Editing Yosemite Valley (section)

=== Native Americans in Yosemite ===
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Captain John Paiute Poko Tucket.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Captain John, leader of the [[Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiutes]]]] -->

Habitation of the Yosemite Valley proper can be traced to about 3,000 years ago when vegetation and game in the region was similar to that present today; the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada had acorns, deer, and salmon, while the eastern Sierra had pinyon nuts and [[obsidian]].
The prehistory of the area is divided into three cultural phases on archaeological grounds: the "Crane Flat" phase, (1000&nbsp;BCE to 500&nbsp;CE) is marked by hunting with the [[atl atl]] and the use of [[grinding stone]]s; the "Tarmarack" phase (500 to 1200 CE), marked by a shift to using smaller rock points, indicating development and use of the [[bow and arrow]]; and the "Mariposa" phase, from 1200 until European contact in the mid-19th century.<ref>Wuerthner, George (1994). Yosemite: A Visitors Companion. Stackpole Books, p. 13</ref>

In the 19th century, it was inhabited by a [[Miwok]] band who called the Valley "Ah-wah-nee" and themselves the [[Ahwahnechee]].<ref>[http://www.abovecalifornia.com/lib/Houghton/18.php abovecalifornia.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070217114105/http://www.abovecalifornia.com/lib/Houghton/18.php |date=2007-02-17 }}. Retrieved 4 January 2007.</ref> 
This group had trading and family ties to [[Mono Lake]] [[Northern Paiute|Paiute]]s from the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. They annually burned the vegetation on the Valley floor, which promoted the [[California black oak|black oak]] and kept the meadows and forests open. This protected the supply of their principal food, [[acorn]]s, and reduced the chance of ambush. At the time of first European contact, this band was led by [[Chief Tenaya]] (Teneiya), who was raised by his mother among the [[Mono Lake Paiute]]s.