Prehistoric California: Boats, Shell Money, and Acorns (Prehistoric North America)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 มิ.ย. 2024
- California today is the most populous state in the United States of America. Cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles are world famous and are major tourist attractions. Yet few can mention a single aspect of California’s Native American prehistory. This video gives a thorough overview of the activities of Native Americans across California’s vast and varied regions from the San Francisco Bay Area, to the Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego areas, to the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys (The Central Valley), to the Sierra Nevada Mountains and finally to the Mojave and Colorado Desert regions.
Towering mountains, deserts, sprawling river and lake systems and a long coastline all rounded out by a mild climate. This is California today and was once the California that many Native Americans experienced before the arrival of Europeans in Prehistoric North America. Perhaps due to California’s vast variety of landscapes prehistoric California had an enormous amount of cultural diversity. At the time of contact with Europeans there were 100 different groups of Native Americans. Incredibly despite many of these groups living across California’s multiple different environments many of them often relied upon one primary food source to fill their bellies - the acorn. This was made possible by the abundance of acorn bearing oak trees in California. It is because of this sheer abundance of food that some researchers think that prehistoric California may have been a “Garden of Eden” where there was no need for agriculture or other developments such as pottery. This characterization may however be far from reality. Though there indeed was an absence of agriculture and pottery, it was extremely labor intensive to turn acorns into food products. There also may have been frequent warfare between prehistoric Californians due to the many battered remains that have been found. The populations of the prehistoric Californian groups were large and managed by complex chiefdoms and sociopolitical organizations. Many of the economies of these groups used shell beads as currency. Trade networks were also vast and wide ranging. Prehistoric California was likely far from being a simple and carefree landscape.
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Credits:
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Sources:
Sutton, Mark Q. A Prehistory of North America
denniscassinelli.com/2014/02/...
www.thoughtco.com/crescents-p...
California was so rich in acorns, game, and fish that this is one of the few places in the world where hunter gatherers lived in permanent villages. There was no need to farm. And the only domesticated animals were dogs.
it's called horticulture! that was the practice for most indigenous californians
Thank you for this video! No one ever talks about California native americans.
I've lived in California all my life and attended elementary school in the Cambrian Park section of San Jose. We learned all of this information in fourth grade, and we also learned U.S. history. Thank God the beautiful land now known as California became a part of the U.S.. May the USA prosper forevermore. :)
If you’re from California you definitely learned about this. All of 4th grade was history about California with an emphasis on Native American treatment and the Mission system. We even had a final project on a Mission of our choosing. Then I learned about it again in high school with more minority groups that were mistreated. Finally I took several classes in college that went even more in depth with far more graphic details.
I have researched and engaged with historians and native people to realize that the California history is older and more developed than anywhere in the U.S. I hope to reveal this at the upcoming 2028 Olympics with a historical kiosk at the new Hollywood Entertainment District. This reveals more Natural climate opportunities than anywhere. We just need to rid of BAD humans running the government here.
@@UnlimitedEmeraldsbut the mission stuff was mostly about the Spanish and how they forcefully assimilated native peoples. We never hear stuff like this - a thriving community of cultures at their prime
Nobody talks about all Natives being from Asia.
As a Miwuk that lives in California and grew up in near Yosemite. I appreciate this video. You should look into the Mariposa war.
Hello miwuk brother! Sonora resident here
The catalina island shell mixer.
pow pow
Lots ancient stuff on Catalina.
@@zalix512
The Channel Islands have skeletal remains of Dwarf Wooley Mammoths.
As a Californian I appreciate this video 😊
That’s awesome! I hope more Californians see this
@@WorldChronicles1 Here's another. And thank you!
@@WorldChronicles1 🤚
@@jamesdoyle2769 You're welcome!
@@WorldChronicles1As a California native from the Sierra Nevada foothills I appreciate this video #MonoNative #Nuem
My dad said that when they first got here to Northern California from Texas in the mid 60’s. That when they would work the fields with the tractors that they would uncover those rocks they would use to grind the grains
Yup!
Nice info !
I live near red bluff California they are all over around here to this day.
im in the middle of the sacramento valley and have seen tons of the bolo rocks, havent found any of the ones for grinding grains yet unfortunately.
@@thomasmorris134 my mom and dad still have a few of them by the fireplace
No one mentions the millions of birds that show up every fall in the central valley. They must have been a major food source.
What kind of birds?
"The skies were dark with birds, the rivers boiled with fish, and grizzlies were everywhere" That how I saw California described when the Spanish came.
@@Jo-vu1me Geese and ducks. I live on the San Joaquin Delta in Central California. They caught them with nets.
@@AntonioPeralesdelHierroa true garden of Eden
Pigeons could black out the sky for hours
California was so rich in resources that it had the highest population density of Native Americans any place north of Mexico before Columbus.
I’m Tataviam and Chumash from LA … thanks for shedding some light on the long history this land and our people .
One of my best friends is from the Chumash Tribe. I really enjoyed your fascinating documentary. Thank you.
You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it
I believe Clear Lake in Lake County is considered the oldest natural lake in the northwest. 480,000 years old. Stands to reason it would have been inhabited very early. Estimates are approx 11,800 years ago for the Pomo.
Lake Tulare is basically a mud pit most of the time
Yup 👍
Lots of obsidian up there too
Mt. Konocti is so beautiful
Clear Lake is the oldest lake on the continent. It has been inhabited for thousands of years. California has the biggest birds in the northern hemisphere, California Condors, the largest and tallest trees in the world, (Coast Redwoods and Sequoias) and the oldest (non-clonal bristlecone pines oldest in the world . This state is a remarkable place in diversity has the most diverse ecosystem probably in the world. It's a beautiful magical place.
Mammoth uncovered in Arroyo Grande. Dated 40,000 years ago. Has cut marks on it. I’ve held the femur with the cuts on it. Can clearly see them. It’s incredible, I have no idea why the find has not been shared.
Fossil trade most likely.
@@Kisseyhersh123
I believe these remains were found in situ.
There are also the remains of dwarf wooley mammoths on the Channel Islands.
On the Sonoma County coast, huge coastal rock out cropping show the smooth rubbed out sections where woolly mammoths rubbed against them to scratch their lice or fleas. A geologist figured that out, or rather the parks archaeologist. You can see the smoothed out rock up to twenty feet high. Showing how tall they were.
The oak tree at the beginning looks like it may have been coppiced when much smaller. Recommended book: "Tending the Wild", by Kat Anderson. Native people were active landscape shapers and managers for millennia. "There was no need for agriculture". The "agriculture" was there, just dispersed.
interesting!
We are now applying some of those lessons from indigenous peoples to our parks and forest management like controlled burns for instance. Europeans thought California was a paradise. They didn't know it was largely due to sophisticated and careful managing of the land.
The same type mounds of shells are also found in Brazil, archaeologists there call them “Sambaquis”. It’s everywhere along the Brazilian coast.
Some California Native people that I know are pulling ancient S. American DNA. Perhaps one day they make a connection? The migration was sometimes from south to north and not just over a land bridge. The ancient natives were a seafaring people.
There was still a huge shell mound near the shore of San Francisco Bay when my late Mom was a child. This area has been been developed and is now Shell-mound Street in Alameda.
Amazing how they always name a street or district after what they destroyed isn’t it ?
Also on Emeryville and I believe Berkelry
I've lived in California for 60 years. I had no idea there were so many native tribes. You hear about Miwok, Pomo, Mono, and Modoc. The other 96, not so much. Thank you for the video.
The Patwin tribe lived in my area. I live Suisun City. Suisun is a Patwin word that means west wind.
Sad but true : much of our history is glossed over and most of those hundred tribes remain unrecognized by the federal government and landless
Well done. First video I've found covering this subject in depth - well done! Thank you.
There are many underwater sites in California which can go date back to 11,000 years
The dates will continue to be pushed back !
I happened across a huge sight in Monterrey. I found a massive abalone pile that was unearthed by our recent heavy rains. I was taken back bye it.
You should report that to like UC Berkeley
Also look up the vast and expansive ancient "Berkeley Walls" of California.
These are extremely long and low ancient stacked-rock walls that extend for miles, similar to the low outlining property and pasture stacked-rock walls of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales,.etc.
However, the distinct type of construction and design of the Berkeley Walls matches most closely with those found in MONGOLIA !!!
From the historical accounts and records of the early Spanish and European explorers and settlers who arrived on the Western American coastline, they were told by the indigenous native Indians of this California area that these rock walls were not theirs and were "already there" from a previous people and culture, and were not built by their immediate native American Indian ancestors.
@@bbfoto7248those were only recently built. My dad worked at Tilden park for a while, and he told me that for a long time they had thought it was made by Native Americans, and there was the myth that they had been built before the Native Americans were there. But they are actually just relatively recently built walls, to keep cows from leaving their pasture land. I believe if you check with Tilden park they will tell you the same
The lake is pronounced Too-larry I live in this area and have found many native American artifacts over the years great video thanks
Ventura County Californian, here! Love love love this video so much! Growing up I always wondered about the people who lived here long before us. I have a small boulder with evidence of being used as a grinding stone that I pulled out of a local riverbed (was afraid that the homeless would spray paint or destroy it). This stone also has a spectacular cluster of fossilized gastropods on the surface. I imagine an old Chumash woman using her treasured fossil decorated grinding stone to process acorns. Must have washed down from the mountains during our seasonal flash floods.
There is a Chumash cultural center in Thousand Oaks … you can take it there for preservation and display
Don't forget Arlington Springs Man found on Santa Rosa Island dating back to at least 13000 years ago. Maybe older.
I covered those remains in my "Prehistoric Settlement of North America" video
@@WorldChronicles1Coming with receipts!
@@WorldChronicles1
Have you chronicled the vast and expansive ancient "Berkeley Walls" of California?
These are extremely long and low ancient stacked-rock walls that extend for miles, similar to the low outlining property and pasture stacked-rock walls of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, etc.
However, the distinct type of construction and design of the Berkeley Walls matches most closely with those found in MONGOLIA !!!
From the historical accounts and records of the early Spanish and European explorers and settlers who arrived on the Western American coastline, they were told by the indigenous native Indians of this California area that these rock walls were not theirs and were "already there" from a previous people and culture, and were not built by their immediate native American Indian ancestors.
@@bbfoto7248fascinating! I’ll research that! Appreciate the information!
Once a great continent lay to the West of and encroaching on California, Lemuria. Mt. Shasta, one of the 7 Sacred Mountains of the world and the root chakra, is considered to have had an underground civilization of Lemurians.
Awesome video, I enjoy watching your videos. Thank you for sharing! 👍👍👏👏
I was hoping this film would mention that the San Francisco Bay waters receded and rose about 7 times over the past 100,000 years. Until about 20,000 years ago, the Bay was a vast river valley with marshes, going all the way out to the Farallon Islands. I was hoping the narrator would talk about who lived there and there would be illustrations.
This is amazing! As a Californian and someone who’s been to many of the places you’ve talked about. I have even found a couple artifacts myself. I’ve actually learned so much watching this video even with the minimal amount of research I did I still could not find nearly any of the information that you provided in this video. Thank you!
Please don’t move artifacts from where you find them . That’s one of the only ways we can identify our village sites and sacred places . If you want to to know more there are a few small museums who do great work : Chumash Indian museum in Thousand Oaks is a great resource in SoCal .
Really good! I was born in SF and am always interested in the Native American History of CA.
Google Valentin Lopez : awesome tribal leader near you
Kumeyaay Native here!
Anybody here ever been to Indian Meadows in northeastern California near the pit River it's a large large large meadow that housed anywhere between 50 to 300 individuals over 500 years after a rain you can walk around the field and find Arrowhead spear points you can't walk or take a step without stepping on obsidian shards all the boulders along the river have holes in the boulders for grinding acorns this is a very very special place that's why I won't tell you exactly where it is
This is awesome, great info and well presented. I love seeing this side of the native californian lifestyle pre colonization. Too many people just want to focus on the genocide and gold rush era, thats like the most horrific and boring part. 99% of our history was beautiful and deserves remembering not just the bad parts.
Uhm, lake Tulare is considered a dead lake. It came back for the first time in over 100 years 2 years ago but it’s dried up again
I'm from Santa Cruz. on a construction site I unearthed a spear point or knife. we had the Olones here. Thanks for this video!
Thank you! For hundreds of tribes over thousands of years amazingly little has been learned about the early people of California.👍
Thanks you for this interesting video on ancient history of California. USA needs to teach pre- colonial history of America in the schools so that citizens have better understanding of North America. Such objective information as this videos shows us facts that ancient Americans had high civilization and were not primitive tribals as so many new literature make us believe…..
@@ogathingo8885 Studying the original peoples of old also gives insight into managing the land.
It’s incredible to see such kindness and love. Thank you all!
Years ago I used to hike around Cuyamaca and Palomar in SD county; would find acorn mortor bowls carved into the rock outcrops. It really gave a new perspective to who was there before and how they lived.
I live in Carpinteria which was basically a Native American canoe repair shop due to the abundance of natural tar and oil.
Hence the Spanish title : carpenteria
We use to own wilderness land in Mendocino County just east of the Covelo, Pomo, reservation. We were thrilled when we found a chert/flint arrowhead there once, it’s a treasure that will go to a local museum eventually.
You are mistaken, Tulare lake is gone, they drained it to make farmland. Occasionally comes back if theres a very wet winter.
Yes, I believe that the US Govt. sold the marshland for $1 per acre and for every acre turned into farmland they got a $1 rebate. So essentially free land if you converted to farmland.
No way these guys just waited for whales to beach themselves, they must have hunted them
We need to stop hunting all animals!
@@panatypicalmove into the wild and do it
@@panatypicalhow does that make sense? We are biologically engineered to hunt animals, knock it off goofy.
Agreed. Gray Whales travel closer to the shores of CA during their migration north, along with their calfs, hiding from killer whales. I can totally see then hunting the baby whales
@@panatypical why
New Pre-Clovis site in Chula Vista San Diego by Fwy- 120k years dated, being hushed as usual
Don't forget the mammoth remains with tool marks
The data on this continues to be disputed. A majority of archeologists feel those bones became damaged by sediment compaction and weight or damage from construction equipment.
The dates will continue to be pushed back
Yoo your vids are the best
another great vid man
Lake Tulare is a cotton plantation. Its flooded right now but temporarily.
You don't know anything imma yokut
We'll see just how temporarily. Tulare Lake used to be the southernmost spawning area of chinook salmon, and was a very rich source of food - elk and other species. Isn't that worth more than some almonds or cotton grown for export?
Farmers drained the lake. Pistachio trees have been planted. They will fight like hell to stop the lake. It's sad.
This was a really cool video, especially from such a small channel. Deserving of a like and follow.
Nice work thanks.
😀😀😀😀😀
I love my home California
There are rock paintings around, & squirrells bring artefacts/burials to the surface. my horse loves acorns. the hills & mountains are pocked with grinding rocks everywhere.
Great video! It's so hard to find accessible information on the pre-contact native cultures of California for whatever reason. I grew up in the Mojave desert at the intersection of historic Kawaiisu, Kitanemuk, Serrano, and Tataviam peoples' homelands and was essentially a long established trading post of sorts. It's especially difficult to find information on the smaller tribes like the Tataviam. Thanks for shining a spotlight on a topic that is surprisingly not discussed as often as it should be.
i always remember as a kid thinking the valleys were once underwater, you can tell by their strange formations, hiking trails you can see many of the acorn trees mentioned in the video. it’s amazing how they were able to thrive in such a dramatically changing environment.
Many once were probably. The whole terraced forest in Mendocino marches up from the ocean on shelves of what were once ocean bottom and beaches.
Awesome video! Here in California’s Central Valley we pronounce Tulare “too-leh-ree” kinda like Too Larry
Tulare (Too-larry) Lake.
This guy is ready some prepared text. Probably a.i.
Two larrys and a moe.
I've always pronounced it Too-lare, like too-bare.
Came here to say this too
Too lair ee
Lol
@@daltonsband
Tillary von shonud
Cool vid man thanks
Love your content… please do a nice long video on the first humans in the Northeast/New England 😬 really though, great videos man!!
Ok, I'll add that to my list of topics to cover!
@@WorldChronicles1 Thank you! I’ll definitely keep my eyes peeled! Thank you for the great content my friend.
Cool video, I lived in Butte County for 20 years.
Salinan native💯
Thank you for this! I am from Tennessee and living in California now. In Tennessee we know so much about the Cherokee culture and many names, including Tennessee itself are Cherokee names. I have been wondering who was in CA before Europeans. It's like they never existed here.
There were 120 separate languages spoken in California, many completely unrelated, and a similar variety of ethnicities. The population was huge but so complex that it's not easy to package into a simple narrative. So it gets ignored.
@@jamesdoyle2769 That makes sense but it's weird the lack of anything even named an indigenous name until you get to Mexico or Arizona. It's not talked about here but I know the Big Sur region had a lot of grisly bears. I wonder if that kept people away.
@@andrewjones9991 There are indigenous place names all over the US and California is no exception, though often they come through Spanish pretty mangles.
Grizzlies - there were so many grizzlies in the flat area where Monterey is now that when the Spanish got there, no none could live there. Big Sur probably couldn't support a very large population of grizzlies. What it did have was a small population of Esselen people who had once been more numerous and widespread, until the area was settled four or five thousand years ago by speakers of Utian languages, the Mutsun and Rumsen and so on. (Unrelated to the Esselen)
@@jamesdoyle2769 Duly noted. In comparison to Tennessee I don't see a lot. Maybe I'm just not recognizing the indigenous names because they're mangled as you put it. I'm still learning. I admit my ignorance about California pre-Europeans settling it. That's why I'm watching this.Thanks for the info!
@@andrewjones9991there's many Native named places in California, just gets overlooked.
Just to name a few here in the LA area:
Topanga, Azuza, Tujunga, Cahuenga, Pacoima, Castaic and the more recognizable like Malibu, Pismo Beach (SLO county) and Temecula (IE). There's also many counties and cities with names of Native origin.
Chumash plank canoes and plank surfboards for Humalewu Malibu= where the surf sounds loudly
Humaliwo. No 'an kał 'aliwałyam loka ikmen, no 'an kałnuna mitsqanaqan.
Does anyone know if the chukansi tribe in madera inhabited the madera ranchos? My grandparents ranch has a hudge rock with a few bowls pitted in them. No other rock near it has that. I’ve always wondered if they may have been used by natives.
Great video
Loved the vid!Always interested in California prehistory. Would love to see this presentation done in terms of a time line, on a map. ie, all sites at 9k BP and their duration. Then 8k BP and so on, while removing those no longer inhabited. Would be interesting to see the demographics, with population and location changes.
Thanx!
Glad you liked the video! And that sounds like an excellent idea. I’ll be sure to look into doing that for the prehistory of California and perhaps for other regions of North America as well
@WorldChronicles1
Thanks for the mention! Growing up in California, we have very little, publicized history of it. So it's nice to hear.!
Amazing!
Thank You 🙏🏾
Cerutti Mastodon site in San Diego:
1n 1992 I had lived in SD for 5 years. I remember the news of this find.
Over 5-6 months Dr. Richard Cerutti (and others) excavated a mammoth skeleton found during machine excavation for a road construction site.
There are clear evidence of stone tool use alongside numerous anvil and hammer stones.
In 2014 Uranium-Thorium dating places the date at 130,000 before present.
What was the climate like at that time? How far away was the pacific shore line?
Great video. We find buried shell piles all over Monterey Bay area. It was something all of the coastal natives did, seemingly world wide never heard a good explanation why. Not to pick knits but Tulare is pronounced like it ends with a y. Too lare y.
He also slaughtered Cahuilla 😂😂😂
Nice video👍👍 crazy how i been living CA all my life and I’m barely seeing this lol
Yea most people just think it was a part of Mexico sadly … check out the Chumash Indian museum if you’re in LA area
I tried to pay my California taxes using seashells but sadly they didn’t accept them.
Lol. Only accepting gold bars now
Great Video. Very informative. How to solve this water crisis though?
thanks!
Is the scholarship on this topic open to volunteers? I'd love to help with the data aspects
dude where did you get these amazing map graphics??
You really know how to pack a wealth of knowledge into a 30 minute video. Well done.
Thanks!
Hi folks,
Somehow that painting of the warriors hoisting their canoe on their shoulders, reminded me of Navy Seals doing the same thing with their semi-rigid inflatables.
The more things change, the more things stay the same.
Very respectfully,
R.
In south stockton off on highway 99, there is a big mound and I always wondered if the area was onced a home to the indigenous. I always wonder what is under it.
Haven't watched the whole video yet, so before I forget, just wanted to point out the East Bay Rock Walls, or the walls at Ed Levin County Park. The origin of these man made stone walls are a mystery, dating back ~200 years. Just wanted to point out something local that's not super well known.
Blue oaks, valley oaks, coastal live oaks, canyon live oaks, interior live oaks, oracle oaks, jolan oaks, black oaks, Oregon white oaks, red oaks, northern pin oaks, scrub oaks, Holly oaks, and tannoaks(which aren't true oaks) are some of the oak species I've seen
17:10 what kind of acorns did they use to make that guy's shampoo?
Actually they used clay to shampoo their hair
I think more is missing here. I have found a lot of stone point Productions areas along highway 395 in the Southern end of the sierras.
Piute possibly Serrano/tataviam … 395 is built on old trade routes
monterey has some sights too from the native americans. they ate fresh fish from the bay and lived among the deer, in front of the defense language institute DLI
0:19 I just recognized the name Chumash from GTA 5, it was supposed to be Los Santos' version of Malibu
Tataviam hills also !
Some of the coolest things are in California people. I was so lucky to get to live and camp all over for 4 years.
Central coast mentioned 💪
Get up to date.. there have been items found on the Santa Barbara Channel Islands dating back 30,000 years. Fact
You can come across several acorn pits on hiking trails just 15 minutes from downtown San Diego. Acorns are rich in unsaturated fatty acids and fiber, vitamin E, chlorophylls, carotenoids, phenolic compounds, and antioxidant properties. It is also a natural ingredient for gluten free bread. Source: National Library of Medicine (US gov)
Giants on Catalina island.
Was this narrated by Mr. Van Driessen?
Love the video! Side note: Tulare is pronounced Tuh-lair-ee
Clovis first has been debunked and superceded. Otherwuse, great video!
As a Pomo, I'm glad California natives are getting some attention
Many tools found here on the beach of Cayucos are flaked into the shape of Morro Rock.
I know what beach your talkin about. Out by the pier
I have a large copy of that first picture on my wall. Thrift shop buy.
Coastal Natives most certainly hunted on the water for whales and many other animals, not just beached whales
very interesting video but there a couple of things that you might not know the acorn processing you missed a couple steps like how did the boil water then what pots did the pour it into and they would crack,bust,boil,grind,roast,then ground into flour. the grinding rock site in pioneer Ca is a good place to find out all the steps there thousands of grinding rocks holes in the bed rock there for boiling acorns and the natives were masters of where they lived for example they only let oak trees grow on steep hills so when the acorns fell they would fall then roll to the bottom of the hill to be gathered all at ounce so they didnt have to go up the hills to get the acorns and so so much more and they didnt need pottery where there were trees and stone they had to show they were gods that can do anything nature can do but better like make stone ....like pottery
At least they didn't have a Newsome 😮
We're not as lucky .
They had a Peter Burnett as Governor who had an extermination order on Indigenous peoples here!
I think they had Pelosi, though. She's prehistoric
This video is fascinating but I hope no one plays a drinking game based on the number of times mortar and pestle is mentioned 😅
You should do a collab with Ancient Americas
i love this. califas 🇲🇽🇺🇸
also we pronounce tulare like two-larry lol
Curious, I’ve heard that there were no major wars between California tribes. Is that true?
There are also shell middens in the Pismo Dunes. Gee, I wonder what they were eating there?
Pismo clams...?
Pismu is Chumash for clam which where it gets the name
Anyone have any resources/links to Indigenous people of the americas teaching their own culture in their own words? thank you!
Great content … more focus on proper pronunciation of tribal and place names would be good in the future.
The “Central Valley” is really named the Great Valley (of California), but it’s ok, many now follow your usage.
It’s certainly not known for its fun haha. I grew up in bako and it was boring. Been living in LA for 15 years and it’s much better