California
Kashaya Pomo
By: Tyler Boling, Axel Jagoe, Tyler Smiley, and Ibraheem Murtaza
Environment - Geography
 The Kashaya Pomo lived on the coast of California
 Their land extended 30 miles from the Gualala River and a few miles south
of the Russian River
 Their lands also included many wooded lands, plains, and rivers
Environment - Climate
 The Kashaya Pomo lived in an area that was mostly oceanic and has
continental climates.
 The area in which they lived in was usually warm and received lots of rain.
Environment - Resources
 The Kashaya Pomo had a large amount of resources in their area. They had
a lot of food and building materials around them.
 Since they lived in wooded and coastal areas they used wood to make lots
of tools and shelters. The Pomo used the ocean and rivers for food and
transportation.
Shelter
 The area that the Kashaya
Pomo live in has a lot of
redwood trees that can be
used for housing.
 Therefore, the Kashaya Pomo
built cone shaped houses out of
redwood poles and slabs of
redwood bark.
 These houses were usually
single-family homes that ranged
from 8 to 15 foot in diameter.
Food
 The Kashaya Pomo lived near 2
different types of landscape
allowing them to have 3 different
food supplies.
 The Pomo ate fish, shellfish,
seaweed, seals, and sea lions from
the Pacific Ocean nearby.
 The Pomo also hunted deer, elk,
and other small animals from the
redwood forest to eat.
 Lastly, The Kashaya Pomo
gathered acorns, nuts, berries,
and seeds from the nearby areas.
Clothing
 They used tule and bark from trees like redwood in their area for
clothing
 The women wore long skirts and capes
 The men wore nothing, sometimes an apron
 The wealthy wore deerskin skirts
 They all wore ornaments of shells, woods, bird bones, and feathers
Social Organization
 The family and extended kin (close social group) was most
important to the tribe and people, and the people closely
interacted with their kins on a regular basis.
 Women were considered equal to men
 Adults of childbearing age were responsible for providing food for
the group
 The elderly, seniors, uncles, aunts, and the parents were typically
responsible for raising the children.
Political Organization
 The largest political unit was
entire tribe or villages
 The Pomo had many chiefs
(hereditary and elected)
 Villages often a head chief
among many chiefs
 The political organization had
many responsibilities like
counseling, negotiating,
distributing, etc.
Religion
 The Pomo believed that one “creator” made the world. The tribe
equated the creator with the coyote.
 They believed that there was a time in the distant past when all
animals could speak and had other human features and then
changed to their present form with the help from spirits.
 When someone died the mourners would bring gifts such as beads
and robes and burn them with the dead. They would also burn all
personal belongings with the body. This being because they
believed in the afterworld.
Trade
 The Pomo would use clamshell beads as currency. They
were able to understand and use numbers up to the
thousands.
 Commonly traded items were; food, bows and arrows,
arrowheads, obsidian blades, belts, robes, feathers, and
skins.
Customs
 A great ceremony that consisted of several days of dancing
was called the “haikil”. Both men and women wore colorful
dance costumes that were usually made by the men.
 The Pomo sang love songs, lullabies, hunting songs,
gamboling songs, and religious songs.
 The Kashaya Pomo also made music with flutes, whistles,
clapper sticks, rattles, and drums made out of hollow logs.