Chumash Indians
By: Holly Vannatter
•Dancers and singers at ceremonies had
special clothes with feathered skirts
and headdresses.
•For ceremony's or festivals the Chumash mostly wore
paint and jewelry.
•The men and boys wore nothing at all, or
sometimes a belt or a small net at the waist for
carrying tools.
•The Chumash Indians didn’t wear much clothing.
•The women wore a two-piece skirt of deer skin or
plant fiber.
•The skirt was about knee length and had a narrow
apron in the front, with a wider piece that wrapped
around back.
•In cold weather, people might of wore capes of animal skins
for warmth.
•A chief often wore a waist-length bearskin cape as a sign of
his special status.
FOOD!
•The Chumash Tribe had a wide variety of food.
•The Chumash’s biggest recourse was the sea.
•They collected hundreds of different kinds of
fish and gathered clams, mussels and abalone.
•Since the Chumash lived by water they ate many
kinds of wild plants and traded among their selves.
•They also hunted large and small animals, but they did
not plant corn or crops like other Indians.
• One of the important plants is the
acorn, which the Chumash made into
acorn flour.
• They had acorn stew with every
meal
• To separate the house they hung reed mats.
Shelter
• The Chumash lived in a village full of dome shaped houses.
• The houses lasted for about five to ten years.
• Up to 50 people could live in one dome shaped house using
platforms for sleeping.
• One whole generations lived in the houses.
• The top leaders had special houses bigger and more beautiful.
•The houses were made out of willow, whalebone, and tile
mats for roofing.
• They made beds to fit tiny spaces only to sleep on,
that were made out of leaves and mats.
Environment/Map
• Since they were on the coast that
allowed them access to water, and lots of
animals were there due to the plants.
• The Chumash tribe lived off the
coast of California.
• The Chumash tribe was surrounded by many trees and plants making it
very easy to build there homes.
• The Chumash tribe lived on the coast so it was very tropical.
• The tropical weather allowed them to collect berries and other fruits and leaves.
• The Chumash was surrounded by neighboring tribes.
Language
• Chumash tribe had many made up words that they used a
lot.
• There were once at least three distinct Chumashan
languages, Northern Chumash, Island Chumash, and
Central Chumash.
•The Chumash spoke about twelve closely related languages.
• Chumash really means "makers of shell bead money".
• The Chumash languages are considered by some
linguists to be part of the Hokan family of languages.
Economy Hunting/Farming
•Some Chumash people built plank canoes called tomols,
which could have been used for whale hunting.
• The Chumash tribe also used the idea of the atl-atl, bow and arrows,
and fishnets.
• The Chumash were hunters and gatherers, who were very good at
fishing.
• Even though the Chumash were gathers they did not plant there own corn
and plants like other Indians.
• The Chumash men would spend hours hunting and teaching
there young boys how to hunt.
Technology/Tools
• One piece of technology the used was the basket, made out of
•The most important tool that the Chumash used were
canoes.
•The Chumash Indians were such good weavers
there baskets could hold water.
• One of the great pieces of technology the Chumash used was
the bead money.
• Another tool the used was the harpoon for spearing fish.
• They also had insruments such as the
clapperstick made from a partly split stick
of elderberry wood.
History
•. The Chumash also had a creative side, they made rock art in caves
and on overhangs, the big rock art is found in Los Padres National
Forest, that are thousands of years old.
• The Chumash Indians also minted their own bead money, which
were made out of Olivella shell.
• The dome shaped houses were 30 feet in diameter houses were shelter for the
Chumash Indians.
•Tomals were made out of redwood trees and they were the most
important tool for the Chumash, they were used for fishing, and
travel between different tribes along the coast.
• The chumash also used bones and other things from animals for tools, such as needles,
fishhooks, and sandpaper.
• The chumash had NO civilization they were a tribe on there
own.
• They relied on hunting on wildlife and marine animals such as whales, seals.
Black bear, deer, elk, fox, lion, badge, and doves, but these are only a few of the
animals they hunted.
Gender roles
• In the Chumash tribe there day consisted of weaving
baskets and gathering nuts, fruits, and plants for rituals
and spiritual healing.
• The women mostly stayed home weaved and watched the children cook.
• Some of the men were hunters and got food, while some men studied the
wind, trees, and animals.
• The other men were very bright and were astronomers and studied
stars, and the others were medicine man and they believed they could
talk to the gods.
• After all the work was done and food was cooked they all sat down around
the fire and told stories, played games, and danced.
War/Peace/Weapons/Culture
• The Chumash tribe used the atl-atl and the bow and arrow for
weapons and hunting.
• The Chumash were a very peaceful tribe and did not get into many
wars.
• Like many tribes the Chumash Indians also used the bow and
arrow and also the bow and arrows.
• The Chumash people were very cultured and
had lots of great ideas such as there money system
and there language.
Government/Social classes
• The leader of the Chumash people was always ranked high in
the social class than any other man.
• The women in the Chumash tribe were always ranked lower
in the social class.
• The Chumash tribe didn’t have very many laws or
standards of social class because every one in the
tribe knew what was expected of them.
Transportation
• The Chumash Indians didn’t have much way of
transportation but what they did have were canoes which
they used to trade and get around in the water.
• It was also said that they had tamed horses and
mules and they rode them to other tribes and packed
dead animals on them
Religion/Myths and Legends
•
• Many dances were performed just for fun, but some had important
religious significance.
• The Swordfish Dance was the most important ceremonies. The dancer wore an actual
swordfish skull decorated with shell.
Dancers wore special costumes and body paint for each of these dances, and there were
particular songs that went with each one.
• The Bear, the Blackbird, the Fox and the Coyote all had their own dances, as did creatures of the sea like the
Swordfish, the Barracuda and the Seaweed
• The Chumash had many stories such as sky stories and sun spark stories and way more.
There were gatherings at which dances were performed that honored the creatures in the Chumash world.
Entertainment/Art &
Festivals
• One of the things the Chumash tribe was for there art
in caves around were they lived.
• The Chumash also had a lot of festivals but they were
mostly for fun.
• For each festival they would all get dressed up and
were hats and they tell stories.
• At the festivals they also gambled at
dice games and played music.
Trade
•
• The Chumash people mostly traded amongst their selves such as they would
trade jewelry and baskets for bead money.
• Sometimes they would go out in there canoes and catch sharks to make more
canoes so they could travel to different islands and trade.
• They also traded their baskets which where woven so tight they
could hold water.
• They also traded something that they were very famous for there
jewelry and there beautiful art work.