What kind of houses did the Yokuts live in?
The Yokuts occupied permanent residences for most of the year, a pattern that stemmed from the abundance and diversity of the plant and animal resources in their environment. Both the Northern Valley and Southern Valley subtribes made use of oval-shaped single-family dwellings constructed of a wooden pole frame covered with tule mats.
What happened to the Yokut tribe?
The numbers of Foothill Yokut were reduced by around 93% between 1850 and 1900. A few Valley Yokut remain, the most prominent tribe among them being the Tachi. Kroeber estimated the population of the Yokut in 1910 as 600.
What kind of food did the Yokuts eat?
Among the Northern Valley Yokuts the major food staples were salmon, taken in great numbers with nets and spears during fall spawning runs, and acorns, gathered in significant quantities in the late spring or early summer and fall. The hunting of waterfowl, such as geese and ducks, was also of major importance.
What did the Yokuts call themselves before Europeans?
Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. Some of their descendants prefer to refer to themselves by their respective tribal names; they reject the term Yokuts, saying that it is an exonym invented by English-speaking settlers and historians.
Where did the Yokuts live?
The traditional homeland of the Yokuts was the San Joaquin Valley and the adjacent foothills of the Sierra Nevada in south-central California. Their territory extended from the Calaveras River near Stockton south to the Tehachapi Mountains and into the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada between the Fresno and Kern rivers.
What language family did the Yokuts belong to?
Linguistic Affiliation. Each of the Yokuts subtribes had its own dialect, all of which belong to the California Penutian language family. In the mid-1970s only a few of the many Yokuts dialects were still being spoken.
What did the Valley Yokuts use as a raw material?
Industrial Arts. The Valley Yokuts depended to a considerable extent upon tule as a raw material for baskets, cradles, mats for rafts and house coverings, and a variety of other items. Employing twined and coil techniques, the Yokuts wove baskets of a variety of types, including cooking containers, burden baskets, winnowing trays, seed beaters, and water bottles. Simple, functional pottery was produced by some Foothills Yokuts groups.
What disease did the Yokuts live with?
In 1833 epidemic disease, probably malaria, devastated the Yokuts, claiming as much as 75 percent of the population. In the late 1970s the Yokuts numbered several hundred, including 325 living on the Tule River Reservation and another 100 living on the Santa Rosa Rancheria. Linguistic Affiliation. Each of the Yokuts subtribes had its own dialect, ...
What are the Yokuts?
The groups classified under the name "Yokuts" include some forty to fifty subtribes which are usually distinguished by three main cultural and geographical divisions, the Northern Valley Yokuts, the Southern Valley Yokuts, and the Foothills Yokuts. The name "Yokuts" derives from a term in several of the Yokuts dialects that means "people.".
What type of dwellings did the Yokuts use?
Both the Northern Valley and Southern Valley subtribes made use of oval-shaped single-family dwellings constructed of a wooden pole frame covered with tule mats. The Southern Valley Yokuts also used similar, but larger dwellings that housed as many as ten families.
What were the main activities of the Yokuts?
The traditional subsistence activities of the Yokuts varied from region to region but in all instances emphasized fishing, hunting, and gathering . Among the Northern Valley Yokuts the major food staples were salmon, taken in great numbers with nets and spears during fall spawning runs, and acorns, gathered in significant quantities in the late spring or early summer and fall. The hunting of waterfowl, such as geese and ducks, was also of major importance. The subsistence pattern of the Southern Valley Yokuts focused on lake and river fishing with nets, basket traps, and spears, hunting waterfowl from tule rafts, and gathering shellfish and tule roots. The Foothills Yokuts emphasized hunting deer by means of stalking, ambush, and collective drive techniques, trapping and shooting quail, and gathering acorns; fishing, employing spears, weirs, and poisons, supplemented this pattern during certain times of the year. The descendants of the Yokuts living on the Tule River Reservation now find employment in lumbering and farm and ranch work and derive some income from the lease of grazing lands and timber tracts. Yokuts living on the Santa Rosa Rancheria are less fortunate, with many unable to find anything more than seasonal employment as migrant workers.
What are the Yokuts known for?
Perhaps the Yokuts Indians are best known for the beautiful baskets which they created and which are highly prized by collectors today.
What type of dwellings did the Yokuts build?
Dwellings The Southern Yokuts built both single-family oval-shaped and ten-family dwellings , in which each family had its own door and fireplace.
What do the Koma people depend on?
Majority of the Koma hill-dwellers depend on farming, hunting and gathering forest products like bananas, locust beans and canarium used for body lubrication.
What was the Sioux Nation?
What may have once been considered the Great Sioux Nation was a large group of indigenous peoples that included, among others, the Lakota and Dakota tribes. Their geographical location is approximately the upper Midwest United States and Middle Lower Canadian regions. This very large group of people have had many leaders over the years, so I’m going to assume you are asking for the two most famous leaders. Crazy Horse was given the title Shirt Wearer, or war leader by his people, the Lakota. Sitting Bull is often mentioned as supreme chief of the Sioux nation, but this is generally dismissed as misleading. There was no such position as the tribes were not organized in that way. He was, like Crazy Horse, a leader of his people in resistance against the policies of the US Government.
Did the tribes go extinct?
In the larger sense, probably none - as the various tribes were pushing each other around long before Europeans came along and started pushing. And tribes went extinct or (more often) amalgamated.
Orientation
History and Cultural Relations
- Archaeological evidence indicates the presence of small hunter-gatherer bands in the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley dating to at least eight thousand years ago. The aboriginal neighbors of the Yokuts included the Miwok to the north, the Costanoans, Salinans, and Chumash to the west, the Kitanemuk to the south, and the Tubatulabal and Monache to the east. The Sout…
Settlements
- The Yokuts occupied permanent residences for most of the year, a pattern that stemmed from the abundance and diversity of the plant and animal resources in their environment. Both the Northern Valley and Southern Valley subtribes made use of oval-shaped single-family dwellings constructed of a wooden pole frame covered with tule mats. The Southern ...
Economy
- Subsistence and Commercial Activities.The traditional subsistence activities of the Yokuts varied from region to region but in all instances emphasized fishing, hunting, and gathering. Among the Northern Valley Yokuts the major food staples were salmon, taken in great numbers with nets and spears during fall spawning runs, and acorns, gathered in significant quantities in the late spring …
Kinship
- Kin Groups and Descent.Beyond the family, the most important kinship groupings were patrilineal exogamous totemic lineages, each of which was connected to one of two patrilineal moieties; only among some of the Foothills Yokuts subtribes was the moiety organization absent. Subtribal offices and responsibility for certain ceremonial functions passed within lineages. Moiety membe…
Marriage and Family
- Marriage.Marriages arranged by families were preceded by gift giving to the family of the future bride and concluded with a feast. Lineage exogamy was enforced, and moiety exogamy was favored but not prescribed. Matrilocality was customary for newlyweds, but after a year the married couple shifted residence to the husband's father's home or set up their own residence n…
Sociopolitical Organization
- Social and Political Organization.Among the Yokuts there was no overarching political authority uniting the numerous subtribes. Rather, each subtribe was an autonomous unit composed of one or a few villages. Leadership within the village units was provided by a headman whose position was inherited patrilineally within a particular lineage and whose responsibilities included directin…
Religion and Expressive Culture
- Religious Beliefs.The Yokuts origin myth depicts a world covered with water, which is transformed by the action of Eagle, who takes mud brought from the depths by an aquatic bird, mixes it with seeds, and allows it to expand to form the earth. The Yokuts believed in a variety of localized spirits, some of whom were potentially evil. Religious Practitioners.Part-time religious specialists…
Bibliography
- Gayton, Anna H. (1948). Yokuts and Western Mono Ethnography. University of CaliforniaAnthropological Records, 10, 1-302. Berkeley. Kroeber, Alfred L. (1925). Handbook of the Indians of California.U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin no. 78. Washington, D.C. Latta, Frank F. (1949) Handbook of Yokuts Indians.Bakersfield, Calif.: Kern County Museum. Spi…