Chumash people

The Chumash (proprietary name Ughuigh, Oxoix ) are a Native American tribe that was located on both sides of the Santa Barbara Channel in Southern California.

The Chumash not done any field crops, but subsisted by hunting, fishing and gathering of wild plants in the seasonal rhythm, such as acorns, kelp or pumpkins. They also drove brisk trade with their neighboring tribes, such as the Gabrieleno, the Ipai and the Diegueno. Among the animals they worship is one of the gray fox and they dedicated to him, among others, a " fox dance ". It is believed that they brought the gray fox on the southern three channel islands off California's coast. They have contributed to the fact that there developed the verzwergte Island gray fox, an endemic species that descended from the gray fox, but have genetic and phenotypic characteristics that clearly distinguishes it from the gray fox.

Organizes the Chumash were in about 150 villages that could have up to 1,000 inhabitants. The leadership of a village was responsible for a chief, this office was hereditary. Furthermore, the Chumash society was divided into lower incumbent, religious officials and congregation. Often the individual villages quarreled among themselves for boundary lines, which also could lead to wars.

Of the estimated 15,000 in the 17th century Chumash on the mainland and 3,000 on the islands are still about 280 left as a state- recognized tribe that lives on the Santa Ynez Reservation in Santa Barbara County. The rest fell epidemics and colonization of California by the whites to the victim. Approximately 1,500 people feel as descendants of the Chumash, but are not out in the tribal rolls.

Mid-1960s, died the last speaker of the Chumash language. However, there are attempts to revive the language Ineseño again. The Chumash were part of the North American cultural complex in California.

The Chumash used a quaternary number system.

The the Chumash sacred sandstone cliffs Painted Rock is located in the Carrizo Plain National Monument, built in 2001 and is particularly considered by the reserve management. A decorated by the Chumash Indians with colorful pictograms cave with probably ritual significance can be visited in 20 kilometers north of Santa Barbara Chumash Painted Cave State Historic nearby park.