The ancient tribe called the Chumash tribe had settled in the southern coastline of California. These Chumash People was considered to be one of the most talented tribes throughout the whole America. They had their own culture, tradition, and lifestyle. They also know how to build their houses to provide them shelter. Their villages were filled with a great number of mat grass houses or hut.

Chumash People: Lifestyle

They had built it with grasses and shaped it like a dome. The Chumash builders were one of the engineers at that time. Their land area was covering up to approximately 7, 000 square miles. The central point of their lands was the Santa Barbara which was extended from the Channel Islands to Malibu up to the Paso Robles and inside the land to the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley.

The Chumash people were also great fishers. They had created their own materials in catching fishes. They were renown by making the famous planked, seagoing canoe. This plank boat or also known as Tomol was also used in trading their goods from other tribes. Chumash people were one of the few tribes who really know how to navigate the ocean. Aside from fishing, they also know how to hunt animals especially deer and harvest the plants around them.

Chumash Facts

Many anthropologists have recognized the skillful hands of the Chumash people. These anthropologists even started to collect the baskets that were made by the Chumash. It is a fact that the Chumash knows how to make really good baskets. They called it basketry.

“Bead people”, these are the words that can sometimes be referred to the Chumash tribe. Some of the Chumash people, especially those who lived in the Northern Channel Islands were known to be bead manufacturers. They had made the beads from the Olivella shells. After making many beads they then transported it and sold it to the merchants or other people of the other tribes. These manufacturing and trading of beads had affected the development of their society positively.

Herbalism was also done by the Chumash. Herbalism was defined to be the usage of herbal plants in making teas and other medicinal plants.

Chumash people were indeed artists. It can be proven by showing their rock arts in their caves. These arts depict the Chumash cosmology. Some of these paintings can be seen in the Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park.

Another part of their culture was the scorpion tree. This very old oak tree was said to be a Chumash Arborglyph since it has a carving of a six-legged creature with a headdress and two spheres. There was a paleontologist who reported the evidence that the scorpion tree really had a Chumash origin.

Chumash language

The Chumash had a language of their own. They even had their dictionary published in the world. According to the latest researches, there are still native Chumash who lives in this world and they are working on revitalizing the language of their ancestors.

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