QUID PRO QUO
By Alexa Johnson
Bartering Across the Channel - While the Tongva were experts at using available resources, their society would not have thrived as it did without an active trade system. The Tongva exchanged goods through a network of tribes on the other islands, as well as on the mainland, extending as far east as the Colorado River.
According to The First Angelinos, soapstone objects were among the most traded of the Tongva’s resources, commonly sculpted into bowls, jewelry, effigies or pipes. Shells, dried fish, marine mammal pelts and meat were also popular trade items. Two Harbors, known as Nájquqar, had one of the Island’s largest populations with between 300 and 500 inhabitants and served as a major distribution center for traded goods on the Island.
From the mainland, the Tongva received furs, hides and bones from deer and rabbits as well as mineral rocks, like obsidian and chert. This effective trade network helped to enrich and stabilize tribes throughout Southern California, expanding the range of available goods and lessening the impact of shortages within any particular region.
The Pimu Catalina Island Archaeology Project has been investigating Native American influence since 2007. The project has sourced many imported items to the Island. Wendy Teeter, Ph.D., co-director of the project, has found on Catalina Hohokam axes and obsidian tools that came from other California regions, such as the Coso Mountains in today’s Inyo County and the Salton Sea region of Riverside and Imperial Counties. Hohokam refers to Native Americans who once lived in what became today’s American Southwest.
Fact or Fiction? Foxes were brought to Catalina Island by the Native People.
By Alexa Johnson
Bartering Across the Channel - While the Tongva were experts at using available resources, their society would not have thrived as it did without an active trade system. The Tongva exchanged goods through a network of tribes on the other islands, as well as on the mainland, extending as far east as the Colorado River.
According to The First Angelinos, soapstone objects were among the most traded of the Tongva’s resources, commonly sculpted into bowls, jewelry, effigies or pipes. Shells, dried fish, marine mammal pelts and meat were also popular trade items. Two Harbors, known as Nájquqar, had one of the Island’s largest populations with between 300 and 500 inhabitants and served as a major distribution center for traded goods on the Island.
From the mainland, the Tongva received furs, hides and bones from deer and rabbits as well as mineral rocks, like obsidian and chert. This effective trade network helped to enrich and stabilize tribes throughout Southern California, expanding the range of available goods and lessening the impact of shortages within any particular region.
The Pimu Catalina Island Archaeology Project has been investigating Native American influence since 2007. The project has sourced many imported items to the Island. Wendy Teeter, Ph.D., co-director of the project, has found on Catalina Hohokam axes and obsidian tools that came from other California regions, such as the Coso Mountains in today’s Inyo County and the Salton Sea region of Riverside and Imperial Counties. Hohokam refers to Native Americans who once lived in what became today’s American Southwest.
Fact or Fiction? Foxes were brought to Catalina Island by the Native People.
