Survival Skills of Native California

by Campbell, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780879059217
• ISBN10: 0879059214
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-03-01
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith

Summary

In The Most Comprehensive Work of Its Kind Today, Author Paul Campbell Reveals The Knowledge He Has Spent 20 Years Learning and Reproducing From California Natives. Included Are Sections On The Basic Skills of Survival, The Tools of Gathering and Food Preparation, The Implements of Household and Personal Necessity, As Well As The Arts of Hunting and Fishing. Sample Topics Include: * Shelter: A Continuum of Simplicity * Greens, Beans, Flowers and Other Vegetables * Meat Preparation * How To Make and Shoot An Indian Bow

Table of Contents

Preface: The Wisdom of the California Hunter-Gatherer	vii
Introduction: Secrets of Indian Survival	xiii
Part One: Basic Skills, Tools of Gathering and Food Preparation, Implements of Household and Personal Necessity
How Coyote Brought Fire to the Karok
The Fire Drill	4	(7)
Fire---Some Indian Tips	11	(5)
Shelter: A Continuum of Simplicity
Minimalists	16	(2)
Wickiups	18	(2)
Willow-framed Dome Houses	20	(10)
Location	30	(1)
Water	31	(3)
Chumash Water Bottle	34	(7)
Indian Travel	41	(6)
California Cordage---Fibers and Technology	47	(10)
Traps	57	(10)
California Digging Stick	67	(13)
Acorns and Other Bitter Nuts	80	(12)
Mortar and Pestle	92	(6)
Soaproot Brush	98	(2)
Acorn Storage Basket	100	(3)
Closely Twined and Coiled Baskets	103	(10)
A Breakfast of Sweet Acorn Mush with Boiled Shank of Vension	113	(6)
Southern California Pottery	119	(17)
Greens, Beans, Flowers and other Vegetables	136	(10)
Sugar and Salt	146	(3)
Berries, Cherries and Other Fruit	149	(8)
Pine and Other Not so Bitter Nuts	157	(5)
Seeds and Seed Beater	162	(7)
Mats	169	(4)
Carrying Nets	173	(10)
California Survival Basket	183	(5)
Household Brushes	188	(2)
A Strange Baja Basket	190	(6)
Wooden Bowls, Buckets and Vials	196	(6)
The Technology of Good Grooming	202	(6)
Native California Clothing-An Overview	208	(5)
Rabbitskin Blanket	213	(5)
Elderberry Bark Skirt	218	(10)
Yucca and Agave Fiber Sandals of Southern California	228	(1)
Yucca Slab Survival Sandals	228	(3)
Moccasins	231	(4)
Diegueno Rawhide Sandals	235	(1)
Plaited Yucca Sandals	236	(3)
California Elderwood Flute	239	(5)
Filtered Cigarette	244	(2)
Indian Stick Game	246	(8)
Part Two: Hunting and Fishing
California Indian Bows
The Northern California Wide-limbed, Sinew-backed Bow	254	(4)
The Sierra Nevada Hook-ended Sinew-backed Bow	258	(4)
The Southern California Plain Wood Bow	262	(15)
And Arrows
Northern California Arrows	277	(6)
Southern California Arrows	283	(12)
Quivers	295	(3)
How to Shoot an Indian Bow	298	(7)
Bowguard	305	(2)
The California Atlatl	307	(5)
The Atlatl Dart	312	(6)
Throwing the Atlatl Dart	318	(2)
California Knapping	320	(12)
Glue	332	(3)
Stalking	335	(5)
How to Stalk, Kill and Eat a White-throated Woodrat	340	(6)
California Hunting Magic: Split-twig Figurines	346	(3)
California Rabbit Sticks	349	(13)
Sling	362	(2)
Snowshoes	364	(5)
Brain Tanning	369	(5)
Meat Preparation	374	(4)
Twined Bags and Hide Sacks	378	(3)
Wooden War Club	381	(4)
Insects: Small Quarry, Big Protein	385	(5)
How California Indians Made Tule Balsas	390	(6)
Tule Serving Tray	396	(1)
Twined Double Basket Pomo Fish Trap	397	(8)
Fishing Nets	405	(11)
Harpoons, Fish and Sea Mammals	416	(7)
Indian Angling	423	(10)
Fish Poison	433	(2)
Fish and Shellfish Preparation	435	(5)
Bibliography	440

Excerpts

Introduction: Secrets of Indian Survival<BR>This book undertakes the task of restoring what we have methodically destroyed: California Indian survival skills. From the scattered bits and parts it seeks a critical mass of essential detail on each representative skill to recreate a whole technology.<BR>Not an end in itself, California survival lore unlocks a paradise too long maligned as mere unused land marked for development. Beyond the sprawl, the asphalt, the final orchard gate, the very end of the last dirt road, looms the mystery and vitality of California wilderness. The stars there still glitter like ice, the sun burns more brightly. Valleys, mountains, streams, deserts and sea--not long ago all of California was wilderness. The first Californians lived in harmony with that untamed place, using skills refined over 10,000 years. For those who believed in the sacredness, it was a garden, carefully tended. Conquest, greed, the mercantile juggernaut of Western civilization, in a few short decades crushed a marvel but weakly understood. California native skills were lost, buried beneath highway and city without end.<BR>