Prehistoric California: Boats, Shell Money, and Acorns (Prehistoric North America)
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2024-06-21に共有
Towering mountains, deserts, sprawling river and lake systems and a long coastline all rounded out by a mild climate. This is California today and was once the California that many Native Americans experienced before the arrival of Europeans in Prehistoric North America. Perhaps due to California’s vast variety of landscapes prehistoric California had an enormous amount of cultural diversity. At the time of contact with Europeans there were 100 different groups of Native Americans. Incredibly despite many of these groups living across California’s multiple different environments many of them often relied upon one primary food source to fill their bellies – the acorn. This was made possible by the abundance of acorn bearing oak trees in California. It is because of this sheer abundance of food that some researchers think that prehistoric California may have been a “Garden of Eden” where there was no need for agriculture or other developments such as pottery. This characterization may however be far from reality. Though there indeed was an absence of agriculture and pottery, it was extremely labor intensive to turn acorns into food products. There also may have been frequent warfare between prehistoric Californians due to the many battered remains that have been found. The populations of the prehistoric Californian groups were large and managed by complex chiefdoms and sociopolitical organizations. Many of the economies of these groups used shell beads as currency. Trade networks were also vast and wide ranging. Prehistoric California was likely far from being a simple and carefree landscape.
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Credits:
All music from the YouTube Audio Library
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Sources:
Sutton, Mark Q. A Prehistory of North America
denniscassinelli.com/2014/02/05/great-basin-cresce…
www.thoughtco.com/crescents-prehistoric-stone-tool…
コメント (21)
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Thank you for this video! No one ever talks about California native americans.
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The catalina island shell mixer.
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As a Californian I appreciate this video 😊
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As a Miwuk that lives in California and grew up in near Yosemite. I appreciate this video. You should look into the Mariposa war.
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My dad said that when they first got here to Northern California from Texas in the mid 60’s. That when they would work the fields with the tractors that they would uncover those rocks they would use to grind the grains
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I’m Tataviam and Chumash from LA … thanks for shedding some light on the long history this land and our people .
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No one mentions the millions of birds that show up every fall in the central valley. They must have been a major food source.
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California was so rich in acorns, game, and fish that this is one of the few places in the world where hunter gatherers lived in permanent villages. There was no need to farm. And the only domesticated animals were dogs.
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The oak tree at the beginning looks like it may have been coppiced when much smaller. Recommended book: "Tending the Wild", by Kat Anderson. Native people were active landscape shapers and managers for millennia. "There was no need for agriculture". The "agriculture" was there, just dispersed.
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You are mistaken, Tulare lake is gone, they drained it to make farmland. Occasionally comes back if theres a very wet winter.
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Mammoth uncovered in Arroyo Grande. Dated 40,000 years ago. Has cut marks on it. I’ve held the femur with the cuts on it. Can clearly see them. It’s incredible, I have no idea why the find has not been shared.
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I was hoping this film would mention that the San Francisco Bay waters receded and rose about 7 times over the past 100,000 years. Until about 20,000 years ago, the Bay was a vast river valley with marshes, going all the way out to the Farallon Islands. I was hoping the narrator would talk about who lived there and there would be illustrations.
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I believe Clear Lake in Lake County is considered the oldest natural lake in the northwest. 480,000 years old. Stands to reason it would have been inhabited very early. Estimates are approx 11,800 years ago for the Pomo.
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One of my best friends is from the Chumash Tribe. I really enjoyed your fascinating documentary. Thank you.
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Don't forget Arlington Springs Man found on Santa Rosa Island dating back to at least 13000 years ago. Maybe older.
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I happened across a huge sight in Monterrey. I found a massive abalone pile that was unearthed by our recent heavy rains. I was taken back bye it.
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The same type mounds of shells are also found in Brazil, archaeologists there call them “Sambaquis”. It’s everywhere along the Brazilian coast.
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I've lived in California for 60 years. I had no idea there were so many native tribes. You hear about Miwok, Pomo, Mono, and Modoc. The other 96, not so much. Thank you for the video.
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There was still a huge shell mound near the shore of San Francisco Bay when my late Mom was a child. This area has been been developed and is now Shell-mound Street in Alameda.
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Anybody here ever been to Indian Meadows in northeastern California near the pit River it's a large large large meadow that housed anywhere between 50 to 300 individuals over 500 years after a rain you can walk around the field and find Arrowhead spear points you can't walk or take a step without stepping on obsidian shards all the boulders along the river have holes in the boulders for grinding acorns this is a very very special place that's why I won't tell you exactly where it is
