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Exploring California’s Indigenous Culture
from Sunday Signal 082122
by Signal
NEWS FEATURE
Explore California’s Indigenous Culture
By Michele E. Buttelman
Signal Staff Writer
With traditional homelands stretching from the redwood forests in the northern reaches of the state to the desert along the Mexican border, California’s Native American lands are as diverse as the state’s more than 100 federally recognized tribes.
Visiting these historic tribal lands is a unique way to see California through the eyes of its indigenous people.
Today California has the largest Native American population of any state and, according to the 2020 U.S. Census, approximately 1.4 million Californians identify as full or partially American Indian and Alaskan Native.
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians
Coming soon to Palm Springs, the Agua Caliente is building a new cultural plaza with design details and architecture inspired by basketry, pottery and desert landscapes. The plaza will feature a 48,000-square-foot museum, that houses cultural artifacts, stories and history. The 40,000-squarefoot spa will feature the unique healing waters of the Agua Caliente Hot Mineral Spring.
Desert Oasis and Sacred Canyons
In the Coachella Valley you can visit a natural desert oasis and sacred canyons on Agua Caliente Band land. Experience secluded groves of California fan palms towering above shaded pools with sites used by native peoples centuries ago.
At Tahquitz Canyon, hikes and guided outings begin from the visitor center and lead to a 60-foot waterfall.
Cahuilla Indian Reservation
Outside the Inland Empire town of Banning, you will find the first California museum founded by Native Americans. Housed in an adobe building, the Malki Museum exhibits baskets and pottery and has an ethnobotanical garden with 50 native plants used by the Cahuilla.
Kumeyaay/Diegueño
To the south of Palm Springs, in San Diego County, the award-winning Barona Cultural Center & Museum looks at the history and living traditions of the region’s Kumeyaay/Diegueño people.
The museum’s extensive collection of artifacts dates back 10,000 years. Buy authentic shell jewelry and baskets made by local native artisans at the museum store.
Chumash, Tongva, Kitanemuk, Serrano, and Tataviam
Several tribes curate cultural centers on historic tribal lands now managed as part of national parks and forests. Los Angeles has the largest indigenous population of any U.S. city, and in an old Angeles National Forest fire station northeast of downtown in the San Gabriel Mountains, you will find the Haramokngna American Indian Cultural Center. The center tells the story of five regional tribes, the Chumash, Tongva, Kitanemuk, Serrano and Tataviam.
Tongva and Chumash
The Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles is part of the homeland for both the Tongva and Chumash peoples, and in the range’s western end at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area’s Satwiwa Native American Cultural Center, you can see the replica of a traditional Chumash dwelling known as an ‘ap, and learn about the culture from tribal guest hosts. From the center, the 1.5-mile Satwiwa Loop Trail explores an area considered sacred by the Chumash.
Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park
Located in Pine Grove, the park was created in 1968 and preserves a great outcropping of marbleized limestone with some 1,185 mortar holes, the largest collection of bedrock mortars in North America.
As a regional Indian museum, the collection at Chaw’se includes Northern, Central and Southern Miwok, Maidu, Konkow, Monache, Nisenan, Tubatulabal, Washo and Foothill Yokuts. Examples of basketry, feather regalia, jewelry, arrowpoints and other tools are on display.
The park’s name derives from “Chaw’se” the Miwok word for “grinding rock.” Upon this large rock formation, they ground acorns and other seeds into meal, slowly forming the cup-shaped depressions in the stone, which can still be seen today.
In 1985, an artifact made from volcanic rock was unearthed at an archaeological dig in Carlsbad, in
More Information
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians www.visionaguacaliente.com/culturalplaza
Coachella Valley Oasis and Three Canyons
www.indian-canyons.com/indian_canyons
Tahquitz Canyon Visitor Center
Day-hike tickets are $15/adults, $7/children 500 W. Mesquite Ave., Palm Springs 92264 www.tahquitzcanyon.com/canyon
Cahuilla Indian Reservation
Malki Museum, 11795 Malki Road, Banning 92220 malkimuseum.org
Barona Cultural Center & Museum
1095 Barona Road, Lakeside 92040 www.baronamuseum.com
Haramokngna American Indian Cultural
Center
Angeles Crest Highway and Mt. Wilson Red
Box Road, Azusa 91101 haramokngna.org
Satwiwa Native American Cultural Center
Sycamore Canyon Trailhead, Newbury Park 91320 www.nps.gov/samo/planyourvisit/satwiwanative-american-indian-culture-center.htm
Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park
14881 Pine Grove Volcano Road, Pine Grove 95665 www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=553 San Diego County.
Archaeologists found a 2.5” long by 1.5” piece of meta-volcanic rock that looked like a bear. It was fashioned by California Indians around 7,000 to 8,000 years ago.
The unique shape gave speculation that the item might have had some religious connotations to the local members of the Luiseño and Juaneño Indian Tribes.
This prehistoric artifact is called the “Chipped Stone Bear” and is the Official California State Prehistoric Artifact. It is one of the earliest examples of representational art recovered in the Western United States.
Official California State Prehistoric Artifact
The artifact can be viewed at the California Museum, 1020 O St., Sacramento 95814. www. californiamuseum.org/california-indians-0.
