The Chumash made rock art in caves and on overhangs, the most abundant rock art is found in Los Padres National Forest. The Department interprets live game to include all animals, including exotics, such as wild felines, wolves, bears, monkeys, etc., not listed as domestic under Alaska. The Chumash Indians also minted their own bead money (anchum) made from the Olivella shell (also known as the Purple Olive) but only the Indians that lived on the Channel Islands specialized in making the money. Live game animals are defined as any species of bird, reptile, and mammal, including a feral domestic animal, found or introduced in the state, except domestic birds and mammals. The animals that were hunted with the spear was the great bison and woolly mammoths. The spears were popular for hunting too they were either thrown by hand or thrown from a catapult. They hunted animals such as bison, buffalo, and fish. At the time of missionaries (about the 1700s) the population was ten to twenty thousand, but the turn of the 20th century the population had dwindled to 200 descendents. The main weapon for hunting was the bow and arrow even though you had a few arrows to kill the animal. Domed houses approximately 30 feet in diameter were their shelter. Plank canoes (tomal in Chumash or cayuco in Stishni) made out of redwood or pine were the most important tool for the Chumash, because they were used for fishing, and travel between different tribes along the coast and neighboring islands. They also made spear-throwers, atl-atl, bow and arrows and fishnets. The Chumash Indians also used animals for a variety of tools, such as needles, fishhooks, and sandpaper. They hunted wildlife and marine animals including, fish, shellfish, whales, seals, sea otters, shark, sea birds, albacore, tuna, sardines, deer, wild game, grizzly and black bear, mountain lion, fox, coyote, badger, quail, pigeons, and doves. The Chumash originally did not cultivate. The Northern Chumash call themselves Stishni and are in some ways distinct from other Chumash people. Chumash Location:Ĭentral California, from Estero Bay in the north to Malibu Canyon in the south, and from Carizzo Plain in the east to the Santa Barbara Channel Islands in the west. Like us to add to our archives, please contact us. If the author of this article would like to make changes to it, or if you are the author of another article you would
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