What do you know about the California Native Americans?

We’ve started to learn about the Native Americans who live in California.

We have already discovered that they are very different from most Native Americans

that we are familiar with.  The Native Americans who live here do not live in tipis

and they do not hunt buffalo.

Acorns are very important to these Native Americans along with beautiful baskets.  We’ve also learned that they eat interesting foods like grasshoppers, earthworms, and cactus, among other things.  The California Native Americans were also advanced with their system of money and/or trade using shells or acorns.  Finally, we’ve learned some interesting customs such as having to pay a person you’ve hurt and paying the bride’s parents in order to get married.

Today, we began to dive more in-depth by looking at 4 Northern Tribes:  the Pomo, the Shasta, the Hupa, and the Paiute.  Next week, we’ll continue our research on these tribes as well as to compare them to Southern California Tribes.

map from:  Society for Range Management Blog, picture from The School Bell