Chapter 14: The Cahuilla of the Southern Deserts

On the eastern sides of the San Gabriel Mountains, the San Bernardino Mountains, and the San Jacinto Mountains, lie the deserts of Southern California. To the north and higher in elevation, is the Mojave Desert; the western portion of the Mojave was the homeland of the Serrano. To the south and lower in elevation is Coachilla Valley; this was the homeland of the Cahuilla. Dividing the two was presentday Joshua Tree National Monument, a higher elevation transverse range that offered a variety of resources used in common. Because of the ecological uniqueness of these areas, the Cahuilla and Serrano are seen as distinctive California people rather than being placed with the people of the Great Basin.

The Cahuilla and Serrano both occupied the northeastern slopes of their respective mountain ranges, as well as the desert floors, and this provided some access to acorn and pine nut harvests. The staple food, however, was mesquite beans that could be harvested, in various degress of ripeness, throughout the summer. Unlike the Washo and despite the sparse provisions available in any one area of their ecological niche, the Cahuilla settled into stable villages, well representative of the Pacific Period of development. What truly defines their unique lifeway is the complex social and political organizations that provided for them, in this desert environment, and allowed them to settle into their permanent villages. To a very interesting degree, the stability of the Cahuilla was a social invention rather than a technological one.

>Origins, Relations, and Environment.

>Distinguishing Features of Material and Social Culture

>Narratives, Spiritualism, and Individuality

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