Editing Glendora, California (section)

===Early inhabitants===
The first archaeological evidence of human settlement in Glendora dates from {{circa|6000 BCE}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=Glendora Community Archive and Local History |url=https://www.cityofglendora.org/services/library/archive-history |website=City of Glendora |access-date=25 June 2024}}.</ref> Around 3500 BCE, the [[Takic languages|Takic]] people moved into the area.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sutton |first1=Mark Q. |title=People and Language: Defining the Takic Expansion into Southern California |journal=Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly |date=2009 |volume=41 |issue=2&3 |pages=31–93 |url=https://cheviothillshistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Takic.pdf |access-date=21 November 2024}}</ref> By the time Europeans arrived in present-day Los Angeles County, the [[Tongva]], also known as the [[Kizh]] or the Gabrieleños, were the dominant group.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-first=M. E. |editor1-last=Harkin |editor1-link=Michael E. Harkin |title=Reassessing revitalization movements: Perspectives from North America and the Pacific Island |last1=Lepowsky |first1=M. |chapter=Indian revolts and cargo cults: Ritual violence and revitalization in California and New Guinea |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ygqnKla4-wIC&pg=PA51 |year=2004 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln, NE |isbn=978-0-8032-2406-3 |page=51, note 1 |access-date=19 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103114039/http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9780803203884 |archive-date=3 November 2013}}</ref> 

In the foothills and inland areas (such as present-day Glendora), Tongva settlement patterns included both permanent village sites and seasonal camps, usually located near reliable water sources like streams or springs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/samo/learn/historyculture/tongva.htm|title=The Tongva|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 18, 2025}}</ref> The nearest villages to modern Glendora were [[Asuksa-nga, California|Asuksa-nga]] (meaning "Skunk-place") along the [[San Gabriel River (California)|San Gabriel River]] in present-day [[Azusa, California|Azusa]] and [[Duarte, California|Duarte]], and Momwamomutn-gna (meaning "Place of many springs") in present-day San Dimas.<ref>{{cite book|last=McCawley|first=William|title=The First Angelinos: The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles|year=1996|publisher=Malki Museum Press|location=Banning, CA|page=44}}</ref> What is now Glendora was the site of seasonal camps and hunting grounds, particularly near the [[Intermittent river|intermittent streams]] around Dalton Canyon.

[[File:Tongva woman acorns.jpg|thumb|left|Tongva woman grinding acorns (1900), location unknown]] Tongva daily life was closely tied to the land’s resources. They were primarily hunters and gatherers rather than farmers.<ref>{{cite book|last=McCawley|first=William|title=The First Angelinos: The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles|publisher=Malki Museum Press|year=1996|pages=45–48}}</ref> The abundant oak woodlands of the San Gabriel foothills provided acorns as a dietary staple; acorns were shelled, ground on stone mortars, and leached to make a nourishing acorn mush.<ref>{{cite book|last=Johnston|first=Bernice Eastman|title=California's Gabrielino Indians|publisher=Southwest Museum|year=1962|pages=21–23}}</ref> Along rivers and marshes, Tongva people gathered wild seeds such as [[Salvia columbariae|chia sage]], berries, and herbs. In inland communities like the Glendora area, protein came from hunting and trapping local game like deer, rabbits, and birds. Trade with neighboring tribes was well-developed; the Tongva were notable as one of the wealthiest and most influential indigenous groups in Southern California, exchanging goods like steatite (soapstone) bowls, shells, and other items in a far-reaching trade network.<ref>{{cite book|last=McCawley|first=William|title=The First Angelinos: The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles|publisher=Malki Museum Press|year=1996|pages=98–102}}</ref> This network connected them with peoples as far away as the [[Yokuts]] of the Central Valley and the tribes of the Colorado River, illustrating how Tongva economic and cultural influence extended beyond their immediate homeland.<ref>{{cite book|last=Johnston|first=Bernice Eastman|title=California's Gabrielino Indians|publisher=Southwest Museum|year=1962|pages=30–31}}</ref>

Daily life in a Tongva village was structured around communal and familial activities. Tongva dwellings (called ''kich'' or ''kiiğa'') were dome-shaped structures made of willow branches and thatched with tule or other grasses.<ref>{{cite book|last=Heizer|first=Robert F.|title=Handbook of North American Indians: California|volume=8|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|year=1978|pages=623–625}}</ref> These homes had a central fire pit and a smoke hole at the top for ventilation. Villages typically ranged from a few dozen to a hundred people, and early Spanish observers noted that each village was politically autonomous under its own chief, yet linked to others by kinship and language. Men and women both had important economic roles: men often did most of the hunting and fishing, while women were expert foragers and skilled in processing plant foods and weaving baskets. Both sexes wore their hair long and adorned their bodies with tattoos and paint.<ref>{{cite book|last=Johnston|first=Bernice Eastman|title=California's Gabrielino Indians|publisher=Southwest Museum|year=1962|pages=38–39}}</ref> Clothing was minimal in the warm Southern California climate—men often wore little more than a breechcloth, and women wore skirts made of deer hide or woven fiber. In cooler weather, they draped themselves in capes or cloaks made from animal skins, and sandals woven from yucca fiber or hide protected their feet.<ref>{{cite book|last=Heizer|first=Robert F.|title=Handbook of North American Indians: California|volume=8|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|year=1978|pages=624}}</ref> Tongva spiritual life was rich, with ceremonies marking events like the summer solstice and communal mourning rituals for the dead. They had deep knowledge of local plants for food, medicine, and materials, reflecting a relationship with the land that was both practical and spiritual.<ref>{{cite book|last=McCawley|first=William|title=The First Angelinos: The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles|publisher=Malki Museum Press|year=1996|pages=120–123}}</ref>

When the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] arrived in the 1770s, the Tongva population in the entire Los Angeles Basin, including the San Gabriel Valley, is estimated to have been between 5,000 and 10,000 people.<ref>{{cite book|last=McCawley|first=William|title=The First Angelinos: The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles|year=1996|publisher=Malki Museum Press|location=Banning, California|pages=23–25}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book|last=Hackel|first=Steven W.|title=Children of Coyote, Missionaries of Saint Francis: Indian-Spanish Relations in Colonial California, 1769–1850|year=2005|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina|pages=42–43}}</ref>