Long before the first Spaniards arrived in Southern California, the area was occupied by six distinct Native American tribes: Chumash, Tongva, Serrano, Cahuilla, Luiseño, and Kumeyaay. The map shown above shows the territories of the six Southern California Indian nations. The Riverside Metropolitan Museum in Riverside, California has a display on Southern California’s First Peoples. … Continued
One of the displays in The Cahuilla Continuum exhibit in the Riverside Metropolitan Museums shows some of the material culture associated with traditional Cahuilla daily life. The Cahuilla homeland in California was bounded on the north by the San Bernardino Mountains; on the south by the northern Borrego Desert; on the east by the Colorado … Continued
The Artic Culture Area includes the Aleutian Islands, most of the Alaska Coast, the Canadian Artic, and parts of Greenland. It is an area which can be described as a “cold” desert. Geographer W. Gillies Ross, in his chapter in North American Exploration. Volume 3: A Continent Comprehended, writes: “The North American Arctic is usually … Continued
Basketry is probably the oldest art form, although the archaeological record is devoid of the earliest basketry. In his 1904 book American Indian Basketry, Otis Mason writes: “In ultimate structure, basketry is free-hand mosaic or, in the finest materials, like pen-drawings or beadwork, the surface being composed of any number of small parts—technically decussations, stitches, … Continued
For the Central Alaska Yup’ik Eskimo, spirituality was focused largely on the need to secure food for hunting. As with other animistic hunting peoples, animals were felt to have souls which would be reincarnated. Thus, rituals sought to appease the soul of the animal so that it would give itself to the Yup’ik hunters who … Continued
The Northwest Coast culture area stretches along the Pacific coast between the Cascade Mountains and the ocean. It extends north of California to Alaska. This is an area which is the home to many Indian nations who traditionally based their economy on the use of sea coast and river ecological resources. The Northwest Coast culture … Continued
Today, the Columbia River marks the boundary between Oregon and Washington. The river was named for the ship Columbia Rediviva whose captain, John Gray, sailed into the area in 1792. Gray was the first of many Euroamerican fur traders who would invade the area over the next half century. American Indians had lived along the … Continued
The Northwest Coast is a region in which an entrenched and highly valued artistic tradition flourished. Among the highly developed art traditions were basketry and carving. A special residency program at the Museum of Glass (MOG) in Tacoma, Washington, allowed traditional artists to explore the medium of Studio Glass. A special exhibit at MOG, entitled … Continued
Washington’s Sacajawea State Park is located at the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers. In explaining the cultural and historical significance of this place, many historic photographs of Indians are on display in the park and in the Sacajawea Museum which is located in the park. The Museum is shown above. According to one … Continued
Like all California Indian tribes, the Cahuilla created baskets which were both practical and aesthetically pleasing. In their book The Cahuilla Indians of Southern California, Lowell Bean and Harry Lawton write: “The Cahuilla endeavored to create beauty in day-to-day projects and in objects which had religious meaning.” Lowell Bean and Harry Lawton also report: “A … Continued
