The Miwok also made
‘ule’
, a jelled loaf of thick acorn mush. Pounding rocks or bedrock mortar are ideal for pounding acorns. Shallow mortar holes, like the ones shown in the picture, were preferred for processing black oak acorns, while deeper holes were used for manzanita berries.
What natural resources did the Miwok use?
- Land: Sea, coastal regions, mountains, rivers and lakes.
- Climate: Mild temperate climate.
- Natural Resources: Oak trees, acorns, buckeye nuts, mushrooms, hazel nuts, bulbs, roots and grasses.
What kind of tools did the Miwok use?
The weapons used by the Miwok included
spears, slings, knives, bows and arrows and clubs
. Miwok hunters used bows and arrows and snares. Miwok fishermen used nets and spears. Miwok warriors usually fired arrows at their enemies.
Did the Miwok tribe use any form of money?
Clamshell disks were used as money
, though they were considered less valuable among the Miwok than among their neighbors to the north. Pieces of clamshell were shaped into small circles, holes bored in them, and strung on strings. Miwok men and women wore strings of clamshells as necklaces, and to show their wealth.
How did the Miwok make baskets?
Twined baskets were
woven with the fingers alone
, except for occasionally tightening a round with a bone awl, or sewing on a reinforcing hoop at the rim with the same instrument. All Miwok twined baskets, other than cradles, in the University’s collection, have reinforcing willow hoops sewed to their rims.
How did the Miwok get their food?
The Miwoks were hunter-gatherers.
Miwok men hunted deer and small game and caught fish in the rivers and lakes
. Miwok women gathered acorns and ground them into meal to make bread and fruits, as well as collecting berries, nuts, and other plants. Here is a website with more information about Native American recipes.
What traditions did the Miwok tribe have?
Ceremonies/Traditions/Rituals:
They only took what they needed from the land and were never wasteful. The Bay Miwok believed totally in
the power of animal spirits
and the spirits of each other. They worshipped animals as ancestors, imitated them in dance, and told myths about them.
Does the Miwok tribe still exist?
Today there are
about 3,500 Miwok in total
.
What did the Miwok make?
Traditionally, the groups near and on the coast—the Coast, Lake, and Bay Miwok—gathered
acorns, fished, and hunted deer and other game with bow and arrow
. They lived in semisubterranean pole- and earth-covered lodges and produced watertight basketry ornamented with beads or feathers.
Is the Miwok tribe federally recognized?
The California Valley Miwok Tribe
is a federally recognized tribe of Miwok people in San Joaquin County and Calaveras County, California. They were previously known as the Sheep Ranch Rancheria or the Sheep Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indian of California.
Where did the largest group of Miwok Indians live?
The Plains and Sierra Miwok were once the largest group of California Indian Miwok people, indigenous to California. Their homeland included regions
of the Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, and the Sierra Nevada
.
What year did the Miwok tribe start?
The Miwok, he claims, came
around 1000 BC
while they were following salmon, as opposed to some other tribes who migrated from Asia 20,000 years ago.
Where is the Miwok tribe located?
The Miwok Indians reside in
north-central California
, from the coast to the west slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There are three divisions of the tribe — the Coast Miwok, the Lake Miwok, and the Sierra Miwok.
What did Miwok use baskets for?
Basket used for
parching seeds and other foods
.
What plants did the Miwok eat?
Like most California Indian groups, the Miwok relied upon
acorns
as a mainstay of their diet. Acorns were harvested in autumn, dried and stored in large granaries called cha’ka. These could be eight or more feet high and were made of poles interwoven with slender brush stems.
How many Native American tribes are there?
At present, there are
574
federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages.
