Volume 9: Introduction to the Contact-Period Native California Community Distribution Model

By:

Randall Milliken,Consulting in the Past

With:

John Johnson,Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
David Earle,Antelope Valley College
Norval Smith,University of Amsterdam
Patricia Mikkelsen,Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc.
Paul Brandy,Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc.
Jerome King,Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc.

Submitted to:
California Department of Transportation, District 6, 2015 East Shields Ave, Fresno, CA 93726

It may be anticipated that future scholars, undaunted by the huge mass of available published and manuscript data on California Indians, will work over the information on a tribe-by-tribe basis and prepare maps showing the domains of the identifiable or inferable tribelets. -R. F. Heizer 1966

Abstract

The in-progress Contact-Period Native California Community Distribution Model (CDM) brings together decades of research and mission record analysis into selected volumes that will eventually be part of a 15 volume print/wiki encyclopedia portraying the socio-political landscape of native California after first contact with the Spanish, between 1770 and 1830.

Volume 1 of the series presents an overview of the CDM model, explaining the process of ethnographic data analysis and regional mapping unit construction across all portions of California. Volumes 2-15 will eventually represent contextual overviews of each of the 14 analytical zones identified within California. Each zone has a group of independent, landholding regions (totaling 663) defined by mutual history, shared languages, and similar land-use patterns. (Table 1) An introduction to each volume will focus on multi-regional issues (overview of history, ethnography, and research techniques) followed by individual regional monographs (some complete, some unfinished) covering languages, environment, and early expedition, mission, historic, and ethnographic sources, as applicable. A comprehensive bibliography will conclude each volume.

Volume 9, entitled South San Joaquin Analytical Zone, almost complete, includes the southern portion of the Yokuts language family area as well as the western Mono and Tubatalabal language areas. It contains 56 regions covering portions of Merced, Fresno, Madera, Kings, Tulare, and Kern counties.

The CDM is also presented in a collaborative Wiki website (currently accessible through farwestern.com) which consists of several major elements—ACCESS data tables, GIS maps, and narrative text. In this format, the ethnographic data are available to scholars from academia, tribal communities, and agencies that can locate and organize data effectively, add new information as it becomes available, and generate feature articles that can include maps, pictures, or cross-references.

This series has been produced by Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., with support from a number of district environmental branches within the California Department of Transportation.