Construction and Purpose of Chumash Tomol - Coursework Example

Chumash Tomol Introduction Among all the material possession that the Chumash Indians is the canoe or the tomol, it was an item much valued than land house; they called it “house of the sea”. It was far more treasured that only the rich and distinguished artisans could own it, at manufacture; no one would have view of the tomol except the artisans’ apprentices1. Since the Santa Barbara Channel, where many of the Chumash lived, was outside the redwood belt, they depended upon pieces of driftwood1. They split these into boards, which they carefully trimmed, smoothed, notched, tied together and caulked with a variety of special tools. The dimensions of the canoe aimed at depth and speed with a minimum of materials. The resulting vessel was fully sea-worthy and it impressed even the early Spanish explorers. It could be used for fishing, transportation, and commerce around the islands. It was so efficient that some of the mission padres ordered construction to continue1. The Chumash were a North American maritime culture, originally based on the mainland and Channel Islands on both sides of the Santa Barbara Channel in California. Even though the culture of Chumash living in the area today is not fully defined by maritime activities, the area is particularly rich in marine resources, and the Chumash used at least three kinds of boats to exploit them2. At the time, cultural devastation was so rapid that canoe building was a dying art by the mid-nineteenth century. Fortunately, Fernando Librado, a Ventureno Chumash and one of the last members of the Brotherhood-of-the-Canoe, lived to the age of 111, and even more fortunately, that ubiquitous ethnographer, J.P. Harrington2, discovered him. The two collaborated in constructing a replica of the plank canoe, which was exhibited for the first time during the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego on January 1, 19152. If Harrington had not taken detailed notes at the time, the elaborate art of canoe building would have been lost forever. As it was, it was moribund for fifty years until the vast collection of Harrington material became available. The editors sifted through box loads of Harrington's data in compiling the present volume, only those who have worked with these multilingual, cryptic and digressive notes can fully appreciate such a task2. The book begins with a synoptic introduction. Precise instructions on plank canoe building follow, augmented by chapters on the tule balsa and the dugout canoe. There is an additional section on the uses of the canoe, one on myths and stories concerning the canoe, and another on the abovementioned Brotherhood-of-the-Canoe, the editors modestly attribute authorship of these chapters to Fernando or Harrington and Fernando. They conclude with an extensive bibliography and a set of photographs2. The data on the construction of the canoe was tested by an actual construction of an actual canoe from driftwood under the sponsorship of the American Revolution Bicentennial Committee of Santa Barbara. The canoe builders were Chumash descendants, and the resulting craft, named the Helek, has been to sea many times2. The Chumash once occupied a region stretching along the coast from San Luis Obispo to Malibu, including the four northern Channel Islands – their ancestral homeland. Eleven villages were once situated on Santa Cruz, eight on Santa Rosa, and two on San Miguel. Historically, they were one of the largest tribes on North America3. The tomol is considered one of the oldest existing examples of ocean-faring watercraft in North America. Once reaping the abundant natural resources provided by the ocean and coastal mountains, the tomol linked islanders with their 150 mainland villages that ranged from the coast and into the backcountry. 1850s marked the last years of tomol use in fishing and trade before its reinvention in 20014. Historically, tomols ranged from eight to thirty feet long, constructed from redwood trees found adrift in the ocean or strewn across the beach. Each was made of a single piece of wood for the floor with three or four rows of sturdy planks for sidings. Milkweed, yucca, dogbane or sinew from mule deer was used as cordage binding the tomol together. Yop, a glue consisting of a mixture of natural resources – pine pitch and asphaltum from bubbling oil seeps was used to seal planks together, this was like a super glue of the tim3. In Chumash culture, boat builders occupied the top most hierarchy in Chumash social classes. Probably the first to appear was the tule reed "balsa," a raft of bundled reeds. It seems likely that tule balsas provided the means by which the islands were settled some 12,000 years ago, long before Chumash culture arose4. Bundle boats are among the simplest of all watercraft to produce, and the main building materials were readily available in large quantities on the mainland shores of the Santa Barbara Channel, and in smaller amounts on the islands. In addition to large beds of reeds, naturally-occurring tar, in the form of asphaltum, is found in the area, and the Chumash used this to coat the reed bundles and increase their water resistance5. Even with a tar coating, tule reeds are a short-lived commodity, so hard evidence for the use of such craft so long ago is hard to come by. The early occupation of the islands, and evidence of cross-channel trade that followed it but predates the probable development of other boat types, indicate that some sort of watercraft was in regular use. The excavations of ancient dwelling sites indicates that the Chumash diet included marine animals that would have been difficult to obtain without the use of a boat5. Tule reed balsas were still in use at the beginning of the historic era when the Spanish first explored and later colonized the area. They were about 2.5 meters long and capable of carrying two or three people. They were used primarily for nearshore and coastal fishing and transport, and occasionally for cross-channel crossings. The Chumash also had dugout canoes, but confined them to nearshore and coastal use4. The boat for which the Chumash are best known was a large and highly capable sewn-plank canoe called a tomol. The tomol has been called "the single most important, valuable property in the Chumash economy" and "one of the most sophisticated technological innovations in precolonial North America. It was laborious-to-build large watercraft of the New World requiring costly materials and some 500 man-days of skilled labor to construct6. As an unusually expensive construction, it is not surprising that the tomol played a central role in Chumash culture. Its development around 500 AD gave rise to the culture's central economic activities; they were able to fish large, powerful marine food species and in trade. It defined important aspects of cultural hierarchy, including the creation of economic elites and the centralization of power in chiefdoms6 Construction of a Chumash Tomol. Lines for the replica tomol shown above based on a boat built in 1912 by an old Chumash master builder. The replica boat was 26.5 feet LOA7 Tomol construction was controlled by a guild and supervised by a master builder, known as the altomolich, who directed a building crew of six in a range of skilled tasks, including getting out and fitting planks, fastening, caulking, and decorating. In control of such a critical economic activity, the altomolich was of high status and well compensated7. Only chiefs and altomolichs could afford to own tomols, and sometimes the two roles were held by a single individual7. Tomols ranged from 3.7 to 9 meters in length, with most between 6 and 7 meters. They were double-ended, with flat bottoms and lightly-curved sides that sloped sharply outward. Those of the most common size could carry two tons of cargo or 12 passengers; although far, more passengers could be carried in a pinch. During the Chumash revolt in 1824, two tomols carried 50 adults and children, including crew, cross-channel from Mission Santa Barbara to escape from Spanish forces7. The tomol was frameless, with no internal structural ribs and was made from driftwood logs, mainly redwood or from pine that grew in the Santa Barbara and Ventura backcountry and which washed up on the beaches during winter storms; it was collected from the beaches and brought to the villages to dry8. Holes were bored in the hull planks using had drills tipped with chert or bone. The planks were then laid edge to edge and then skillfully fastened together with red milkweed fiber cords passed through the small drill holes7. Once fitted and lashed, caulking tule, which was the heart of dry tule rush, was forced into the cracks on the outside of the canoe hull. Then melted asphalt was poured along the edges where the planks came together and into the holes where the cords or thongs were tied8. Next, a structural crossplank was added at midship to reinforce the tomol. Finally, splashboards were attached to the stern, prow, and gunwales. When all structural elements were completed, the tomol was sanded and painted with red ochre, which acted as a sealant that greatly enhanced the integrity of the boat. Finally, shell inlay was added for decoration to the outside in traditional geometric designs9. The wood for canoe making was very carefully selected: only wood with a straight grain and no knots was used, since knots would dry out and crack causing the boat to leak10. The Indians split the logs into planks by using whalebone wedges or deer antler, carefully shaped, trimmed and leveled them with Pismo clamshell adzes and chert knives. After the planks were split those selected for hull boards were beveled and finished with sharkskin sandpaper10. Crews ranged from three to six men including a man assigned to bailing, for the tomol leaked constantly. Paddlers knelt on grass mats in the bottom, using double-bladed paddles with very long shafts and small, gourd-shaped blades10. Tomols were launched from open beaches. They were light, and were simply lifted and placed in water deep enough to float them before they were loaded. One man remained in the water to help hold the boat bow-on to waves and give the boat a good shove to get it started. Paddle strokes were coordinated among the crew. It is reported that a good crew could paddle all day, repeating the song over and over. Uses of Tomol All common fishing methods were conducted from the tomol: hook and line (using hooks made of shell), netting, trapping, harpooning, and collecting by hand. Large, aggressive species, including swordfish, marlin, tuna, shark and giant sea bass were caught, as were anchovy, abalone, and sea mammals11. The tomol made possible regular cross-channel trade in large, heavy, bulky items and nonessentials. Mainland exports to the islands included stone mortars and vessels, stone tool cores, bundles of milkweed fiber used for binding, including stitching the tomol's planks, seeds, acorns, deer, bows and arrows, and large chunks of asphaltum9. Reverse trade consisted mainly of finished products of stone or bone, baskets, and otter pelts, considerable non-trade travel also occurred, probably for social, matrimonial and ceremonial purposes, the last of which might include the movement of an entire village and fares were sometimes paid with shell bead money10. Tomols were very light (two men could carry one) and seaworthy. Several times a year the coastal people made the round trip of over 100 miles to Catalina Island for steatite and to the even more distant San Nicolas Island, a round trip of over 130 miles12. Possession of a tomol was a sign of high position in Chumash and Gabrielino society, and only male members of the upper class were allowed to own them. These boats were respected and cared for and were used for many generations and often were passed on from generation to generation1. Reference 1. Gamble, Lynn H. 2002. Archaeological Evidence for the Origin of the Plank Canoe in North America. American Antiquity 67(2):301-315. 2. Kettman, Max "A Tree Carving in California: Ancient Astronomers?" Time Magazine 9 February 2010 3. Timbrook, Jan (1990). "Ethnobotany of Chumash Indians, California," based on collections by John P. Harrington". Economic Botany 44 (2): 236–253. 4. Arnold, Jeanne E. 1995. "Transportation Innovation and Social Complexity among Maritime Hunter-Gatherer Societies." American Anthropologist 97:733-747. 5. Brown, Alan K. 1967. "The Aboriginal Population of the Santa Barbara Channel". University of California Archaeological Survey Reports 69:1-99. 6. Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-19-513877-1 7. Hudson, D. Travis, Janice Timbrook, and Melissa Rempe. 1977. Tomol: Chumash Watercraft as Described in the Ethnographic Notes of John P. Harrington. Anthropological Papers No. 9, edited by Lowell J. Bean and Thomas C. Blackburn. Socorro, NM: Ballena Press. 8. King, Chester D. 1991. Evolution of Chumash Society: A Comparative Study of Artifacts Used for Social System Maintenance in the Santa Barbara Channel Region before A.D. 1804. New York and London, Garland Press. 9. Cook, Sherburne F. 1976. The Conflict between the California Indian and White Civilization. University of California Press, Berkeley. 10. Timbrook and Melissa Rampe. Art work by Jane Jolley Howorth. Santa Barbara: Ballena Press, 1978. Bibliography. Appendix. Illustrations. Photographs. 207 11. Kettman, Max "A Tree Carving in California: Ancient Astronomers?" Time Magazine 9 February 2010 [1] 12. Glassow, Michael A., Lynn H. Gamble, Jennifer E. Perry, and Glenn S. Russell. 2007. Prehistory of the Northern California Bight and the Adjacent Transverse Ranges. In California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity. Terry L. Jones and Kathryn A. Klar, editors. New York and Plymouth UK: Altamira Press. Read More