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World View:
The Chumash cosmology is also centered around astronomy. Rock art and arborglyphs that have been found within Chumash sites are thought to have depicted polaris (the north star) and ursa major (the big dipper). Specialists Rex Saint-Onge, John R. Johnson, and Joseph R. Talaugon argues in their article Archaeoastronomical Implications of a Northern Chumash Arborglyph that these two astrological entities were paramount to the Chumash belief system as well as their perception of time. It is believed that the Chumash used these constellations to determine what time of the year it was depending on the position of ursa major around polaris.

The Sky Coyote, also known as the Great Coyote of the Sky or Shnilemun, is considered to be a protector and according to Inseño Chumash lore, “looks out for the welfare of all in the world below him.” During the creation of mankind, the Sky Coyote was present among the other important cosmological figures.

According to John M. Anderson in his work Chumash Demonology, the Eagle, also known as Slo’w, represents the ruler of polaris. The Eagle also is the force that maintains momentum and order among the other stars so that they do not fall down on and destroy earth.

Cuisine, Foodways, and Sustenance:
During the time of Spanish colonialism, some diets of the Chumash people living on mission sites shifted to include European plants and animals. Evidence has been found that more sheep and cattle were consumed during the 19th c. Traditional hunting and fishing practices were still maintained alongside the addition of European livestock.

Feasts are a ritual activity of communal consumption of large quantities of food and drinks along with dances, music, and singing. They played a large role in political and social relations for the Chumash people. The feasts would be prepared over many days, mostly by women, and would coincide with major events such as childbirth, marriages, and chiefs’ birthdays. There are accounts of feasts being held for European expeditions passing through Chumash territories.

Bead Manufacturing and Trading:
The bead-making industry was categorized into two different craft specializations that consisted of the documented chert microblade drill industry and the production of the beads. The chert (sedimentary rock) was used to create chert microlithic tools which were used for the shell production.

Shell beads were not just a form of currency, they also played a vital role in the Chumash system. The beads functioned as a form of social storage that was used in exchanges that consisted of food. This allowed the Chumash people to minimize the risk of food shortages in their tribe. Chumash chiefs and elite members were responsible with the redistribution of the shell beads, subsistence goods, and other items.

Some items that were traded by the Chumash to the mainland included shell beads, digging stick weights(stone rings), and steatite ollas (stone bowl) which originates mainly from Santa Catalina Island. The mainland would in return export seeds, acorns, bows and arrows, fur, skin, roots, and baskets to the island. There was also trade from the mainland and inland areas whose items consisted of fish and beads. The interior citizens would trade fish, game, seeds, fruit, and fox-skin shawls to the coast. Fernando Librado mentions that all the trade transactions took place on the mainland due to the location since it was between the island and the interior.

History: Spanish Contact and the Mission Period: 1542-1834:
Radiocarbon dating on the northernmost of the Channel Islands, San Clemente Island, suggests that the Chumash people lived without significant contact from Spanish settlers and missionaries until the 1870’s. This island shows a clear lack of Spanish influence on its archaeology up until this point. Because of its remoteness, it was perhaps the last Chumash area to be colonized.

The emergence of this trade network within the Chumash territory was facilitated by the existence of three distinct Chumash ecological groups including the island, coastal, and mainland Chumash. Access to distinct resources for these different groups made inter-Chumash trade a large part of life. Villages along the mainland coast emerged as intermediaries between groups.

The regional diversity present within the Chumash territory spawned an intricate trade system connecting the island, coastal, and mainland groups. The villages of Xaxas and Muwu emerged as the most important trade hubs for the Chumash people. Their positioning relative to coastal and mainland trade routes and resources made these villages particularly powerful within the Chumash trade ecosystem.