California Indians Essay, Research Paper

More languages were spoken in the California area than in any other area In North America. The languages they spoke were mainly of Aztec-Tanoan, Hodan, Macra-Algonguian, Penutian and Na-Dene language groups.

Tribes consisted of a few villages of extended family. Most tribes were led by chiefs (mostly men). The chiefs gave advice about hunting, gathering and fishing.

Acorns were the most important food. Women washed them and pounded them into flour. Then they cooked them and made acorn mush or bread. The women also gathered pine nuts, mesquite beans, grass seeds, cactus fruits and berries. They collected clams and other shellfish along the Pacific coast. The men were the ones that did the hunting. They hunted game like bighorn sheep, deer, elk and pronghorns. Some coastal groups hunted seals and other sea mammals. The main fish was the Salmon.

Housing varied greatly in the California area. Northern houses were made of wooden planks. Southern tribes had coned shape dwellings made of rush mats, brush or slabs of bark on frames made of tree branches. Others lived in pit houses, which were dug several feet into the ground then covered over with mud and other materials like brush and twigs.

California Indians wore little clothing due to the lack of extremely cold temperatures. Men typically wore animal skin breechcloths and the women usually wore aprons or skirts. When the rare cold weather came the men and women donned robes made of rabbit skins or feathers to keep themselves warm. California Indians often painted their bodies for ceremonies.