Research Catalog

Title

The first Angelinos : the Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles / by William McCawley.

Author

McCawley, William, 1952-

Publication

Banning, CA : Malki Museum Press ; Novato, CA : Ballena Press, ©1996.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xv, 288 pages : illustrations (some color), maps; 29 cm

Summary

The crowded landscape of Los Angeles holds an ancient story, William McCawley writes. It is the story of the brave and resourceful Indian peoples who once inhabited the spacious valleys and plains of Los Angeles and Orange counties in Southern California; of daring seafarers who traveled the open sea in wooden canoes to trade with their kinsmen dwelling on the Channel Islands; of skillful hunters clad in deerskin costumes who roamed the valleys and hills in search of their prey; of powerful shamans who transformed themselves at will into bears and wolves, and an all-knowing, all-powerful creator-god who established the rules by which life was to be lived. It is a story of tragedy and great courage, and an Indian people decimated by disease, prejudice, and poverty, struggling to survive in a new and often unfriendly world. It is the story of the Gabrielino Indians. This is a definitive study of the pre-mission Gabrielino s religious beliefs and practices, the structure of their society, their political system, the ways they made a living, and their elegant arts and crafts. This invaluable book, accessible to the scholar and general reader alike, is drawn from published and unpublished work of explorers, historians, archaeologists, and ethnographers, including famous ethnographer John P. Harrington. The First Angelinos is the first book-length treatment of the Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles in more than thirty years. It is divided into eleven chapters organized by subject heading. The topics include: the Gabrielino Community; Gabrielino place-names; political and social structure; economic organization and trade; religious beliefs and ritual practices; music; oral literature; and games and recreation. The sources of information about the Gabrielino are described in detail, and brief biographical sketches of primary Gabrielino consultants are given. The final chapters of the book discuss the decline of the Gabrielino culture during the late 1700s and early 1800s, following the establishment of Missions San Gabriel and San Fernando. The First Angelinos contains more than sixty illustrations of artifacts in local museum collections, including many photographs taken by the author. The book also includes regional maps showing the locations of the major Gabrielino communities that have been prepared using information obtained from the notes of anthropologist J. P. Harrington, and maps and documents from the Spanish and Mexican periods. Appendices include the Gabrielino vocabularies collected by Andrew S. Taylor, Oscar Loew, Henry W. Henshaw and Horatio Hale; and a previously unpublished Gabrielino vocabulary of more than one thousand terms collected in 1908 by C. Hart Merriam.

Subject

• Gabrielino Indians
• Gabrielino language

Note

• "A Malki Museum Press/Ballena Press cooperative publication."

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-227) and index.

Contents

• Dedication -- Frontispiece -- Table of Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Maps -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction by Lowell John Bean -- Chapter 1: Introducing the Gabrielino Indians -- Chapter 2: Hearth and Homeland -- Chapter 3: The People of the Inland Valleys -- Chapter 4: The People of the Coastal Plain -- Chapter 5: The People of the Channel Islands -- Chapter 6: The Fabric of the Gabrielino Society -- Chapter 7: Environment and Economy -- Chapter 8: Religion, Ritual, and the Cycle of Life -- Chapter 9: Stories, Songs, Dance, and Games -- Chapter 10: The Gabielino World in Transition -- Chapter 11: Voices from the Past -- References -- Index -- Appendix I: Indian Vocabularies Collected by C. Hart Merriam -- Appendix II: U.S. Department of Agriculture Biological Survey, C. Hart Merriam, Chief -- Appendix III: The Indianology of California by Alexander Taylor -- Appendix IV: Vocabulary of the Tobikhar Indians of San Gabriel -- Appendix V: Horatio Hale: Ethnology and Philology -- Appendix VI: Henshaw Vocabulary -- FIGURES -- Abalone shell ornaments 12 -- Abalone shell ornaments 12 -- Small soapstone box containing limpet shell beads 12 -- Pendants or necklace ornaments made from pieces of soapstone 12 -- Photograph of Felicitas Serrano Montaño 16 -- Photograph of Mrs. James Rosemyre 17 -- Photograph of José Zalvidea 18 -- Luiseño sweathut on the Soboba Reservation (1885) 31 -- Large boulder covered with pictographs, San Gabriel River Canyon 45 -- Diseño (map) of Rancho Sausal Redondo showing the Mexican land grant of Guaspita 62 -- Early painting of the Palos Verdes Peninsula 64 -- Map of Rancho San Pedro, 1891 65 -- Plat map of Rancho Palos Verdes, 1859 70 -- Diseño (map) of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana showing the Bolsa de Gengara (Bay of Kengaa) 73 -- Southern shore of Santa Catalina Island 77 -- Aerial view of San Clemente Island 79 -- China Cove, San Clemente Island 81 -- Entrance to Big Dog Cave, San Clemente Island 82 -- Aerial view of San Nicholas [sic] Island 84 -- The Cave of the Whales, San Nicholas Island 84 --
• Petroglyph located near the entrance to the Cave of the Whales 84 -- The Spring Site, San Nicholas Island 84 -- Another view of the Spring Site 85 -- String of whole Olivella shell beads 91 -- String of Olivella shell disc beads 91 -- Soapstone plaque decorated with an incised design 99 -- Reverse of soapstone plaque in Figure 26 [previous figure] 99 -- Drilled stone tablet from Catalina Island 99 -- Drilled stone tablets from Los Altos Site LAn-270 99 -- Soapstone plaque with shell and asphaltum inlay 101 -- A three-sided wooden war club 107 -- Wooden spiked war club 107 -- Bone artifacts from Santa Catalina Island 117 -- Soapstone arrowshaft straightener 118 -- Stone arrow points 118 -- Flat throwing stick, 24 inches long 120 -- Flat throwing stick, 26.5 inches long 120 -- Decorated throwing stick 121 -- Detail of throwing stick in Figure 38 [previous figure] 121 -- Stone knife hafted in a wooden handle 121 -- The Helek, a replica of a Chumash tomol (plank canoe) 124 -- Soapstone vessel used for melting and applying asphaltum 125 -- Bone spear or harpoon points 126 -- Circular fishhooks made from abalone shell 126 -- Stages in the manufacture of a shell fishhook 126 -- Small effigies of soapstone carved in the form of water birds 128 -- Wooden mortar from the San Fernando Valley 129 -- Drawing of multiple rod foundation and coiling basketry techniques 132 -- Drawing of warp foundation, twining and wickerwork basketry techniques 132 -- Coiled basket 133 -- Coiled basket attributed to the Gabrielino 133 -- Basketry water bottle waterproofed using asphaltum 134 -- A small decorated soapstone slab 135 -- A small artifact of soapstone 135 -- A paddle-shaped artifact of soapstone 135 -- A small pick-shaped artifact of soapstone 135 -- Soapstone block with bulk created during quarrying process 137 -- Soapstone block showing circular scars left from the quarrying process 137 -- Small soapstone bowl and pestle 138 -- Fragment of soapstone bowl from LAn-270 showing decorative element 138 -- Fragment of soapstone bowl from LAn-270 showing decorative element 138 -- Small mortar containing red ochre 138 -- Maze Rock, originally located in the Santa Ana Mountains 139 -- Small pictograph boulder from Catalina Island 140 -- Sunsticks from Bowers Cave 158 -- The Summer Solstice Site at Burro Flats 159 --
• View of the Summer Solstice Site showing the "cupule boulder" and "face rock" 160 -- Bone whistles and a four-hole flute 179 -- Split-stick clapper 180 -- Turtle-shell rattle 181 -- Rattle made from hide 182 -- Gaming pieces made from incised bone 183 -- Soapstone smoking pipe with shell inlay 184 -- Clay pipe with bone mouthpiece 184 -- The ranchería at Sunny Slope Vineyards 206 -- Photograph of Rogerio Rocha 213 -- COLOR PLATES preceding page 1 -- Detail of painting of Mission San Gabriel completed by Ferdinand Deppe in 1832 -- Pictograph from the Cave of the Whales on San Nicholas Island -- Pictograph from the Winter Solstice Site at Burro Flats -- Painting of Mission San Gabriel completed in 1832 by Ferdinand Deppe -- MAPS -- The Uto-Aztecan territory in southern California 3 -- The Gabrielino territory and neighboring Indian groups 22 -- The mainland Gabrielino territory 24 -- The four geographical regions of the mainland Gabrielino territory 26 -- Gabrielino communities located within the San Fernando Valley 36 -- Gabrielino communities located within the San Gabriel Valley 42 -- Gabrielino communities located within the San Bernardino Valley 47 -- Gabrielino communities located on the Los Angeles-Santa Ana Plain 56 -- Redrawing of a sketch map, prepared in 1914-1915 by José Zalvidea 68 -- Santa Barbara Island 75 -- Santa Catalina Island 76 -- Reproduction of Father Juan Antonio de la Ascension's 1602 map of Santa Catalina, Santa Barbara, and San Nicholas [sic] islands and the adjacent mainland 78 -- San Clemente Island 80 -- San Nicolas [sic] Island 83.

ISBN

• 0879191333
• 9780879191337
• 0879191341
• 9780879191344
• 9780965101608
• 0965101606
• 0965101614 (canceled/invalid)
• 0965101606 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

95043042

OCLC

• ocm33861805
• 33861805
• SCSB-14417250

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library