What kind of tools did the Miwok
Miwok
The Miwok are members of four linguistically related Native American groups indigenous to what is now Northern California, who traditionally spoke one of the Miwok languages in the Utian family. The word Miwok means people in the Miwok language.
What resources did the Miwok use?
Like most California Indian groups, the Miwok relied upon acorns as a mainstay of their diet. Acorns were harvested in autumn, dried and stored in large granaries called cha'ka. These could be eight or more feet high and were made of poles interwoven with slender brush stems.
What did the Miwok use for trade?
The main trading partners of the Bay Miwok were probably the Ohlone and the Yokuts. They traded animal hides, baskets, bows and arrows, mortars and pestles for other things they needed like Ohlone mussels, abalone shells, salt, cinnabar, dried abalone, and olivella shells, and Yokut pine nuts and rabbitskin blankets.
How did the Miwok build their houses?
First they dug a round shallow hole. Next they put willow poles around the hole. Then they wove vines or tule though the willow. Finally they covered it with tule reed, leaving a hole at top for smoke to go out.
Does the Miwok tribe still exist?
Today there are about 3,500 Miwok in total.
What plants did the Miwok use?
Coast Miwok are known to have used split roots of the yellow bush lupine, which grows in sandy soil behind the dunes, and fiber from the riparian shrub, ninebark, for twine and rope.
How did the Miwok utilize deer?
The Miwok Indians took their deer hunting very seriously. Deer was one of the most important animals they hunted. A deer hunt could be conducted with a small group, or individually. When hunting individually, the deer was followed while the hunter wore a deer-head disguise.
What are the Miwok houses called?
kotchaTheir traditional houses, called "kotcha", were constructed with slabs of tule grass or redwood bark in a cone-shaped form. Miwok people are skilled at basketry.
How was the Miwok tribe organized?
Traditional Miwok society was organized into contrasting halves, or moieties, each with several lineages. The moieties controlled both kinship and politics, regulating such matters as descent, marriage, and relations with other tribes.
When did the Miwok tribe end?
In 1953, Congress passed Public Law 280, which turned over law enforcement on California reservations to state and county agencies. By 1958, the federal government "terminated" the recognition of Coast Miwok people as well as many other tribes.
Where are the Miwok people today?
Today, descendants of Ohlone and Coast Miwok peoples live throughout the Bay Area. Many are organized into distinct tribal groups. While participating in contemporary society, they are actively involved in the preservation and revitalization of their native culture.