Roof beams were also supported in notches at the top of end wall boards. Usually there were two, allowing for three pitched-roof sections. Roof planks were laid between the beams and the massive side beams and overlapped, to prevent leaks. The end walls were shaped, and the two roof beams were placed, so that the central roof would have a shallow pitch to it and shed water effectively. Roof boards in this central roof could be moved apart in good weather to allow for lighting and to allow smoke to escape. In fact, racks were usually hung from the roof inside the house and this provided a convenient way to smoke fish.

Entrance to the plank house was through a round hole, approximately 30 inches, at ground level and usually near the corner of the house. There might be a porch made of smooth rocks outside this doorway; sometimes the porch extended the width of the house. In the center of the house interior was a subterranean living space, about 14 feet square and perhaps 4 feet deep. The sides of this cavity were lined with retaining boards and access was up-and-down a ladder made of a notched log. Basic furnishings here included a fire pit and, usually, some small log stools. A house was made comfortable by employing mats and furs. The ground-level space all the way around the exterior walls was used for storage, and this could be partitioned off by hanging mats. The doorway itself could be closed with a wooden plate or with a skin. (Stewart, 1984; and Nabokov and Easton, 1989)

These plank houses provided warmth and shelter from the heavy rains and cold of the northwestern coast. Both redwood and cedar are long-lasting so the houses not only lasted through one person's lifetime but were passed on through a family's lineage. Each house acquired a name and a history. Incidentally, one can still see some examples of these houses in the Hupa reservation and also at Patrick's Point State Park, in Yurok territory.

Pit houses in California were similar to those traditionally built in the Great Basin and the Southwest. Usually starting in the late spring, when the ground was still soft, an excavation was begun. The location would usually be some place near to flowing water but well above in order to avoid flooding or washout. The depth of the excavation was variable but might average about five feet, though deeper houses were by no means unknown. The pit could be ten to fifteen, or even twenty, feet in diameter and the shape could be circular or oval. Various lengths of timber were used to construct an interior framework. This would usually include at least one central pole (often considered sacred to some degree and called the "spirit pole") and several ceiling beams. Larger pits included many short timbers packed along the edge of the excavation and acting as a retaining wall. Smaller branches and sticks were eventually added to the superstructure to provide a reasonably solid base of support; and finally a layer of around four inches of soil was packed over the whole, perhaps superficially capped with a layer of clay. Bark could be laid over the earthen cap in order to retard erosion.

Most pit houses were entered through the ceiling smoke hole on a ladder (often simply a notched log that protruded through. Many pit houses included a shallow side vent. This was primarily for ventilation but it could be used for access. A pit house could be a single family dwelling or it could be fifty to sixty feet in diameter and provide space for a village's ceremonial activities. Dance houses, or round house, of great size were built and these included painted central poles and large drums made of hollowed-out logs or huge planks laid out over shallow holes.

Significant portions of the state did not provide an ample supply of timber, however, and indigenous people within these areas were forced to employ smaller trees and brush as their principal building material. This region included all of Southern California, much of the coastline, and the Central Valley, especially the San Joaquin Valley. Brush houses were made from a framework of branches that were cut from small trees, fitted into the ground in a circle or oval, bent over to form an overlapping dome, and lashed together, making a sturdy framework. This structure could be covered with a wide variety of reeds or leaves available in the immediate locale, including tules near inland marshes or creeks and fan-palm leaves in the desert. The ground could be excavated a small amount or simply scraped clean and smooth; usually, the framework was given additional stability by piling rocks all the way around its perimeter. Provision was always made for a fire circle, inside, and a smoke hole above. Various kinds of doors were hung from the framework to provide further shelter and insulation. While these houses provided a good shelter in the beginning, they were far more perishable than other houses and could even be consumed by fire. The outer brush work was usually renewed annually.

In some regions, a more substantial framework was made by providing a central longitudinal beam to which the side-saplings could be arched and lashed, making a long oval. Forty-foot oval houses with five resident families were reported among the Eastern Pomo, for instance. In desert Southern California, some people built frame houses that were rectangular and had flat roofs and, often, one open side. Basic ramadas could be constructed on the same principle, with merely the roof, and provided shade for work areas or summertime habitation. In a few areas, huge ramadas were fashioned over a collection of brush-dome houses lined up in a row. An interesting variation was to weave tules or other materials into mats, first, and then secure the mats to the sapling framework. In the case of the Yokuts, this lead to construction of frameworks that were flat-sided rather than round, yielding pyramid-shaped houses. In all cases, the principle of construction was the same --- a framework of saplings and branches, lashed together and covered with interwoven reeds or leaves.

Beyond individual housing, at least three other structures were commonly constructed by most California Indians. Foremost was the sweatlodge. This was essentially a house in which the dry heat of a fire could be intensified and in which people might sit, cleansing themselves, prior to rushing outside for a plunge into a fresh-water source. While the predominant culture of the sweatlodge was male, there were tribes in which both male and female took part (separately). Also, the sweatlodge was usually a place for social gathering of men --- to smoke, discuss hunting/fishing, and engage in crafts as well as to seek spiritual purification. The lodge itself was usually made in the same fashion as local housing, but it was both smaller and lower. Extra provisions had to be taken to keep heat inside.

The second most common non-housing construction was the granary. The basic unit was a large wicker-like cylinder made from numerous branches that were intertwined in concentric circles. This might be fashioned around long supporting poles or on top of a solid platform. The granary was often lined with herbal materials that repelled insects and it was always provided with a cap that would deflect rain. Sturdy construction and placement, on poles or platformed on a roof, made access to rodents or larger animals difficult. Such granaries were commonly used for storing acorns and mesquite beans. Seeds and pine nuts were stored in baskets or, in the south, in pottery jars.

Finally, most villages included some structure designed for larger social gatherings or ritual celebrations. In the Central Valley and Southern California, this was often merely a large ramada or ceremonial area enclosed by a brush wall, as a wind screen. In other parts of the state, a much larger building of local design would be constructed; perhaps the chief, or other principal, would occupy this building. The most spectacular examples of this custom were the great Round Houses of the northern foothill region, a few of which remain today.

Having built their houses, California Indians were little inclined toward building furniture. Those of the northwestern coast built small stools; and the Chumash constructed raised bedframes. But the commonest treatment of household interiors was simply to provide mats to cover the ground, mats or skins to line the inner walls or partition space, and skins or furs to provide comfortable sitting or sleeping.

Clothing and Costuming

California, then as now, was a clothing-optional state. Men frequently went nude or wore a minimal loin cloth. Women went fully nude much less commonly and usually wore a more substantial "apron" or "skirt," which was more nearly a loin-cloth flap than what we would call a skirt. In the winter months, Indians who faced a harsh winter climate wore cloaks, pants, and shoes. They fashioned these mainly from skins and furs. Basketry caps were common throughout the state, especially for women; while they provided shade from the sun, they also served the specific function of protecting the forehead when carrying a burden basket equipped with a head strap.

In both the Great Basin and parts of eastern California rabbit skins were used to make a very ample blanket or cloak. The skins were cured and dried, first, and then were cut into long strips, usually by cutting into concentric circles the way one would remove an apple peel. The long strips were twisted and then woven together on a primitive "loom" until a suitably sized blanket was produced. These were traded westward into the remainder of the state in exchange, especially, for shells and acorns.

A variety of ornaments were worn and these most commonly included earrings, nose-rings, and necklaces. These were made from pieces of shell, wood, or bone; they were decorated with carvings, etch marks, pigments, and feathers. Women wore tatoos on their chins, usually a series of roughly parallel vertical lines of diverse breadth and color, acting as codes to tribes, moieties, lineage, etc.

Ceremonial clothing was often quite elaborate but was usually owned by small numbers of individuals and differed widely in character throughout the State. These included primarily headdresses but also included shawls, belts, and skirts. Feathers were the chief component of these items; and California Natives wove a multitude of diversely shaped and colored feathers into headdresses that have the appearance and beauty of floral displays. In the northwestern coastal region, daily clothing came closer to the ceremonial clothing being described, especially among well to do women, though the variety of feathers was replaced by a stunning variety of sea shells. Women of the southern coast usually wore a more substantial skirt of grasses.

Utilities: Hunting and Fishing

Let us turn now to some of the implements that Californians made in order to provide for themselves. Hunting and fishing implements were crafted out of wood, cordage, stone, bone, and shell materials. Perhaps nothing was more important than the bow and arrow. California Indians made two kinds of bow and these varied in length from one and one half feet to almost four feet, the extremely short ones being primarily for hunting in restricted areas such as caves and brushy terrain.

The simple bow, also called the self-bow or the self-backed bow, was made from a single piece of wood carved from the inner core of a branch using a sharp obsidian blade, scrapers, and "sanding tools" such as rough stone surfaces. A stronger bow was made by starting in the same way and then adding layers of pulverized sinew (usually from a deer's leg) to the back. The sinew was chewed, mixed with a "glue" (often made from boiled salmon heads and skin), and applied. Great care was taken to provide a smooth, uniform, and uncracked layer. Sinew-backed bows were usually strung with sinew (usually the sinew from a deer's backbone); while self-bows were strung with either sinew or cordage. A buckskin wrap at the hand grip was not uncommon and a fir wrap on the sinew string to prevent "twanging" was also not uncommon. Some sinew-backed bows were made in the "re-curved," or "reflexed," style so that the ends of the un-strung bow curved forward. These were especially common among the Sierra Miwok and the Costanoan, living near Monterrey Bay. The Sierra Miwok also seem to have invented a unique sinew wrap around the bow's ends which allowed stringing to the sinew wrap rather than to more traditional notches in the bow's ends. The sinew hooks were evidently of great strength.

While bows had to be made from whatever woods were available, yew was preferred and would be imported by trade where possible. Next to yew, juniper was probably the most widely used, though incense cedar was also commonly used. Hazel, laurel, dogwood, mahagony, and oak are also mentioned as workable materials. Yew was common in Northern California but uncommon south of Monterrey. Incense cedar prevailed along the Sierra foothills. Juniper was best in the South and east of the Sierra. Sinew backing predominated in Northern California and is mentioned across the state. The self-backed bow was much less known in the north and was more common in the South. Bows were usually decorated with pigments.

Arrows were made from various straight lengths of reed, cane, rosewood, serviceberry, elder, buckeye, wild currant, or willow. They were straightened further by treatment with heated grooved rocks (often steatite) or wooden presses. Arrows were either simple or compound. A compound arrow consisted of a projectile shaft of light reed into which a shorter hardwood fore-shaft (perhaps made of greesewood) was inserted. Both simple and compound arrows could use either a fire-hardened wood point or a stone point. Hardened wood was used for small game (rodents or fish) and stone was used for larger game (birds and mammals) and warfare. The tail of an arrow was virtually always feathered with three three-inch lengths of split hawk feathers, sinew-bound to the shaft in front and in back. Sinew was usually wrapped around the shaft at the point of compounding with a fore-shaft whether or not a fore-shaft was actually used. Sinew was also used to bind the stone point and held it hard enough that the point itself would break before the sinew binding. Arrows were decorated with rings of pigment, which served well for identification. Virtually all California Indians held the bow in a horizontal or diagonal plane in order to shoot their arrows with maximum accuracy; this contrasts with the vertical plane position seen commonly today and used traditionally by Europeans.

Stone arrow points were primarily made from obsidian but were also made from flint, chert, jaspar, and even quartz. Indians stored large chunks of obsidian and hammered off large "blanks" when needed. These blanks were struck with a stone mallet successively until the rough form of an arrow-point was obtained by eliminating large obsidian flakes. As manufacture proceeded, progressively smaller flakes were removed from the point, all the way around, by "pressure flaking," removing very small conchoidal fractures along the edge until arriving at a satisfactory sharp serrated point. In order to do this fine work, the potential point was held firmly in a deer skin sheath and pressured with a hardened deer antler or bone tool.

The same basic technique was used to fashion points of all sizes, including larger spear tips and knife blades. Blanks that went bad in this process often made good scrapers, having at least one good side of sharp fractures. Knife blades and scrapers were essential to cleaning killed game and fish and processing mammal hides. Since proficiency in blade production was expected of men, some men manufactured "ceremonial blades" that demonstrated their ability to do fine work with obsidian. These were very large obsidian blades (often more than a foot in length), finely shaped, and useful only for ceremonial occasions. Hunting tools beyond the bow, arrow, knife, and scraper included wooden throwing sticks (similar to boomerangs), various traps and snares, decoys and costumes. While usually made from a bent length of wood and occasionally flatish, the throwing stick did not return, or cycle, like a boomerang. Cordage snares were left along small-animal trails and "loaded" by bending a short branch over so that it would be triggered by the animal's passage. Waterfowl decoys were made out of tules or wood. And they created deer-head masks to wear when sneaking through brush to gain a better vantage point for killing deer.

Hunting weapons were rarely capable of long-range accuracy; thus, stalking and lying in wait, at well picked locations, were necessary to hunting success. While birds were occasionally shot with arrows, using fine bird tips, they were usually taken in traps or nets. Waterfowl, for instance, could be decoyed into a narrow stretch of marsh in which a net had been hidden under water; this net could be sprung upwards as the waterfowl were scared into flight from the opposite side.

In all cases, Indians possessed extremely detailed knowledge of bird and animal habits and used this knowledge to their advantage in stalking game. They could lie in wait along paths that animals habitually used to access water or feed. They could lure animals or birds with natural sounding calls. Equipped with deer-head masks, they could actually walk into a group of brousing deer. Antelope could often be decoyed with brightly colored, flagged poles so that they could be shot when they came close.

Indians also engaged in cooperative hunts. Beginning in a wide ring, the worked their way inward, herding ground birds, like quail, and small mammals, like rabbits, into brushy areas where nets had been hung across apparent avenues of escape. Women and children often tended the nets in order to dispatch the trapped game.

Three different varieties of fishing were pursued throughout the state as determined by the bodies of water available --- the riverways, the lakes and bays, and the ocean. Each of these determined a different fishing technology, and even these could be broken down into smaller divisions. River fishing, for instance, varied depending on the size of the drainage. In creeks, Indians used wicker-basketry fish traps made from small branches of willow that were immersed and held in place in a narrow passage. The basket had a funnel entry through which the fish passed, while moving upstream, and a large chamber in which the trapped fish could remain until collected. Egress downstream through the narrow funnel entry was difficult, if not impossible.

In larger rivers, a fish dam, or weir, could be used. The construction of the dam across the Trinity River was an annual event among the Hupa and provided almost their entire staple requirement for the year. The fish dam was constructed from sturdy logs and poles that were cut into the river bottom all the way across and, then, interwoven with smaller poles and branches to provide a substantial barrier or waterfall. People could walk across the top of the damn and assume stations on it. Thus, the entire river could be fished either with spears, harpoons, or hand-held nets.

Cordage nets were manufactured and used along lake shores, in rivers, and in the ocean. Virtually all were gill nets, intended to trap the fish attempting to swim through by catching the gills when the fish attempted to back out. A special net was used along the northwestern coast and in the rivers of northern California. This net was fastened to a triangular frame and was dipped into the surf. As the surf receded, the frame was lifted up and the small fish were accumulated in the long sock-like extension of the net. In this way, the net could be dipped repetitively until the weight of fish was too great. One can see this same net being used by modern fishermen along the northwest coast even today. A similar net was used to scoop salmon or steelhead out of rivers.

Fish spears were used in lakes and in rivers. There were two basic designs of spears. In one case, a long pole was equipped with two or three sharpened spear points which were separated by a wedge and tied tight. This was used to spear a fish and land it directly. In the other case, more like a harpoon, the pole was fitted with a fore-shaft to which a cordage line was attached. the spear was jabbed into the fish; the fish's motion dislodged the foreshaft; and the fish was retrieved by pulling in the cordage.

Fishing lines were used in lakes and in the ocean, primarily. Fish hooks were fashioned from bone and (primarily) shells. The Chumash made beautiful fish hooks from abilone shells, complete with drilled holes for the fish line; they also made abalone-shell flashers to go on the same lines and to attract the fish's attention.

Digging and harvesting tools were made with simplicity and with function in mind. Digging sticks were made from hardwoods and were sharpened. The Chumash manufactured quite elegant steatite rings, doughnut shaped, which were added to the sticks to weight them and give the individual more power in cutting through rough ground. Acorns might be knocked down by tapping branches with long sticks, but the pine nut harvesting stick was considerably more sophisticated in design, being notched at the end, with a short hook, so that cones could be pulled loose from a distance of several feet.

Utilities: Household

Utensils included bowls, dippers, and spoons. While most bowls were basketry, some bowls made of shells (abalone), gourd, wood, and stone (steatite) are known. Dippers were made of gourd or wood. Spoons were made from shells (mussell) and from wood. Indians of the northwest coastal region carved particularly elegant spoons.

Cordage has been mentioned several times in connection with stringing bows and making nets or carrying sacks; cordage was also used in making women's clothing, sandals, and snowshoes. Cordage was necessary as a construction material in building the frames of brush houses or ramadas or granaries. The Chumash also used cordage to lash together the redwood planks of their canoes, or tomols, prior to application of asphaltum caulking. Cordage had to be manufactured from plant materials and resources varied throughout the state.

Making cordage required harvesting the stems or stalks of some plants that possessed strong fiberous material. These were usually beaten until the fibers could easily be separated. Finally, the cordage itself was formed by rolling the fibers back-and-forth across the worker's thigh. Most Indians used two fibers, twisted together in this way. Californians may have used a primitive version of a spinning wheel, stone spindle whorls, which could be rotated easily while the fibers were twisted as they were taken up by the spindle. In the southern deserts, the agave was commonly used for making cordage; agave was highly valued since it was also a highly nutritious food plant. In other parts of the state, a plant called dogbane (nicknamed "Indian Hemp" by Anglo-Europeans) was preferred. Wild iris was commonly used along the north coast and milkweed was used in the non-desert south. The mojave yucca was also used in the desert areas, and nettles were used in central and northern parts. (Heizer/Elsasser, 1980; 137-9)

Just as every competent man was expected to know how to fashion correctly sized sharp arrow points and to pursue game with skill, every woman was expected to know how to weave a wide variety of baskets for domestic use and to gather plant materials for food, medicine, and craft use. Since most California Indians did not make pottery, the basket was practically the universal household appliance. There were numerous functions for baskets, from cooking and eating to gathering and child care, each requiring a specific form of design and specific materials. For these designs there were essentially three modes of basket construction --- wicker, twining, and coiling.

Wicker baskets were made from small flexible branches of brush materials, like willow, and were suitable for rough tasks where strength was important. Wicker work is a simple over-and-under weave with the width of spacing determined by the object's function. Indians made wicker traps for fish and birds. They commonly used wicker trays of different fineness for winnowing nuts, grains, and seeds. Conical wicker baskets were carried on their backs as burden baskets, using slung with a padded band that went across the forehead. And baby frames were most commonly made from wicker work, though styles differed widely from one area to another. Most granaries were based on a wicker cylinder, though the rest varied considerably according to geographical area and purpose.

The most spectacular basketry of California was twined or coiled and was made with such incredible precision and finish that baskets could hold water and, indeed, could be used for cooking. Materials used for these baskets were small stems of brush, such as hazel and willow, strips of bark from brush, ferns, and grasses, and roots from both ferns and trees. These baskets were made in specific shapes and sizes for use as hats, eating bowls, cooking pots, storage jars, water jugs, burden carriers, and trays. The basket maker always used different materials, or dyed materials, to form a design of some kind in the finished product. The design might be an abstract symbol, similar to features left in rock art, or a relatively realistic picture of an animal. Other materials, such as feathers or shells, might be added for further decoration. Just as the creation of ceremonial blades tested an individual's expertise, basket makers of the northwest (especially the Pomo) made "presentation baskets" and "memorial trays" that were small and highly decorated examples of basketry skill. In the late Nineteenth Century, with the encouragement of several serious collector/merchants, Indian women found a good source of income in making baskets for sale; however, basketry design, in both shapes and ornamentation, moved quickly to reflect the influence of Anglo tastes. Even in the very early historic period, missionized Indians produced baskets that incorporated Christian symbols and emblems of the Spanish monarchy.

Coiling and twining work in opposite directions and produce baskets that are easily identified on sight. Using traditional weaving terms --- the warp and the weft --- we can say that the two differ because the warp passes in opposite directions. The warp is the strong foundation of the weaving; the weft is "sewn" in-and-out and between the warps. In the twining technique the warp is arranged to ascend the sides of the bowl vertically; in the coiling technique the warp wraps around the bowl horizontally. Since one mainly sees the sewn wefts, another way to view the difference is that the stitches run horizontally in a twined basket and vertically in a coiled basket.

Starting a twined basket is substantially more difficult than starting a coiled basket, which simply grows out of one warp by coiling around itself in concentric spirals. To start a twined basket, the artist begins by holding two sticks of warp together facing opposite directions and overlapping 2-3 inches. Two more sticks can be added parallel and opposed; then, sewing begins, fastening these sticks together by sewing strands of weft in-and-out between the sticks and in the middle of the overlapping area. When a suitable number of warp sticks have been sewn together going in one direction, the artist begins to add warp sticks to the overlapping area at right angles. And when a suitable foundation has been established in the four directions, more warp sticks can be added at the corners, facing outward at forty-five degree angles. The end result of this process is a twining "start" which looks like a mass of sticks protruding in all directions and radiating out of a circular pattern of sewn wefts, about the size of a silver dollar. The warp is commonly made from hazel sticks, and the primary weft is usually conifer root. All materials are soaked in warm water prior to working. The outer circumference of the "start" will usually have a few rows of design sewn in and this is achieved in several ways, to be described.

As work on a basket proceeds, its shape is determined by how rapidly the warp sticks are brought upward by pulling them in close or how slowly, by adding more warps in open spaces. With the same "start" an artist could make a cap or mush bowl, only six inches in diameter, or a burden basket, twenty inches in diameter. The fineness of the weave will depend on materials and the care with which the artist keeps the woven structure packed close. Indian women were quite able, using twining, to make bowls or jugs that could hold water.

As weaving proceeded, the artist formulated a design pattern for the overall basket. Depending upon the techniques used to create the design, it might be visible inside and outside or merely on the outside surface. Designs were entirely the product of the weave; if the color of a weft strand was changed by dyeing, this was accomplished prior to use. The artist had to possess an excellent sense of how the weaving around a specific number of warps was to be divided between different materials, or overlays, and how this division should be changed for each row sewn so that the desired design would be established in the basket's surface.

The actual sewing of weft strands can take several forms that will contribute to the ornamental design as well as to the strength and fineness of the basket surface. The simple twining technique is achieved with two strands of weft. One starts from behind and one from in front of a given warp; then, the front weft wraps behind the next warp and the behind weft wraps in front of the next warp. As sewing proceeds, the weft strands are pushed down tightly against each other. A design can be achieved in simple twining by either substituting a colored weft strand for one of the two or overlaying a colored strip on one weft strand. In the former, the color will alternate inside-and-outside; however, with a simple overlay, the color will only show outside unless the overlayed strands are twisted when they pass behind the warp.

Three-strand twining always works with two weft strands in front and one behind. The outer-most strand and the inside strand wrap the very next warp, while the second strand in the front moves straight across the next warp to become the outer-most strand. In this way, one of the two wefts in front is always binding across a pair of warps while one is always wrapping a single warp tightly. The appearance of the sewn weft is a more strongly diagonal and narrower stitch. Three-stranded twining is usually used in making the "start" of a basket and provides a different opportunity for design by substituting or overlaying colored strands.

Lattice twining is a variation of three-strand twining in which one strand simply travels along always inside the warps and is bound to the warps by being included in the simple twined wraps of the other two strands. The technique provides extra strength where needed. Yet another style of twining is called twilling. This is a simple twining stitch, using two strands, but the stitch always passes over, or wraps, two warps. As the stitch ascends to the next row, the doubling interlocks in the same way as a bricklayer places bricks in a wall.

The coiling technique, as mentioned above, works with horizontal warps which simply coil upward in a concentric spiral. The structure is secured by sewing each new round of coil to the last by using weft strands. Unlike weft strands in a twined basket, where they proceed around the basket and involve all the warps, the weft strands of a coiled basket simply pass back-and-forth continually binding two warp coils together. Since the angle of attachment of the second coil to the first is entirely arbitrary, this is how the basket is shaped. The most typical coiled basket is a perfect bowl shape that ascends outward from the base, curves gracefully through the side, and finishes in a rim that turns slightly inward.

The warps of a coiled basket are either individual sticks, three sticks, or a small bunch of grass. The easiest technique to imagine is coiling of a single stick with weft strands that sew non-interlockingly. In this technique the weft strand is brought under the warp coil beneath and up above the new warp coil on top. In the next round, the weft goes down beneath the lower warp in between stitches and then up across the top. Thus, the stitches all pass over warps independently of each other. When the sewing is done interlockingly, the weft moves down to the lower warp coil and moves through the stitch already around that coil before passing upward. Here, the stitches all interlock with each other in binding the warps.

When coiling is done with three warp sticks, the principle of interlocking and non-interlocking stitching remains, but the stitching does not go all the way around the lower warp coil. The weft moves over the new warp bundle, above, and passes through the warp bundle below, wrapping around only the top stick of the three. Since the weft strand does not pass vertically across the full outside of the warp bundles but is secured to the top of the lower bundle, the effect of this technique is to give a more pronounced coiled pattern to the basket's side walls. There is little difference in handling a warp of grass bundled except that it leads to a much larger and softer coil.
In coiling a basket, it is necessary to separate the warps with an awl to provide room for the weft to pass through. Bone awls were used traditionally; and the archaeological threshhold of bone awls gives us some clues about the origins of basketry in pre-historic times. Since there is no necessary archaeological residue of twining, there is no way to judge the relative beginings of twining and coiling. What does seem reasonably clear is that basketry preceded pottery throughout North America.

While hazel, willow, and conifer root constituted the basic basketweaving materials, a wide variety of other materials were collected to add color, either by substitution or overlaying. Colors could be woven into the basket as simple rings of solid or alternating stitches; however, the artist usually divided the basket space into complex color designs. Covering these many designs is really well outside the scope of the present work; furthermore, there is no universal picture. Each group of basketmakers utilized traditional sets of design patterns and made only small inventions for variation or embellishment. Some abstract patterns can be seen in rock art as well; other patterns are more contemporary and realistic. While most basket designs are symmetrical and calculated to be balanced around the basket, unsymmetrical realistic designs in the shape of animals or other objects are not entirely unknown. For instance, some very fine Cahuilla baskets use rattlesnakes or eagles as the basic design center.

Grinding equipment was essential since virtually all grains and nuts required grinding at some point in the process of food preparation. While the stone mano-and-metate combination had a long history of use in the Southwest, its flat (metate) surface was most useful for cracking and grinding a softer grain like corn. The metate, when found in California, was most common in the Great Basin regions and the South. Californians needed to process acorns which were very hard and needed to be pounded until pulverized. For this purpose, a stone mortar-and-pestle was much more useful. In the foothill areas where granite outcroppings were common, mortars were often made in bedrock near a habitation site; these can be seen even today. In other areas, a large slab of granite or other stone was taken to camp and ground until it yielded a good depression. Control of scattering fragments could be enhanced by sealing a basketry hopper around the depression. Generally, women pounded dried acorn meats in this depression until small enough to grind into a smooth powder. Grinding was a constant part of daily activity so repeated use of mortars, even in bedrock locations, left large depressions in solid rock --- ocassionally more than six inches wide and up to a foot in depth.

In Southern California wooden stumps were used as a mortar with either wooden or stone pestles. The wooden mortar was especially useful for processing mesquite beans, a staple in the South, and was used, in the early summer, to create an aqueous bean mash that was refreshing and may even have fermented somewhat.

Storage equipment was essential to virtually all California economies since all had progressed beyond the seasonal rounds of archaic people and relied on staple foods that had to be harvested, processed, and stored for most of the year. Large wicker granaries were used to store acorns and mesquite beans, as described earlier. Pine nuts and seeds, as well as various vegetable materials, were stored in baskets. Dried or smoked fish or meats were generally hung in a cache out of reach of animals. In the desert areas of the South, quantities of foodstuffs and water were often hidden in caves in large pottery storage jugs. Water could be stored in baskets for short periods of time and baskets treated internally with asphaltum could store water indefinitely.

It is theorized that pottery developed after basketry throughout North America. A transition stage may have been clay lined basketry trays that were used for parching seeds and nuts. The Indians may have noticed the hardening effect on clay after many heatings with the parching coals. At any rate, even in the Southwest, well known for their maginificent clay pottery, the earliest cultures were definitely solely basketmakers. (James, 19__; ---) Pottery making did not spread into the bulk of California; it was found in the Southern California deserts only, where there were strong influences from the Great Basin and Southwest. Even in Southern California, pottery making had reached only a very simple level with little effort given to design or ornamentation. Pottery jugs for storage of water and foods are undoubtedly the objects of greatest importance to these people.

Steatite (soapstone) was quarried by the Gabrielino on Catalina Island and was traded outward into the state. Steatite objects can be found throughout, demonstrating the extent of trade. Large pieces of steatite, available in the South, were carved into jugs, bowls, and platters all of which were cabale of direct heating in the fire. Thus, steatite, like pottery, was the one option to the traditional cooking basket. Steatite was also carved into smaller useful objects such as the doughnut-shaped digging weights and ring-shaped weights for fishing nets. It could be fashioned into narrow conical shaped tubes which could be drilled to make a pipe. Some steatite pipes were carved into quite exotic shapes, such as a Chumash pipe in the form of a great fish. Last, but clearly far from least, steatite was carved into fetishes of a wide variety, especially sea creatures like orcas and pelicans.

Asphaltum and other minerals were recognized as valuable for specific uses and sites of occurence were noted. Indians might travel great distances, on occasion, to secure a supply of something like this; or they might trade for it. Asphaltum, for instance, is a natural eruption of oil, or tar, and occurs commonly along the coastline in Chumash territory. It was an excellent bonding and sealing material. Salt was important in the Indian diet as well as for certain food preparations, and it was not uniformly availabe throughout the state. Also, various minerals were considered valuable as pigments.

While many plants were gathered for food, cordage, and basketry, many others were gathered for preparation of dyes and medicines. Very few plants in the native's environment escaped being valued for something, and most plants had multiple medicinal values.

It should be clear, in this discussion, that Native Californians had an extremely elaborate material culture and that it depended upon utilization of the majority of animal, vegetable, and mineral species found in their environments. Continuation of this culture required the safe passage of detailed knowledge from the old to the young, and this occured within the social framework or family or village in the context of normal daily activities. But the treatment of growing children, especially by the time of their initiation into adult society, always made it clear that acquisition of knowledge and development of specific skills was essential to successful and happy membership in the community. A young woman had to acquire skills at basketmaking, gathering, cooking, and child rearing; a young man had to become a skillful hunter or fisher and needed to make many of the tools necessary for these activities.

Trade and Economic Relations

We shall conclude this introductory discussion by considering tribal economies and, in particular, how they related to each other through trade. While it is correct to view California as a very diverse collection of cultures well fitted to highly specific ecological niches, it would be quite wrong to convey the impression that these tribes and tribelets were completely isolated from each other and entirely independent of each others resources. California economies all involved trade with other groups and trade relations were often far-reaching if not extensive and well organized.

The evidence for trade comes from three sources --- archaeological collections of physical materials hundreds of miles from their sources, ethnographic reports of trading customs and tradable items, and records of individual knowledge of trade routes well beyond tribal boundaries. A list of ethnographically recorded trade items includes salt, acorns, pine nuts, fish, vegetables, mollusk meats, marine shell beads, dentalium shells, clamshell disk beads, baskets, hides and pelts, pigments, obsidian, bows, and many other materials. (Davis, 1961) Two of the most striking examples are the widespread presence of clamshell disk beads that were used as money throughout the state and the equally widespread distribution of obsidian points. The natural sources of clamshells and obsidian are, of course, limited to specific regions. Another dramatic example is that fact that Indians of the northwestern coast regularly used dentalium shells as their medium of exchange, while the source of dentalium was Vancouver Island, now British Columbia.

While this physical evidence can be sorted out into trade items and trade routes, however, there is no ethnographic evidence for trade being well organized or for regular trading markets. (Heizer, HNAI, 8; 690) But if there were no well established trading routes or marketplaces, how did resources come to be so thoroughly distributed throughout the state? The answer undoubtedly lies in the complex ways in which all California tribes practiced systems of distribution and re-distribution of resources and craft items within villages, tribelets, and tribes as a normal aspect of their economic organization. This re-distribution was so important to survival that, as we will see, it was built into social organization and ritual customs.

What we can accurately call "trade" was re-distribution between tribes and beyond cultural custom. It is clear that trade occured in this legitimate sense; but the general lack of organization involved in trade may indicate that trade was a natural extension of the customary activity of intra-tribal re-distributions, happening especially at village locations near to tribal boundaries. In this "disorganized" way, each tribe carried on trade relations with its neighbors and utilized its own abundant resources to gain materials that it valued aesthetically or required for its own economy. Since tribal boundaries tended to be coincident with ecological boundaries, the difference in physical situations of tribes probably encouraged trade for certain items not available in their own ecological niches. Items coming into a tribe across such a boundary would be re-distributed naturally, that is, by habitual customs, throughout their own region; thus, through trade and re-distribution of items, materials could move far away from their original sources.

Quality handcrafted items gained considerable reputations and were desired, in trade, elsewhere. Maidu bows, for instance, were known for their fine workmanship. The Tongva quarried raw steatite which could be carved easily to make pipes, fetishes, bowls, weights, etc. Several groups of coastal Indians developed the technology of drilling and grinding clamshells into money beads of uniform size. Obsidian, salt, and various mineral pigments were widely valued. In recognition of this and in spite of the lack of any established trading organization, it seems clear that some people in pre-historic California devoted much time to carrying on trade. In areas where contact was restricted by topographic features, mountains and deserts, something more like trade routes developed just because people were forced to travel back-and-forth through the same regions. An example of this is a very clear route of communication and trade between the Yosemite Miwok and the Mono Paiute, passing over Mono Pass and through Tuolumne Meadows. Many of these Indian routes became military trails, wagon routes, and, finally, modern highways.

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