Foundations Of Chumash Complexity (Perspectives in California Archaeology)

Book Description

This volume highlights the latest research on the foundations of sociopolitical complexity in coastal California. The populous maritime societies of southern California, particularly the groups known collectively as the Chumash, have gone largely unrecognized as prototypical complex hunter-gatherers, only recently beginning to emerge from the shadow of their more celebrated counterparts on the Northwest Coast of North America. While Northwest cultures are renowned for such complex institutions as ceremonial potlatches, slavery, cedar plank-house villages, and rich artistic traditions, the Chumash are increasingly recognized as complex hunter-gatherers with a different set of organizational characteristics: ascribed chiefly leadership, a strong maritime economy based on oceangoing canoes, an integrative ceremonial system, and intensive and highly specialized craft production activities. Chumash sites provide some of the most robust data on these subjects available in the Americas. Contributors present stimulating new analyses of household and village organization, ceremonial specialists, craft specializations and settlement data, cultural transmission processes, bead manufacturing practices, and watercraft and the acquisition of prized marine species.

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Judging a book by its cover
Coyote in the sky
Mixed Bag
A bit of a sophomore slump, but still worth a read
Better than Garden

Sky Coyote: A Novel of the Company
Kage Baker
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0151003548

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Kage Baker's first novel, In the Garden of Iden, was a smart, funny, top-drawer read. Fans will be happy to find out that Baker avoids a sophomore slump with Sky Coyote, the second novel of the Company, and another superbly witty and intelligent book. Baker switches focus in this sequel to Joseph, the immortal cyborg who rescued Iden's heroine, Mendoza, from the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition. Joseph and Mendoza work for Dr. Zeus, otherwise known as the Company, a 24th-century operation devoted to getting rich off the past. To accomplish this, the Company turns orphans and refugees from the past into super-smart, nigh invincible cyborgs and sends them on missions to save or hide precious paintings, cultural treasures, and genetic information useful to the future world.

Sky Coyote begins in pre-Columbian Mexico, where Joseph and Mendoza are reunited at New World One, an extravagant Company retreat. When European explorers are scheduled to arrive in the New World, the Company dismantles operations, and Joseph is sent to California in 1699 to save a Chumash village lock, stock, and barrel, before Europeans arrive with smallpox and slavery. To prep the Native Americans for their voyage to a Company enclave in Australia, Joseph poses as Uncle Sky Coyote, a trickster-god of the Chumash, and tells them he's there to save them from certain doom at the hands of white men. But can Joseph convince the wary, savvy Chumash labor unions, lodges, and entrepreneurs that he has their best interests at heart, all without screwing up history? And will he patch things up with Mendoza, who still hasn't forgiven him for everything that happened in 1500s England? Kage Baker delivers a terrific story and a worthy sequel with Sky Coyote. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

Can a rich Native american culture be saved from the destruction of white settlement? In the second installment of Kage Baker’s heralded Company series, cyborgs interact, often humorously, with a pre-Columbian Chumash village. “An action-packed but thoughtful read” (Dallas Morning News).

Customer Reviews:

Judging a book by its cover.......2007-06-19

Looking at the cover art, you would get a much different idea of what the book might be about than if you read the short summary on the back. Luckily I read the summary and realized it was a story I would be interested in.

The plot idea is appealing to me, and I think I would have been much more satisfied with it had I read more of this series than just this one book; in this book, you get a snippet of the overall plot - what is happening in basically one mission in the past, rather than a more in depth understanding of the Company as a whole. Perhaps this is done in another book in the series, or perhaps the macro plot is just a construct to allow infinite possibilities of sequels, each looking at a mission in the past.

Regardless, the author's humor is often witty, and the book was enjoyable on it's own, though I don't plan to read any of the other books.

Coyote in the sky.......2007-02-20

This book is more satyrical that it's apparent, and some have misunderstood it. All hepisodes are viewed through Joseph's/Coyote disenchanted eyes, the SPA of the immortals, the all-too modern-thinking Humashup ( with their quarrelling pompous priests), the fundamentalists Chinigchinix (whose monotheism is a bit exaggerated in the novel), the prissiy, squeamish health-freaks of the future. A satire of humanity's flawed ways of coming to terms with themseklves and rthe world, and a clever reflection on religion and the unfortunate effects of enforcing one's revelation to others. And bebneath Joseph/Coyote's cynicism you can feel an heart of compassion and empathy, for humanity and for grief-striken Mendoza, which we shall encounter again in Hollywood. We feel this book prophetic, as another Goat-Cult menaces today's humanity.

Mixed Bag.......2006-12-04

Once again Baker draws us into the world of the Company. But this time, Sky Coyote is not told from the point of view of newbie immortal Mendoza, but from the eyes of Facilitator Joseph, whose tenure with the Company spans a lot more than a couple hundred years, but goes back more than 20,000.

It is Joseph's task (along with help from other fellow immortals, including Mendoza) to bring an entire 18th century Native American Chumash village into the Company's fold. Disguised as the Chumash deity Sky Coyote, Joseph attempts to convince the entire village of Humashup that danger is on its way in the form of white men and that he and his "sky spirits" are going to take them off somewhere to safety.

Sky Coyote was a mixed bag as stories go. Joseph's interaction with the Chumash was somewhat interesting (especially the Chumash concept of theatre), but somehow it just wasn't enough, by itself, for me to need to turn the pages. What did pull me through the story was the background on Joseph. Sky Coyote really delved into Joseph's past. Revealing how he became an immortal and giving us a fairly good, if somewhat cursory, introduction into the Company's sordid dealings with "the past".

Overall, Sky Coyote had enough there to make me want to continue with the sequels, but as a stand-alone tale, it left a bit to be desired.

A bit of a sophomore slump, but still worth a read.......2005-03-06

Kage Baker's novels and stories of the Company are usually a joy to read, and while Sky Coyote is less fun and more slog than any other entry I've read, it still has its strong points. The novel's signal flaw is that it is actually telling two different stories, one interesting, the other more of a history lesson. The first is the story of the interactions between the Company's immortal cyborgs and their mortal 24th century bosses. This is fascinating stuff- Baker paints a portrait of a future where virtually all the pleasures of life have been legislated away and the people are bland, whiny, fearful children. The operatives are shocked that these are the masters for whose benefit they've spent millennia storing up rarities and treasures. This part of the book also offers dark hints as to what the Company's loyal workers may find waiting for them in 2355, the cutoff year for their knowledge of history.

The other story deals with the efforts of Joseph, a 20,000-year-old operative, to uproot an Indian village and move them for observation by the Company. It has its moments but too often feels like a tutorial on the lives of the Chumash rather than a full-fledged story about. It's not that they aren't an interesting people; it's just not what I was expecting from this novel, and there's too much of it. Still, the other half of the story is interesting, and Baker's writing is as polished as ever. 3 stars, or 6/10.

Better than Garden.......2004-05-27

See, I don't get it. Everyone says that Sky Coyote is their least favourite of Baker's books. Why? Is it because Joseph is the narrator? Is it because it doesn't deal with European-based history? Is it because somehow Baker wrote less beautifully than she usually does? I don't know. I thought it much better than Garden of Iden.

In Sky Coyote, Joseph and Mendoza are sent to California to retrieve an entire tribe of people before white men can get at them with land grabs and smallpox. Baker knows California well: she lives there, so everything in the book has that touch of authenticity. Although she can't give the Chumash language that same kind of twist she gave Elizabethan English, she doesn't fall into the trap that most authors do with American Indians: namely, overly-simplify the language they speak. Of the three factions in the book (future mortals, immortals, and the Chumash), the Chumash come out most human, and that is a feat in itself when the book is narrated by an immortal. And speaking of immortals, I like Joseph so much better than Mendoza! She's stubborn, straightforward, and believes in one thing and one thing only. Fairly one-dimensional, even after having read Garden. Joseph ponders things, has faults and fears, and is much older and remembers far back to the Stone Age of Europe, whence he came. Yet he's able to work despite his fears. Admittedly, he largely ignores them. But isn't that what we do most of the time?

I suppose what I liked best about the book, though, is the fact that it deals with the fallibility of Dr. Zeus and pokes fun at modern society in a way Garden did not. Introduced is the fact that Dr. Zeus has only provided the immortals with historical information up until a certain year in the future, where supposedly paradise on earth will have been achieved and the immortals can rest from their labours. Also added are the concept of the Enforcers, immortals who were recruited to kill raging hoardes during the Stone Age, but then lost their necessity and slowly vanished somehow. The idea is that Dr. Zeus can make mistakes. I loved it. Here is a company that saves you from certain death in the past and makes you immortal. You're trained to believe it's a wise and benevolent power. What happens when you begin to doubt? It's great stuff. Better than that are the future mortals who come to the past to oversee the Chumash tribe's excavation. They are like stretched-thin overly-exaggerated people of today. They play video games all of the time. Their vocabulary is extremely limited. They frown on controlled substances, are afraid of the Chumash "savages", and don't want to harm anything, even grass. They are each super-specialists, a genius in his own field but a doddering idiot about anything else. They have no sense of the history they are trying to preserve. It's just vindicating for a historian to see, as it feels that way today. Few now care about what happened before-- they are willfully ignorant, perpetuating the same mistakes and thinking they are original. Oh, I liked that.

There is, of course, Baker's perpetual theme of single crazy zealots perpetuating murders for a jealous God. She has the Chumash encounter a new monotheistic cult which is, of course, villainous, persuasive, and stops at nothing to gain converts. Much like in Garden's Spain. Or in any of her books. No redeeming qualities, oh no. To be honest, the only way I can get through these parts is that she isn't altogether blatant about them. The story still functions in the characters' minds, and they are believable. So I can still think that God is trying to say something to Joseph, that there is more than the Company.

Product Description

An account of a Native American people s dynamic relationship with the natural world The Chumash people have lived in coastal California from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara for thousands of years. Their homeland is an area of uncommon biological richness and diversity, featuring over 1,500 species of plants. Their traditional foods, medicine, raw materials for making clothing, all kinds of tools and utensils, religious paraphernalia, and other items essential to existence were derived from the natural world; in one way or another, everything the Chumash people made involved plants. This painstakingly researched and scrupulously documented book, intended for the layperson interested in gaining a deeper understanding of a significant California Indian culture, reveals a landscape seen daily by thousands of people but understood by very few.

Customer Reviews:

Harrington's ethnobotany of the Chumash.......2007-09-13

Jan Timbrook has produced a useful recounting of the ethnobotany found in John Harrington's notes. Harrington was an Anthropologist from the Smithsonian Institution who died in 1961. However, little effort has been made to correct Harrington's mistakes. The section on Datura is useful and reminds the reader of the importance of spirituality in Chumash healing. The section on white sage should have been expanded to help the reader learn the central importance of white sage in Chumash healing. Chumash and other people still use California plants in healing. These people should have been consulted more in writing the book.

James D Adams
Author with Cecilia Garcia of "Healing with medicinal plants of the west"

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A Chumash legend regarding creation and much more
Legendary

The Rainbow Bridge
Audrey Wood
Manufacturer: Voyager Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 015202106X

Book Description

Hutash the earth goddess creates a rainbow bridge--and saves her people from drowning by turning them into dolphins.

Customer Reviews:

A Chumash legend regarding creation and much more.......2006-03-13

"The Rainbow Bridge," retold by Audrey Wood with oil on canvas paintings by Robert Florczak, is inspired by a Chumash tale. The name of that Native American tribe will be familiar to young readers who watched "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," since several members of the Chumash tribe showed up one memorable Thanksgiving in Season 4 (and did things to Xander that cannot be discussed in polite company). The Chumash lived in what is now the central California coast from Los Angeles northward to San Luis Obispo. There were a peaceful people, known for their art, mainly basketry and cave paintings, and their distinctive social and spiritual culture. The Storyteller's Note at the start of this oversize book explains that the most famous invention of the Chumash was the "tomol," a plant canoe, that allowed them to trade with villagers on nearby islands. They were rather unique as a native people because they could find everything they needed in the environment in which they lived, without having to raise crops or domesticate animals.

This story was inspired by an oral Chumash legend, expanded by Wood in terms of both characters and lengths. It begins with Hutash, the earth goddess, walking alone on the island of Limuw. Gathering seeds from a sacred plant she scatters them upon the earth so that there might be people, teh Chumash tribe, made in her own image. Along with her husband, the great wise Sky Snake (a.k.a., the Milky Way), Hutash loved the people and gave them gifts so that they would thrive. But then there were too many people and Hutash told the people that Limuw had grown crowded and in three days half of them must leave and go to the land across the water while the other half stay on her island. The rainbow bridge stretching from the highest mountain on Limuw to the highest mountain on the land across the water is how the people who left Limuw would travel to their new home.

The problem is that some of the Chumash look down during their journey and fall from the great height in to the ocean, where Hutash must act to save them. The story of "The Rainbow Bridge" is part-creation story, which makes for parallels to Genesis and other creation stories, but there are obvious comparisons to be made to other sacred stories and legends in class discussion. Some additional research might be involved, but should be well worth the effort and class time spent on exploring issues of comparative mythology. A portion of the royalties from the sale of "The Rainbow Bridge" will be donated by the author for the further preservation and undersanding of the Chumash culture. The author even recommends "The Chumash People: Materials for Teachers and Students" from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History as an excellent source of additional information you children.

Legendary.......2000-04-07

If you like folklore and legends you will love this book. I found it fascinating especially when the people who fell from the bridge turned into dolphins. The illustrations were beautiful and some were almost life like.

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What I Thought About The Worry Stone By: Marianna Dengler
Beautifully written, exquisitely illustrated
For adults and children
One of our family's top five books
A beautiful, touching story

The Worry Stone
Marianna Dengler
Manufacturer: Rising Moon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0873586425

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What I Thought About The Worry Stone By: Marianna Dengler.......2004-11-18

The Worry Stone By: Marianna Dengler
I thought this book was outstanding and it will bring color into any child's life. This book would be a high-quality book for any parent or older sibling to read to a younger child because of the wonderful pictures and inspiring story within its cover. Also, it is a story that you can make happen in your own yard.
This story is about an elderly lady named Amanda who as a child had a wonderful, caring grandfather. They would spend all their time together, telling stories and she was very fond of him. One day she discovers a stone her grandfather says is a worry stone and by rubbing it in your hand all your worries go away. Now, several years later, her grandfather has passed away. She goes for walks in the park all by herself and is awfully lonely. One day, a little boy comes and sits next to her. He too is lonely. No other kids would play with him and Amanda can't stand to see him sad. Then she gets an idea. The worry stone could help. Does it help, and do Jason and Amanda become friends, or will both of them be lonely and alone?
This book is very touching and will show kids that read this book compassion and understanding. I rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars. You should defiantly read this book to a child who is about 3years old and up. See how touching it is for yourself.
**Kalie**

Beautifully written, exquisitely illustrated.......2001-10-19

As a school librarian, I chose to read this book aloud as a source of comfort for our students after the attacks of Sept. 11 and then gave each student a "worry stone" (a polished river rock) to keep. The kids were spellbound by the story and seemed to treasure the memento.

The three stories in one gives the book a timeless quality that spans generations. An added bonus was the curriculum tie-in for us in California through the Chumash legend. I give this book my highest recommendation.

For adults and children.......2000-06-26

This is a wonderful book. It shows the power of positive thinking. It is three stories in one, and looks at the value of older people in our lives. It also gives advice -- without being preachy --about keeping our worries under control.

I recommend it for everyone.

One of our family's top five books.......2000-01-05

This story is a beautiful interweaving of three stories, a Native American woman who loses her husband in war, a girl's relationship with her grandfather, and an old woman who discovers how to reach a lonely child that she has seen in the park. It is a gentle and lovely way to introduce to children the concept of death and a chance to discuss the value of the people we love in our lives and to understand the feelings of others. The story is wonderful in itself, but the illustrations make it even more so. They seem to glow with an inner light.

A beautiful, touching story.......1999-09-17

This book has become one my family's favorites - hard to read without a catch in your voice. A story about the circle of life and the importance of grandfather/grandmother figures in a child's life. I cannot recommend this book highly enough! Beautiful illustrations!

Mission San Buenaventura (California Missions (Rosen Publishing Group).)

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Mission San Buenaventura (California Missions (Rosen Publishing Group).)
Amy Margaret
Manufacturer: PowerKids Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 082395496X

Craft Specialization in the Prehistoric Channel Islands, California (University of California Publications in Anthropology)

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Craft Specialization in the Prehistoric Channel Islands, California (University of California Publications in Anthropology)
Jeanne E. Arnold
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Chumash (Native Americans)
Barbara A. Gray-Kanatiiosh
Manufacturer: Checkerboard Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1577659333

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