AD 700: Chumash travel the Pacific coastline in plank canoes

At Santa Barbara Bay, Chumash ancestors make plank tomols, or canoes, from the trunks of fallen redwood trees that float south hundreds of miles on ocean currents to Chumash territory. There the Chumash split the wood into planks, sew them together using cordage made from plants, and seal the tomols with a mixture of pine pitch and sand. They paddle these canoes along the coastline, visiting villages where related tribes live.

Driftwood is only one of the important resources that the ocean supplies to the Chumash. Their diet is rich with marine mammals and shellfish. Whalebones serve as girders for the domed Chumash houses, which are large enough to shelter as many as 50 people.

Theme

Land and Water

Region

California