Editing Tongva (section)

== Culture ==
[[File:Tongva Sacred Springs 2023 March open house day 19.jpg|thumb|left|Replica Tongva ''kiiy'' and [[Sambucus cerulea|California native elderberry]] in blossom at [[Tongva Sacred Springs]] in Los Angeles]]

The Tongva lived in the main part of the most fertile lowland of southern California, including a stretch of sheltered coast with a pleasant climate and abundant food resources,<ref name="HeizerWhipple1971">{{cite book|first=William J.|last=Wallace|editor1=Robert Fleming Heizer|editor2=Mary Anne Whipple|title=The California Indians: A Source Book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjUOmWWyGSMC&pg=PA187|year=1971|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-02031-3|page=187|chapter=A Suggested Chronology for Southern California Coastal Archaeology|access-date=June 17, 2019|archive-date=December 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224022908/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjUOmWWyGSMC&pg=PA187|url-status=live}}</ref> as well as Santa Catalina, San Clemente, and San Nicolas Islands.<ref>https://nahc.ca.gov/cp/tribal-atlas-pages/gabrielino-tongva-nation/</ref> The Tongva were a prominent cultural group south of the [[Tehachapi, California|Tehachapi]] and among the [[Uto-Aztecan languages|Uto-Aztecan]] speakers in California, influencing other Indigenous groups through trade and interaction. Many of the cultural developments of the surrounding southern peoples had their origin with the Gabrieleño.<ref>Kroeber 1925, p. 621</ref> The Tongva territory was the center of a flourishing trade network that extended from the [[Channel Islands (California)|Channel Islands]] in the west to the [[Colorado River]] in the east, allowing the people to maintain trade relations with the [[Cahuilla]], [[Serrano people|Serrano]], [[Luiseño]], [[Chumash people|Chumash]], and [[Mohave people|Mohave]].<ref name="EnvironmentalImpact2004">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M7E2AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA30|title=Los Angeles Union Station Run-through Tracks Project: Environmental Impact Statement|publisher=Caltrans|year=2004|pages=30–33|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222231126/https://books.google.com/books?id=M7E2AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA30|archive-date=December 22, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Like all Indigenous peoples, they utilized and existed in an interconnected relationship with the [[flora]] and [[fauna]] of their familial territory. Villages were located throughout four major ecological zones, as noted by biologist Matthew Teutimez: interior mountains and foothills, grassland/oak woodland, sheltered coastal canyons, and the exposed coast. Therefore, resources such as plants, animals, and earth minerals were diverse and used for various purposes, including for food and materials. Prominent flora included oak (''[[Quercus agrifolia]]'') and willow (''[[Salix|Salix spp.]]'') trees, chia (''[[Salvia columbariae]]''), cattail (''[[Typha|Typha spp.]]''), datura or jimsonweed (''[[Datura innoxia]]''), white sage (''[[Salvia apiana]]''), ''[[Juncus|Juncus spp.]]'', Mexican Elderberry (''[[Sambucus]]''), wild tobacco (''[[Nicotiana|Nicotiana spp.]]''), and yucca (''[[Hesperoyucca whipplei]]''). Prominent fauna included [[mule deer]], [[pronghorn]], [[California black bear|black bear]], [[grizzly bear]], [[black-tailed jackrabbit]], [[Cottontail rabbit|cottontail]], [[bald eagle]], [[red-tailed hawk]], [[dolphin]], and [[gray whale]].<ref name=":15">{{Cite journal|last=Teutimez|first=Matthew|title=A Compendium of Kizh/Gabrieleno Utilized Flora and Fauna|url=http://www.gabrielenoindians.net/flora-and-fauna.html|journal=Kizh Tribal Press|access-date=October 9, 2020|archive-date=July 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726143457/http://gabrielenoindians.net/flora-and-fauna.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== ''Te'aat'' and the ocean ===
[[File:CINMS - Tomol Crossing Sunrise .jpg|thumb|289x289px|''Te'aats'', also referred to as ''tomol''s ([[Chumash people|Chumash]]),  were widely used by the Tongva and were especially important for trade. A ''tomol'' pictured in 2015.]]
{{Main|Tomol}}
The Tongva had a concentrated population along the coast. They fished and hunted in the estuary of the Los Angeles River, and like the [[Chumash people|Chumash]], their neighbors to the north and west along the Pacific coast, the Gabrieleño built seaworthy plank [[canoe]]s, called ''te'aat'', from driftwood. To build them, they used planks of driftwood pine that were sewn together with vegetable fiber cord, edge to edge, and then glued with the tar that was available either from the [[La Brea Tar Pits]], or as [[Bitumen|asphalt]] that had washed up on shore from offshore oil seeps. The finished vessel was caulked with plant fibers and tar, stained with red [[ochre]], and sealed with pine pitch. The ''te'aat'', as noted by the [[Sebastián Vizcaíno]] expedition, could hold up to 20 people<ref>McCawley 1996, pp. 123–125</ref> as well as their gear and trade goods. These canoes allowed the development of trade between the mainland villages and the offshore islands, and were important to the region's economy and social organization,<ref>{{cite book|title=Delineation Drilling Activities in Federal Waters Offshore, Santa Barbara County: Environmental Impact Statement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cyQ3AQAAMAAJ&pg=SA4-PA112|year=2001|pages=4-112–4-114|access-date=June 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221063801/https://books.google.com/books?id=cyQ3AQAAMAAJ&pg=SA4-PA112|archive-date=December 21, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Kennett2005">{{cite book|first=Douglas J.|last=Kennett|title=The Island Chumash: Behavioral Ecology of a Maritime Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKYlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA79|date=4 April 2005|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24302-6|page=79|access-date=June 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191226231946/https://books.google.com/books?id=uKYlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA79|archive-date=December 26, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> with trade in food and manufactured goods being carried on between the people on the mainland coast and people in the interior as well. The Gabrieleño regularly paddled their canoes to Catalina Island, where they gathered [[abalone]],<ref name="SekulaTchen2004">{{cite journal |author1=Allan Sekula |author2=Jack (John Kuo Wei) Tchen |title=Interview with Allan Sekula: Los Angeles, California, October 26, 2002 |journal=International Labor and Working-Class History |date=2004 |issue=66 |page=162 |issn=0147-5479|jstor=27672963 }}</ref> which they pried off the rocks with implements made of fragments of whale ribs or other strong bones.<ref name="Walker1937">{{cite book|first=Edwin Francis|last=Walker|title=Indians of Southern California|url=https://archive.org/details/indiansofsouther00walk/page/8|year=1937|publisher=Southwest Museum|pages=6–9}}</ref>

=== Food culture ===
[[File:Salvia-columbariae-seeds.jpg|left|thumb|233x233px|Chia (''[[salvia columbariae]])'' seeds are integral to the Tongva diet.]]
In the Tongva economic system, food resources were managed by the village chief, who was given a portion of the yield of each day's hunting, fishing, or gathering to add to the communal food reserves. Individual families stored some food to be used in times of scarcity. Villages were located in places with accessible drinking water, protection from the elements, and productive areas where different [[ecological niche]]s on the land intersected. Situating their villages at these resource islands enabled the Tongva to gather the plant products of two or more zones in close proximity.<ref name="EnvironmentalImpact2004" />

Households consisted of a main house (''kiiy'') and temporary camp shelters used during food-gathering excursions. In the summer, families who lived near grasslands collected roots, seeds, flowers, fruit, and leafy greens, and in the winter families who lived near chaparral shrubland collected nuts and acorns, yucca, and hunted deer. The group used “wooden tongs” to collect prickly pear fruits.<ref name="layersoftime1964">Getze, George. "Layers of Time Reveal Legends of Southland Missions and Indians: Time Layers Tell Legends of Southland." ''Los Angeles Times'', Jan 12, 1964, p. 2.</ref>

Some prairie communities moved to the coast in the winter to fish, hunt whales and [[elephant seal]]s, and harvest shellfish. Those villages located on the coast during the summer went on food collecting trips inland during the winter rainy season to gather roots, tubers, [[corm]]s, and bulbs of plants including cattails, lilies, and wild onions.<ref name="King1987">{{cite journal|author1=Chester King|date=1987|title=Ethnohistoric Reconstruction of Subsistence-Settlement Systems in the Vicinity of Burton Mesa|url=https://www.academia.edu/37558753|page=10|access-date=7 July 2019|archive-date=September 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914214054/https://www.academia.edu/37558753|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Fortier2009">{{cite journal|author1=Jana Fortier|date=March 2009|title=Native American Consultation and Ethnographic Study, Ventura County, California|url=https://www.academia.edu/418550|page=15|access-date=7 July 2019|website=Academia.edu|archive-date=June 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605140252/https://www.academia.edu/418550|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Tongva did not practice horticulture or agriculture, as their well-developed hunter-gatherer and trade economy provided adequate food resources.<ref>{{cite book|title=Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbors Channel Improvements: Environmental Impact Statement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oj00AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA13|year=1984|page=13|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225095013/https://books.google.com/books?id=Oj00AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA13|archive-date=December 25, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Gumprecht2001">{{cite book|first=Blake|last=Gumprecht|title=The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death, and Possible Rebirth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ftBJpp7aIoC&pg=PA32|date= 2001|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-6642-5|page=32|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228154447/https://books.google.com/books?id=2ftBJpp7aIoC&pg=PA32|archive-date=December 28, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Loewe2016">{{cite book|first=Ronald|last=Loewe|title=Of Sacred Lands and Strip Malls: The Battle for Puvungna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIrpDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA20|year=2016|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-0-7591-2162-1|page=20|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230205752/https://books.google.com/books?id=xIrpDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA20|archive-date=December 30, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The bread was made from the yellow pollen of cattail heads, and the underground [[rhizomes]] were dried and ground into a starchy meal.<ref name="King1987" /><ref name="Fortier2009" /> The young shoots were eaten raw.<ref>Fortier 2009, p. 46</ref> The seeds of [[Salvia columbariae|chia]], a herbaceous plant of the sage family, were gathered in large quantities when they were ripe. The flower heads were beaten with a paddle over a tightly woven basket to collect the seeds. These were dried or roasted and ground into a flour called "pinole," which was often mixed with the flour of other ground seeds or grains. Water was added to make a cooling drink; mixing with less water yielded a kind of porridge that could be baked into cakes.<ref name="Reid1968">{{cite book|last=Reid|first=Hugo|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b59340&view=1up&seq=25|title=The Indians of Los Angeles County: Hugo Reid's Letters of 1852|year=1926|location=Los Angeles|pages=11–12|orig-year=1852|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-date=September 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914214050/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b59340&view=1up&seq=25|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="McCawley1996129">{{cite book|last=McCawley|first=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZAOAQAAMAAJ|title=The First Angelinos: The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles|publisher=Malki Museum Press|year=1996|isbn=978-0-9651016-0-8|pages=129–130|access-date=June 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228154448/https://books.google.com/books?id=DZAOAQAAMAAJ|archive-date=December 28, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Acorn mush]] was a staple food as it was of all the [[Mission Indians|Indigenous peoples who were forcibly relocated to missions in Southern California]]. Acorns were gathered in October; this was a communal effort with the men climbing the trees and shaking them while the women and children collected the nuts.<ref name="McCawley1996129" /> The acorns were stored in large wicker [[granaries]] supported by wooden stakes well above the ground. Preparing them for food took about a week. Acorns were placed, one at a time, on end in the slight hollow of a rock and their shells broken by a light blow from a small hammerstone; then the membrane, or skin, covering the acorn meat was removed. Following this process the acorn meats were dried for days,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GU8wAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA11-PA3|title=Indian Education|publisher=Education Division, U.S. Office of Indian Affairs|year=1936|series=1-79|page=3|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207031237/https://books.google.com/books?id=GU8wAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA11-PA3|archive-date=December 7, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> after which the kernels were pounded into a meal with a pestle. This was done in a stone mortar or in a mortar hole in a boulder. Large [[bedrock mortar|bedrock outcroppings]] near oak stands often display evidence of the community mills where the women labored.<ref name="Walker1937" />

The pounded acorn meal was put into baskets and the bitter [[tannic acid]] it contained was leached out to make the meal more palatable and digestible.<ref name="McCawley1996129" /> The prepared meal was cooked by boiling in water in a watertight grass-woven basket or in a soapstone bowl into which heated stones were dropped. Soapstone casseroles were used directly over the fire. Various foods of meat, seeds, or roots were cooked by the same method.<ref name="Walker1937" /> The mush thus prepared was eaten cold or nearly so, as was all their food. Another favored Tongva food was the seed kernel of a species of plum (''[[prunus ilicifolia]]'' (common name: holly-leaf cherry) they called ''islay'', which was ground into meal and made into gruel.<ref name="Reid1968" />

Men performed most of the heavy, short-duration labor; they hunted, fished, helped with some food-gathering, and carried on trade with other cultural groups. Large game animals were hunted with bows and arrows, and small game was taken with [[Trapping#Deadfall traps|deadfall traps]], snares, and bows made of [[Aesculus californica|buckeye]] wood.<ref name="Campbell1999">{{cite book|first=Paul Douglas|last=Campbell|title=Survival Skills of Native California|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qSRLW5ziVFAC&pg=265|year=1999|publisher=Gibbs Smith|isbn=978-0-87905-921-7|page=265|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229192924/https://books.google.com/books?id=qSRLW5ziVFAC&pg=265|archive-date=December 29, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> John P. Harrington recorded that rattlesnake venom was used as an arrow poison.<ref name="HudsonBlackburn1982">{{cite book|author1=Travis Hudson|author2=Thomas C. Blackburn|title=The Material Culture of the Chumash Interaction Sphere: Food Procurement and Transportation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JpJ0AAAAMAAJ&q=%22rattlesnake%20venom%22|year=1982|publisher=Ballena Press|isbn=978-0-87919-097-2|page=125|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224131001/https://books.google.com/books?id=JpJ0AAAAMAAJ&q=%22rattlesnake%20venom%22|archive-date=December 24, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Burrowing animals were driven from their burrows with smoke and clubbed; communal rabbit drives were made during the seasonal controlled burning of [[chaparral]] on the prairie,<ref name="EnvironmentalImpact2004" /> the rabbits being killed with nets, bow and arrows, and [[throwing stick]]s.<ref name="BeanSmith1978546">{{cite book|author1=Lowell John Bean|author2=Charles R. Smith|editor-first1=Robert F.|editor-last1=Heizer|title=Handbook of North American Indians: California|url=https://planning.lacity.org/eir/CrossroadsHwd/deir/files/references/D14.pdf|volume=8|year=1978|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|page=546|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709031338/https://planning.lacity.org/eir/CrossroadsHwd/deir/files/references/D14.pdf|archive-date=July 9, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Harpoons, spear-throwers, and clubs were used to hunt marine mammals and ''te'aat'' used to access them.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Learn |first1=Joshua Rapp |title=In Coastal California, the Tongva Sustainably Hunted Marine Mammals for Centuries |url=https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/in-coastal-california-the-tongva-sustainably-hunted-marine-mammals-for-centuries/ |access-date=23 September 2021 |work=[[Hakai Magazine]] |date=10 September 2021 |archive-date=September 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923193215/https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/in-coastal-california-the-tongva-sustainably-hunted-marine-mammals-for-centuries/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Fishing was done from shorelines or along rivers, streams, and creeks with hook and line, nets, basketry traps, spears, bow and arrows, and poisons made from plants. Reciprocity and sharing of resources were important values in Tongva culture. Hugo Reid reported that the hoarding of food supplies was so stigmatized by the Tongva moral code that hunters would give away large portions of coveted foods such as fresh meat, and under some circumstances, were prohibited from eating their own kill or fishermen from eating their own catch.<ref>McCawley 1996, pp. 111, 148</ref><ref name="Fortier2009" />

Women collected and prepared plant and some animal food resources and made baskets, pots, and clothing. In their old age, they and the old men cared for the young and taught them Tongva [[Lifeway#Anthropology and archeology|lifeways]].<ref name="BeanSmith1978546" />

=== Material culture ===
[[File:California, Southern, Gabrielino (San Gabriel, Mission or Tongva), Late 19t - Bowl - 1929.267 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg|thumb|280x280px|Tongva basket or bowl was created in the late 19th or early 20th century]]
Tongva [[material culture]] and technology reflected a sophisticated knowledge of the working properties of natural materials and a highly developed artisanship, shown in many articles of everyday utility decorated with shell inlay, carving, and painting.<ref name="PeregrineEmber2012">{{cite book|editor1=Peter N. Peregrine|editor2=Melvin Ember|title=Encyclopedia of Prehistory: Volume 6: North America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHAQBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA301|year=2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-4615-0523-5|page=301|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227051251/https://books.google.com/books?id=oHAQBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA301|archive-date=December 27, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Most of these items, including baskets, shell tools, and wooden weapons, were extremely perishable. [[Steatite|Soapstone]] from quarries on Catalina Island was used to make cooking implements, animal carvings, pipes, ritual objects, and ornaments.<ref name="BeanSmith1978542">{{cite book|author1=Lowell John Bean|author2=Charles R. Smith|editor-first1=Robert F.|editor-last1=Heizer|title=Handbook of North American Indians: California|url=https://planning.lacity.org/eir/CrossroadsHwd/deir/files/references/D14.pdf|volume=8|year=1978|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|page=542|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709031338/https://planning.lacity.org/eir/CrossroadsHwd/deir/files/references/D14.pdf|archive-date=July 9, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Using the stems of rushes (''[[Juncus]]'' sp .), grass (''[[Muhlenbergia rigens]]''), and squawbush (''[[Rhus trilobata]]''), women fabricated coiled and twined basketry in a three-color pattern for household use, seed collecting, and ceremonial containers to hold grave offerings.<ref name="BeanSmith1978542" /> They sealed some baskets, such as water bottles, with asphalt to make watertight containers for holding liquids.<ref name="BrajeErlandson,Timbrook2005">{{cite journal |author1=Todd J. Braje |author2=Jon Erlandson |author3=Jan Timbrook |title=An Asphaltum Coiled Basket Impression, Tarring Pebbles, and Middle Holocene Water Bottles from San Miguel Island, California |journal=Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology |date=2005 |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=207–213 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261777645|jstor=27825804 }}</ref>

The Tongva used the leaves of [[Schoenoplectus acutus|tule]] reeds as well as those of [[Typha latifolia|cattails]] to weave mats and thatch their shelters.<ref name="Fortier2009" />

Living in the mild climate of southern California, the men and children usually went nude, and women wore only a two-piece skirt, the back part being made from the flexible inner bark of cottonwood or willow, or occasionally deerskin. The front apron was made of cords of twisted dogbane or milkweed. People went barefoot except in rough areas where they wore crude sandals made of yucca fiber.<ref name="Malinowski1998">{{cite book|last=Malinowski|first=Sharon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CEb0x7tu9c0C&q=%22yucca%20fiber%20sandals%22|title=The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes: California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands|publisher=Gale|year=1998|isbn=978-0-7876-1089-0|page=67|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223043135/https://books.google.com/books?id=CEb0x7tu9c0C&q=%22yucca%20fiber%20sandals%22|archive-date=December 23, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> In cold weather, they wore robes or capes made from twisted strips of rabbit fur, deer skins, or bird skins with the feathers still attached. Also used as blankets at night, these were made of sea otter skins along the coast and on the islands.<ref name="BeanSmith1978541">{{cite book|author1=Lowell John Bean|url=https://planning.lacity.org/eir/CrossroadsHwd/deir/files/references/D14.pdf|title=Handbook of North American Indians: California|author2=Charles R. Smith|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|year=1978|editor-last1=Heizer|editor-first1=Robert F.|volume=8|page=541|access-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709031338/https://planning.lacity.org/eir/CrossroadsHwd/deir/files/references/D14.pdf|archive-date=July 9, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> “Women were tattooed from cheek to shoulder blade, from elbow to shoulder,” with cactus thorns used as needles and charcoal dust rubbed into the wounds as “ink,” leaving a blue-gray mark under the skin after the wounds healed.<ref name="getze1964" />

=== Social culture ===
There were three capital crimes in the community: murder, incest and disrespect for elders.<ref name="getze1964">Getze, George. "Southland Indians Used Strange Rites." ''Los Angeles Times'', Jan 14, 1964, p. 1</ref>

According to Father [[Gerónimo Boscana]], relations between the [[Chumash people|Chumash]], Gabrieleños, [[Luiseño]]s, and [[Kumeyaay|Diegueños]], as he called them, were generally peaceful but “when there was a war it was ferocious…no quarter was given, and no prisoners were taken except the wounded.”<ref name="getze1964" />