California Indian Languages: Uto-Aztecan Tribes
The Uto-Aztecan language is younger than Hokan or Penutian. Research indicates that Uto-Azetcan began to diversify in California after Hokan and Penutian were present, but before all of the Penutian languages achieved their later prehistoric distribution. Uto-Azetecans first entered California earlier than circa 2000 BC. (Moratto, California Archaeology *)
Cahuill (Cahuilla)
Native Location: Headwaters of San Luis Rey and Santa Margarita Rivers; San Gorgonio Pass and San Jacinto Mountain; and northwestern portion of the Salton Sink.
Language: Shoshonean
Identified Shelters: Rectangular floor structures with flat roofs made of mesquite posts and beams, and wormwood shoots, mesquite bark, leaves, and earth for the roof
Cultural Notes: They once numbered as many as 10,000 in the 17th century.
Tribal History: www.fourdir.com/cahuilla.htm
Tribal Website:
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians http://aguacaliente.org
Chemehuevi
Native Location: Southeastern California on the Arizona border and the Colorado River, from Death Valley to the Maria Mountains
Language: Paiute
Identified Shelters: Dome-shaped structures made of sapling poles joined at the center, and thatched with brush
Food: Corn, beans, pumpkin and melon; mountain sheep, deer, rabbit
Cultural Notes: They were once nomadic; they fought and intermarried with their nearest neighbors, the Mohave.
Tribal History: www.fourdir.com/chemehuevi.htm
Cupeño/ Kuupangaxwichem
("people who slept here")
Native Location: Southern California - 50 miles inland and 50 miles north of the Mexican border, mountainous area at the headwaters of the San Luis Rey River.
Food: Acorn, pine nuts, berries, deer, fish, small game
Language: Southern Takic, closely related to the Cahuillan language
Cultural Notes: Less than nine speakers of the original language are left, and they are all more than 50 years old.
Tribal History: www.fourdir.com/cupeno.htm
Tribal Website:
Pala Band of Mission Indians www.palaindians.com
Gabrielino/Tongva (Kizh, also known as Gabrieleño)
Native Location: Southern California, Los Angeles and Orange County areas
Language: Takic
Identified Shelters: Large, multi-family structures covered with tule
Food: Acorn, pine nuts, berries, deer, fish, small game
Tribal History: www.fourdir.com/gabrielino.htm
Tribal Websites:
Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe Los Angeles Basin http://www.tongvatribe.net/
San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians http://www.gabrielinotribe.org/
Gabrieleño Indians http://www.gabrielenoindians.org/Site/Welcome.html
Kawaiisu (Kawaisu)
The Kawaiisu are unique amongst indigenous people because they have no migration story. From an anthropological standpoint, this means that they have always lived in the same place. Even some of the most studied of the ancient civilizations in the America’s, for example the Aztec, have a migration story that was passed down to each generation thru oral history. This lack of a migration story explains why the Kawaiisu territorial pictographs are often pre-dated by adjacent petroglyphs and geoglyphs. The combination of Kawaiisu pictographs and petroglyphs verify that they has lived in this region since time immemorial.
Tribal History: www.fourdir.com/kawaiisu.htm
http://home.att.net/~write2kate/artbyhorseindex.html
Tribal Website: Tejon Reservation http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kawaiisu/
Juaneno (Acjachemem)
Native Location: The areas now known as Orange County (including parts of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego Counties) in the State of California, were the ancestral tribal lands of the Acjachemem people.
Idenfified Shelters: Lived in wic-ki-ups, conical shaped structures of willow and tule.
Food: They gathered acorn and vegetables, hunted deer and rabbit, and fished for lobster and abalone.
Cultural Notes: To insure their legacy, the Acjachemem maintained intricate village communities where tribal ceremonies, elder councils and strict tribal laws assured the physical, cultural and spiritual well-being of the Nation. Under the rule of the San Juan Capistrano Mission, the Acjachemem were called "Juaneños."
Tribal History: www.fourdir.com/juaneno.htm
Tribal Websites:
Juaneno Band of Mission Indians www.juaneno.com
Juaneno Indians www.juanenoindians.com
Luiseño
Native Location: 50 miles along the California coast from south Los Angeles County to north San Diego County, and inland 30 miles
Language: Luiseño
Identifed Shelters: Cone-shaped structures thatched with reeds, brush, or bark
Food: Acorn, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, berries, deer, fish, waterfowl, small game
Cultural Notes: Also known as the Luiseño Band of Mission Indians, they can be found today in La Jolla, Pala, Pechanga, Pauma, Rincon, Soboba, and Twentynine Palms tribes.
Tribal History: www.fourdir.com/luiseno.htm
Tribal Websites:
La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians www.lajollaindians.com
Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians www.pechanga.com
Soboda Band of Luiseno Indians www.soboba-nsn.gov/
San Manuel Band of Luiseno Mission Indians www.slrmissionindians.org
Serrano
Native Location: Mojave Desert and the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California
Food: Acorn, Manzanita berries, pine nuts, yucca, deer, rabbit
Language: Takic branch of Uto-Aztecan
Cultural Notes: They were once sedentary hunter-gatherers. Serrano is Spanish for "mountaineer", but they called themselves Yuharetum, which means "people of the pines."
Tribal History: www.fourdir.com/serrano.htm
Tribal Websites:
San Manuel of Mission Indians http://www.sanmanuel-nsn.gov/
Paiute (Northern Paiute)(Mono Paiute/ Kutzadikaa) (Owens Paiute)
Native Location: Northern and Owens Valley Paiute lived along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains from Oregon to Owens Valley; Southern Paiutes lived along southeastern California
Language: Northern Paiutes spoke a Shoshonean dialect; Southern Paiutes spoke Numic
Identified Shelters: Small, circular structures covered with tule rushes
Food: Corn, squash, pumpkin, melon, beans, sunflowers, blueberries, elderberries, currants, wild strawberries, deer, antelope, bighorn sheep, small game.
Cultural Notes: The origin of the word Mono (pronounced “mo-no,” unlike “ma-no,” the Greek word for one) is uncertain. Like so many Native American words in common use today its meaning is not well documented. The most accepted theory is that Mono is a Yokut word for “fly eater.” The Yokut people were native to the western Sierra Nevada slopes above present-day Fresno, some 200 miles from the Mono Basin. How did the word Mono travel to this region? Perhaps the word was first used to describe the Southern Paiute in the Owens Valley who also harvested alkali fly pupae. The Kutzadika’a people do not have Mono in their language and history does not offer a clear explanation of its origin.
Tribal History: http://www.monolake.org/naturalhistory/kutzadikaa.htm
www.fourdir.com/northern%20paiute.htm
www.fourdir.com/southern_paiute.htm
Tribal Websites:
Cedarville Rancheria http://www.citlink.net/~cedranch/
Susanville Indian Rancheria http://sir-nsn.gov/
Shoshone
Native Location: Death Valley National Park contains approximately 80 percent of the Shoshone's known traditional, cultural, and sacred sites
Language: Shoshone
Identified Shelter: Semi-subterranean, cone-shaped structures with a connecting pole framework, covered with pine needles
Food: Pine nuts, Mesquite beans, elk, buffalo, bighorn sheep
Cultural Notes: They were once hunter-gatherers.
Tribal History: www.fourdir.com/western_shoshoni.htm
Tribal Websites:
Timbisha Shoshone Tribe www.timbisha.org
Timbisha Tribe of Inyo County www.timbisha.com
Western Shoshone www.wsdp.org/whatsnew.htm
Tubatulabal
Native Location: Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, Southern Mt Whitney, Kern River Valley, Greenhorn mountains, Kern River Canyon, Canebrake, and Walker pass.
Language: Pakanapul (paka-anil dialect)
Indentified Shelters: Tule house, juniper wood shelter structures, circled rock housing foundation, and arbor with bull-pine or juniper wood. Sweat Lodge – willow, pine wood, and mud. Today, the Tubatulabals have 10 Tribal allotments (160 acres each) in Kern River Valley and Piute Mountain areas.
Food: Acorn, pine nuts, deer, fish, salt grass, gooseberries, seeds, mushrooms, water crest, tule, rabbit, and quail.
Cultural Notes: They continue to gather acorns, salt grass, and pine nuts and hunt deer, rabbit, and quail. Bear Dance ceremony held on last weekend of April on Tribal Allotment - WhiteBlanket. Annual 1863 Massacre Memorial held in mid-April each year - near Tillie Creek Campground (west side of Lake Isabella).
Tribal Website: www.tubatulabals.com
Tataviam
Native Location: The Tataviam region stretches from the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clartia Valley to the Antelope Valley and can be traced as far back as 450 A.D. At that time the Tataviam people migrated from the north and settled in villages throughout the area. The villages were constructed on the south-facing sides of hills and mountains because they received the most sun light.
Cultural Notes: The word Tataviam means "people facing the sun" and decribes the Tataviam's villages.
Tribal Website:
Fernandeno Tataviam Band of MIssion Indians www.tataviam.org
Tongva
Cultural Notes: This tribe's lifestyles parrelled the Gabrielino/Tongva.
Western Mono/Monache
Native Location: South-central Sierra Nevada foothills
Language: Shoshone
Indentified Shelters: Semi-subterranean, cone-shaped structures with a connecting pole framework, covered with pine needles
Food: Acorn, pine nuts, deer, fish, manzanita berries, gooseberries, seeds, mushrooms
Information Website : Central Sierra Historical Society and Museum Website
Other Uto-Aztecan Tribes: Kitanemuk -Koso
* Moratto, Michael, California Archaeology, Academic Press, Inc., 1984