for Chumash Indians on the Santa Cruz islands became unbearable and the Chumash were forced to leave. The Chumash Indians were one of the first peoples to occupy the land along the California coast in 1542. They had to formulate their own ways of surviving, and creating the necessities to do so. The Chumash or “Islanders” were the greatest hunters and gatherers, being first to the mainland them to depend on only their current surroundings which included several different plants and trees and almost every part of those possible. The Chumash Indians used each and every material resource in their surroundings. The materials found and used provided everything from the shoes on their feet to the roofs covering their heads and all in between. The material culture of the Chumash Indians was widely based on the plants available for use. Juncus, sage, tule, and yucca, just to name a few are some plant materials used to create many different things that contributed to the survival of the Chumash Indians. The materials used by the Chumash were all hand-made and from scratch. Women were in charge of going out and finding the appropriate plants for that specific material like tule, also known as bulrush which were stems of plants used to make the thatching of the houses. They also used tule to create custom floor mats, rather than sleeping on dirt, which could also be rolled into pillows. The tule mats had never ending functions. Sandals or warm moccasins were made from tule as well to keep their feet a little safer and warmer when going out for chores. Tule was the most common and most widely used material in the Chumash culture depending on how it was cured it could be made more or less flexible for a specific purpose. “To cover the outside of houses, bulrush or cattails were added in layers starting at the bottom, each row
Jaimi Velazquez
NATA 105
T/R 11:10-12:45
Kristina Foss
4-12-2013
The disruption of trade life for Chumash Indians on the Santa Cruz islands became unbearable and the Chumash were forced to leave. The Chumash Indians were one of the first peoples to occupy the land along the California coast in 1542. They had to formulate their own ways of surviving, and creating the necessities to do so. The Chumash or “Islanders” were the greatest hunters and gatherers, being first to the mainland them to depend on only their current surroundings which included several different plants and trees and almost every part of those possible. The Chumash Indians used each and every material resource in their surroundings. The materials found and used provided everything from the shoes on their feet to the roofs covering their heads and all in between. The material culture of the Chumash Indians was widely based on the plants available for use. Juncus, sage, tule, and yucca, just to name a few are some plant materials used to create many different things that contributed to the survival of the Chumash Indians. The materials used by the Chumash were all hand-made and from scratch. Women were in charge of going out and finding the appropriate plants for that specific material like tule, also known as bulrush which were stems of plants used to make the thatching of the houses. They also used tule to create custom floor mats, rather than sleeping on dirt, which could also be rolled into pillows. The tule mats had never ending functions. Sandals or warm moccasins were made from tule as well to keep their feet a little safer and warmer when going out for chores. Tule was the most common and most widely used material in the Chumash culture depending on how it was cured it could be made more or less flexible for a specific purpose. “To cover the outside of houses, bulrush or cattails were added in layers starting at the bottom, each row
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