At Santa Barbara Bay, Chumash ancestors make plank tomols, or canoes, from the trunks of fallen redwood trees that float south hundreds of miles on ocean currents to Chumash territory. There the Chumash split the wood into planks, sew them together using cordage made from plants, and seal the tomols with a mixture of pine pitch and sand.
What did the Chumash use to cross the ocean?
Chumash Tomol Crossing. Hundreds of years ago, the native island Chumash traveled these ancient waters for hunting, fishing, and trading. They built canoes, called tomols, from redwood trees that drifted down the coast, fastening the cut planks together with animal sinews and sealed with a tar-like substance called yop.
How did the Chumash make their money?
This trade was made possible in part by the seagoing plank canoe, or tomol, which was invented by 1,500 years ago. In addition to the plank canoe, the Chumash are known for their fine basketry, their mysterious cave paintings and their bead money made from shells.
How did the Mayans build canoes?
They built canoes, called tomols, from redwood trees that drifted down the coast, fastening the cut planks together with animal sinews and sealed with a tar-like substance called yop.
What language did the Chumash use to build canoes?
Comparative linguistics may provide evidence as the Chumash word for "sewn-plank canoe", tomolo'o, may have been derived from kumula'au, the Polynesian word for the redwood logs used in that construction. However, the language comparison is generally considered tentative.
What were Chumash canoes made of?
redwood treesAt Santa Barbara Bay, Chumash ancestors make plank tomols, or canoes, from the trunks of fallen redwood trees that float south hundreds of miles on ocean currents to Chumash territory.
Did the Chumash use canoes?
The Chumash called themselves “people of the tomol.” They called their canoe a “house of the sea.” For the Chumash people of the Southern California coast, the sewn-plank canoe, or tomol, was an all important part of their lives.
How did natives make canoes?
Lacking iron tools, the Native Americans used fire and sharp shells to build their canoes in a time-consuming process that began by maintaining a small, controlled fire near the base of a selected tree until the tree fell down. They repeated the process, burning through the fallen trunk at the chosen spot.
What were Chumash boats called?
tomolA tomol or tomolo (Chumash) or te'aat or ti'at (Tongva/Kizh) are plank-built boats, historically and currently in the Santa Barbara and Los Angeles area.
How long is a plank canoe?
The plank canoe, or tomol, was eight to 30 feet long and was made using driftwood or redwood. The heavy one-piece floor had three or four rows of planks added to build up the sides. Each row of planks was glued in place with yop, a melted mixture of pine pitch and hardened asphalt.
What is a plank canoe?
Small canoe of full size without outrigger constructed from sewn planks. The main body of the canoe is manufactured from a flat base of two planks and the walls are each of two planks also.
How did the Chumash make their boats?
Hundreds of years ago, the native island Chumash traveled these ancient waters for hunting, fishing, and trading. They built canoes, called tomols, from redwood trees that drifted down the coast, fastening the cut planks together with animal sinews and sealed with a tar-like substance called yop.
What is a Native American canoe material?
The waterways of North America became the highways of today. Canoes were made from bark, animal skins or wood. By far the sturdiest construction, and the most time consuming, if not the most difficult, for American Indians, was the dugout canoe.
What wood did Indians use for canoes?
For at least a thousand years, the Oneoto and Dakota Indian tribes of the Minnesota River Valley, constructed dugout canoes from large basswood, cottonwood or soft maple tree trunks, for travel on the rivers and lakes in the river valley.
Does the Chumash tribe still exist?
Today, the Chumash are estimated to have a population of 5,000 members. Many current members can trace their ancestors to the five islands of Channel Islands National Park.
Where did Chumash get water from?
The water resources of the Santa Ynez Chumash Reservation include the Zanja de Cota Creek and the underlying Santa Ynez Upland Groundwater Basin.
What happened to the Chumash tribe?
The Chumash were treated as slaves, and in 1824 the Chumash at Santa Ynez revolted. They burned down the soldiers' quarters, and the soldiers burned down the Chumash houses. The revolt lasted less than a week, but it spread south to Mission Santa Barbara.
What did the Chumash use to travel?
Hundreds of years ago, the native island Chumash traveled these ancient waters for hunting, fishing, and trading. They built canoes, called tomols, from redwood trees that drifted down the coast, fastening the cut planks together with animal sinews and sealed with a tar-like substance called yop.
Does the Chumash tribe still exist?
Today, the Chumash are estimated to have a population of 5,000 members. Many current members can trace their ancestors to the five islands of Channel Islands National Park.
When was the tomol invented?
The tomol, 'Elye'wun (Swordfish), was built by the Chumash community in 1996-97 under the leadership of the Chumash Maritime Association.
CANOES
The plank canoe, or tomol, was eight to 30 feet long and was made using driftwood or redwood. The heavy one-piece floor had three or four rows of planks added to build up the sides. Each row of planks was glued in place with yop, a melted mixture of pine pitch and hardened asphalt.
BASKETRY
Baskets played essential roles in all aspects of Chumash life -- for gathering, storing, preparing and serving food, holding water, keeping money and other valuables, measuring acorns for trade, carrying babies, in gambling, as gifts, and for ceremonies. Even the Chumash house was much like an upside-down basket.
SHELTER
The Chumash house, or 'ap, was round and shaped like half an orange. It was made by setting willow poles in the ground in a circle. The poles were bent in at the top, to form a dome. Then smaller saplings or branches were tied on crosswise.
SWEATHOUSE
The sweathouse, or 'apa'yik, was used to cleanse the body. Built partly underground and mostly used by men, the sweathouse was entered through a ladder in the roof. A fire was built inside to heat stones to keep the air very hot.
BEAD MONEY
The bead money was usually made from small disks shaped from the Olivella shell (also called the Purple Olive, a marine snail). The Indians who lived on the Channel Islands specialized in making the bead money, or 'anchum. They were the mint for the Chumash Indians who lived on the mainland.
DRESS
For everyday the Chumash didn't wear much clothing. Women usually wore a two-piece skirt of deer skin or plant fiber. It hung to about knee length and had a narrow apron in front with a wider piece that wrapped around the back. Men and boys wore nothing at all, or sometimes a belt or a small net at the waist for carrying tools they might need.
FOOD
The Chumash homeland offered a wide variety of food supplies. Their livelihood was based largely on the sea, and they used over a hundred kinds of fish and gathered clams, mussels and abalone.
Chumash Life
The Chumash Indian homeland lies along the coast of California, between Malibu and Paso Robles, as well as on the Northern Channel Islands. Before the Mission Period, the Chumash lived in 150 independent towns and villages with a total population of at least 25,000 people.
The Chumash People
The Chumash Indian homeland lies along the coast of California, between Malibu and Paso Robles, as well as on the Northern Channel Islands. Before the Mission Period, the Chumash lived in 150 independent towns and villages with a total population of at least 25,000 people.
Worldview
Chumash worldview is centered on the belief "that considers all things to be, in varying measure, alive, intelligent, dangerous, and sacred." According to Thomas Blackburn in December's Child: A Book of Chumash Oral Narratives published in 1980, the Chumash do not have a creation story like Tongva, Acjachemen, Quechnajuichom, and other Takic -speaking peoples.
Chumash bands
One Chumash band, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation is a federally recognized tribe, and other Chumash people are enrolled in the federally-recognized Tejon Indian Tribe of California. There are 14 bands of Chumash Indians.
Population
Estimates for the precontact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. The anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber thought the 1770 population of the Chumash might have been about 10,000. Alan K. Brown concluded that the population was about 15,000. Sherburne F.
Languages
Several related languages under the name " Chumash " (from čʰumaš /t͡ʃʰumaʃ/, meaning "Santa Cruz Islander") were spoken. No native speakers remain, although the dialects are well documented in the unpublished fieldnotes of linguist John Peabody Harrington. Especially well documented are the Barbareño, Ineseño, and Ventureño dialects.
Culture
The Chumash were hunter-gatherers and were adept at fishing at the time of Spanish colonization. They are one of the relatively few New World peoples who regularly navigated the ocean (another was the Tongva, a neighboring tribe to the south).