Editing Chumash people (section)

===Prior to European contact (pre-1542)===
Indigenous peoples have lived along the California coast for at least 11,000 years.<ref>Dartt-Newton, Deana & Erlandson, Jon (Summer/Fall 2006). "Little Choice for the Chumash: Colonialism, Cattle, and Coercion in Mission Period California". ''[[American Indian Quarterly]]'', Vol. 30, No. 3 & 4, 416</ref> Sites of the [[Millingstone Horizon]] date from 7000 to 4500 BC and show evidence of a subsistence system focused on the processing of seeds with ''metates'' and ''manos''.<ref>Glassow et al. 2007: 192–196</ref> 

During that time, people used bipointed bone objects and line to catch fish and began making beads from shells of the marine olive snail (''[[Callianax biplicata]]'').<ref>King 1990: 80–82, 106–107, 231</ref> The name Chumash means "bead maker" or "seashell people" being that they originated near the Santa Barbara coast. The Chumash tribes near the coast benefited most with the "close juxtaposition of a variety of marine and terrestrial habitats, intensive upwelling in coastal waters, and intentional burning of the landscape made the Santa Barbara Channel region one of the most resource abundant places on the planet."<ref name="Newton 4162">(Newton 416).</ref>

[[File:ChumashFamilybyGeorgeSStuart.jpg|thumb|left|Chumash Family by American sculptor George S. Stuart]]

While droughts were not uncommon in the centuries of the first millennium AD, a population explosion occurred with the coming of the [[medieval warm period]]. "Marine productivity soared between 950 and 1300 as natural upwelling intensified off the coast."<ref>Fagan, ''The Long Summer'', 2004, p. 222</ref> Before the mission period, the Chumash lived in over 150 independent villages, speaking variations of the same language. Much of their culture consisted of basketry, bead manufacturing and trading, cuisine of local abalone and clam, [[herbalism]] using local herbs to produce teas and medical reliefs, [[rock art]], and the scorpion tree.<ref>Barry.</ref> 

The scorpion tree was significant to the Chumash, as shown in its [[arborglyph]]: a carving depicting a six-legged creature with a headdress including a crown and two spheres. The shamans participated in the carving which was used in observations of the stars and in part of the Chumash calendar.<ref name="Newton 4162">(Newton 416).</ref> The Chumash resided between the [[Santa Ynez Mountains]] and the California coasts where a bounty of resources could be found. The tribe lived in an area of three environments: the interior, the coast, and the [[Channel Islands (California)|Northern Channel Islands]].<ref>Gamble 21.</ref> 

The interior is composed of the land outside the coast and spanning the wide plains, rivers, and mountains. The coast covers the cliffs, land close to the ocean, and the areas of the ocean from which the Chumash harvested. The Northern Channel Islands lie off the coast of the Chumash territory. All of the California coastal-interior has a [[Mediterranean climate]] due to the incoming ocean winds.<ref>Timbrook 164.</ref> [[Image:Chumash langs.png|thumb|200px|Precontact distribution of the Chumash]]The mild temperatures, save for winter, made gathering easy; during the cold months, the Chumash harvested what they could and supplemented their diets with stored foods. What villagers gathered and traded during the seasons changed depending on where they resided.<ref>Gamble 228.</ref> With coasts populated by masses of species of fish and land densely covered by trees and animals, the Chumash had a diverse array of food.

Abundant resources and a winter rarely harsh enough to cause concern meant the tribe lived a sedentary lifestyle in addition to a subsistence existence. Villages in the three aforementioned areas contained remains of sea mammals, indicating that trade networks existed for moving materials throughout the Chumash territory.<ref>Coombs and Plog 313.</ref><ref>Fauvelle, Mikael. and Perry, Jennifer. (2023) Fisher-Hunter-Gatherer Complexity on California’s Islands: Feasting, Ceremonialism, and the Ritual Economy.  In Archaeology of Fisher-Hunter-Gatherer Complexity in North America.  Christina Perry Sampson, ed. Pp. 194–224. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.</ref> The Chumash were connected to extensive trade networks reaching into modern-day Arizona, from which pottery and textiles were traded in exchange for shell beads.<ref>Smith, Erin M., and Fauvelle, Mikael (2015) Regional Interactions between California and the Southwest: The Western Edge of the North American Continental System. American Anthropologist 17(4):710-721 https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.12346</ref> The emergence of this trade network within the Chumash territory was facilitated by the existence of three distinct Chumash ecological groups including the island, coastal, and mainland Chumash. Access to distinct resources for these different groups made inter-Chumash trade a large part of life. Villages along the mainland coast emerged as intermediaries between groups.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Perry |first1=Jennifer |last2=Delaney-Rivera |first2=Colleen |date=April 2011 |title=Interactions and Interiors of the Coastal Chumash |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/cal.2011.3.1.103 |journal=California Archaeology |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=103–126 |doi=10.1179/cal.2011.3.1.103 |issn=1947-461X}}</ref> 

The closer a village was to the ocean, the greater its reliance on maritime resources.<ref>Gamble 6.</ref><ref>Fauvelle, Mikael, and Somerville, Andrew D. (2021) Spatial and Temporal Variation in Fisher-Hunter-Gatherer Diets in Southern California: Bayesian Modeling Using New Baseline Stable Isotope Values. Quanternary International 601(2021):36-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2021.06.025</ref> Due to advanced canoe designs, coastal and island people could procure fish and aquatic mammals from farther out. Shellfish were a good source of nutrition: relatively easy to find and abundant. Many of the favored varieties grew in tidal zones.<ref>Gamble 26–28.</ref> Shellfish grew in abundance during winter to early spring; their proximity to shore made collection easier. Some of the consumed species included mussels, abalone, and a wide array of clams. [[Haliotis rufescens]] (red abalone) was harvested along the [[Central California]] coast in the pre-contact era.<ref>Hogan, C.M. [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18353 Los Osos Back Bay.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816234114/http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18353 |date=2017-08-16 }} The Megalithic Portal, editor A. Burnham (2008).</ref> The Chumash and other [[California Indians]] also used red [[abalone]] shells to make a variety of fishhooks, beads, ornaments, and other artifacts.

Ocean animals such as otters and seals were thought to be the primary meal of coastal tribes people, but recent evidence shows the aforementioned trade networks exchanged oceanic animals for terrestrial foods from the interior. Any village could acquire fish, but the coastal and island communities specialized in catching not just smaller fish, but also the massive catches such as swordfish.<ref name="Gamble 156">(Gamble 156).</ref> This feat, difficult even for today's technology, was made possible by the [[tomol]] plank canoe. Its design allowed for the capture of deepwater fish, and it facilitated trade routes between villages.<ref name="Gamble 156" />

Some researchers believe that the Chumash [[Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact#Polynesians|may have been visited]] by [[Polynesians]] between AD 400 and 800, nearly 1,000 years before [[Christopher Columbus]] reached the [[Americas]].<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/06/20/MNG9GDBBLG1.DTL Did ancient Polynesians visit California? Maybe so.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230013157/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2005%2F06%2F20%2FMNG9GDBBLG1.DTL|date=2007-12-30}}, ''San Francisco Chronicle''</ref> The Chumash advanced sewn-plank canoe design, used throughout [[Polynesia]] but unknown in North America except by those two tribes, is cited as the chief evidence for contact. [[Comparative linguistics]] may provide evidence as the Chumash word for "sewn-plank canoe", ''[[Tomol|tomolo'o]]'', may have been derived from ''kumula'au'', the Polynesian word for the [[Sequoia sempervirens|redwood]] logs used in that construction. However, the language comparison is generally considered tentative. Furthermore, the development of the Chumash plank canoe is fairly well represented in the archaeological record and spans several centuries.<ref>Arnold, Jeanne E. 1995.</ref><ref>Gamble, Lynn H. 2002.</ref> The concept is rejected by most archaeologists who work with the Chumash culture, and there is no evidence of a genetic legacy.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jones|first=Terry L.|author2=Kathryn A. Klar|date=June 3, 2005|title=Diffusionism Reconsidered: Linguistic and Archaeological Evidence for Prehistoric Polynesian Contact with Southern California|url=http://www.saa.org/publications/AmAntiq/70-3/Jones.html|url-status=dead|journal=American Antiquity|volume=70|issue=3|pages=457–484|doi=10.2307/40035309|jstor=40035309|s2cid=161301055|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927085144/http://www.saa.org/Publications/AmAntiq/70-3/Jones.html|archive-date=September 27, 2006|access-date=2008-03-06}} and {{cite journal|last=Adams|first=James D.|author2=Cecilia Garcia|author3=Eric J. Lien|date=January 23, 2008|title=A Comparison of Chinese and American Indian (Chumash) Medicine|url=http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/nem188v1|journal=Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine|volume=7|issue=2|pages=219–225|doi=10.1093/ecam/nem188|pmc=2862936|pmid=18955312|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214184401/http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/nem188v1|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 14, 2009|access-date=2008-03-06}}. See also [http://cla.calpoly.edu/~tljones/ Terry Jones's homepage] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511194439/http://cla.calpoly.edu/~tljones/|date=2008-05-11}}, California Polytechnic State University.</ref>

Before contact with Europeans, coastal Chumash relied less on terrestrial resources than they did on maritime; vice versa for interior Chumash.<ref name="Gamble 164">(Gamble 164).</ref> Regardless, they consumed similar land resources. Like many other tribes, deer were the most important land mammal the Chumash pursued; deer were consumed in varying amounts across all regions, which cannot be said for other terrestrial animals. Interior Chumash placed greater value on the deer, to the extent of developing unique hunting practices for them.

They dressed as deer and grazed alongside the animals until the hunters were in range to use their arrows.<ref name="Gamble 164" /> Even Chumash close to the ocean pursued deer, though in fewer numbers. The villages also relied on smaller animals, such as rabbits and birds, to supplement their meat needs. Plant foods composed the rest of the Chumash diet, especially acorns, which were the staple food despite the work needed to remove their inherent toxins. They could be ground into a paste that was easy to eat and store for years.<ref>Gamble 23.</ref> Coast live oak provided the best acorns; their mush would usually be served unseasoned with meat and fish.<ref>Brittain 5.</ref>