The Early Visitors: The Paleo Period
Initial Settlers and the Subsequent Archaic Period
Late Prehistoric Period
The Spanish Arrive
The Gold Rush and the American Push West
Recent and Current Times
References and Links

Explore more than twelve thousand years of human history in the Antelope Valley in California's western Mojave Desert:

Over the past twelve to thirteen thousand years, various peoples have lived or traveled through the Antelope Valley in California's western Mojave Desert. These people left no written record of their language and culture, so we rely on the archaeological record to understand how they lived. Because this is an overview, time frames and period features discussed are broad, general, and approximate, and they vary from one locality to another.

The western Mojave Desert is part of the Great Basin, a vast region that covers 400,000 square miles in western North America. It extends from the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range to the Rocky Mountains. It encompasses all of Nevada and Utah, most of the western half of Colorado, and portions of California, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, northern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico. Many of the Native Americans who lived and traveled through the Antelope Valley are related to peoples throughout the Great Basin.

The Early Visitors: The Paleo Period

(Text that appears in red indicates basic characteristics of the various culture periods. Text in blue denotes important additional details.)

Although there is increasing evidence that human occupation of the Mojave Desert may have taken place much earlier, it is known that the Antelope Valley has been inhabited for at least the past twelve to thirteen thousand years. From the Early Prehistoric period to the present time, the Antelope Valley has been home to many different groups of Native Americans.

Inhabitants of Antelope Valley who arrived as the Ice Age (Pleistocene era) was ending are referred to by anthropologists as PaleoIndians. These peoples were believed to have been hunters of the large game animals (such as mammoths and mastodons) that had become extinct by around 10,000 to 9,000 BCE. Few traces of these groups remain, but scattered evidence implies that their quests for food resources may have required frequent or continuous moving over sizable distances.

Among these hunting people's weapons were spears with large "fluted" flaked stone projectile points such as the Clovis and Folsom points shown here. The atlatl, a special spear-throwing device that greatly increased the projectile's thrust and force, was of great strategic importance during this period. Its use, in fact, continued over the next several thousand years.

Initial Settlers and the Subsequent Archaic Period

(Text that appears in red indicates basic characteristics of the various culture periods. Text in blue denotes important additional details.)

Lakeshore Life

As the Ice Age ended, great lakes covered large portions of the valley.


Lake Mojave series projectile point
Lake Mojave Series circa 8,000-7,000 to 6,000 BCE

Lake Mojave point

Silver Lake projectile point

Archaeological evidence reveals that from around 8,000 to 6,000 BCE, many people camped around the shores of these lakes. Groundstone implements used for processing plant materials found on these ancient lake terrace sites indicate increased dependence on plants as food sources. However, hunting remained important. Changes in projectile point shapes, sizes, weights, and hafting methods signify technological changes in weaponry.

These early settlers of the Antelope Valley hunted faster and smaller "modern" species such as deer and antelope, along with small mammals, fish, and water fowl. There has long been speculation that these lake terrace inhabitants, who formed the earliest "settlements" (long-term camps) in California and the western Great Basin, may have been from, or ancestral to, the Hokan linguistic family. (Present-day Hokan speakers include such groups as the Chumash, Washoe, southern California Yuman groups, and Pomo peoples.)

The Climate Becomes Warmer and Dryer

During a lengthy period beginning around 5,000 BCE, an episode of intense climatic warming was responsible for major changes in human settlement patterns and lifeways. The large lakes dried up and their associated resources were gone. Inhabitants were forced to seek living sites near dependable water sources—springs, streams, or small, isolated lakes. Larger groups began to establish more permanent settlements near these less abundant water supplies, while foraging for food (both plant and animal) in wide areas around these semi-permanent dwelling sites. Temporary campsites were used for long-distance hunting and gathering forays, while the larger residential sites were moved only when more promising dwelling locations were found.

 


Pinto Series circa 5,000 to 2,000 BCE

 

 


Archers, Little Petroglyph Canyon

Plant processing continued to increase in importance in everyday life. The prominence of dart points (as opposed to the larger spear points of previous periods) implies both improved hunting technology and expanded variety in animal species hunted. As settlement patterns became more sedentary, evidence of more complex social and religious patterns began to emerge, including rock art related to belief systems.

By 4,000 years ago, (around 2,000 BCE) people of the western Great Basin were skilled in hunting and gathering strategies known as "seasonal rounds." During any given year, groups would travel from permanent or semi-permanent (winter) villages to temporary locations (or higher elevation summer villages) to collect seasonally available plant and animal food supplies. Perhaps as early as 1500 BCE, the acorn, obtained from oak species in foothill canyons, had become the major dietary staple in the Antelope Valley and other western Mojave Desert areas, as well as in most of the Californian region. Seasonal subsistence techniques remained in place in the Great Basin and California throughout the remaining prehistoric and proto-historic periods.

From 2,000 BCE to CE 400/500, hunting weaponry took on distinctive characteristics. Stone projectile points for both darts and spears were carefully and beautifully flaked from a wide variety of materials in a considerable range of shapes. Among the most distinctive of these are the "Elko Series" types. In addition to these more diagnostic forms, classic lanceolate ("leaf" shaped) points (from earlier origins ) were also prominent. Obsidian seems to have been a material of choice.


Elko Series projectile points, circa 2,000 BCE to CE 500

Elko point

During this period, the mountain sheep was one of the animals of major significance. Hunting camps, dating to from 4,000 to 5,000 years ago and bearing mountain sheep remains, have been discovered at a variety of mountain elevations (some as high as almost 13,000 feet above sea level). Many prehistoric rock art sites in vicinities near Antelope Valley dramatically emphasize mountain sheep figures and motifs. Although it is generally accepted that these rock art expressions are ceremonially linked to mountain sheep hunting cultures, researchers are in disagreement regarding specific or intended meaning[s] of the images.

Major Trade Routes

It is important to note that lifeways in Antelope Valley may have differed in some respects from the classic Great Basin culture models, due to two specific geographic characteristics: (1) the Antelope Valley provides a natural access corridor that linked the California coast with early trails that extended south to Mexico, north into California's Central Valley, and east as far as the Southwest culture region. (2) The Antelope Valley had an abundance of natural springs. This fortuitous combination resulted in the flourishing of major trade and interaction routes through the Antelope Valley as early as at least 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. Consequently, a number of sizeable permanent villages persisted over several millennia, because the Antelope Valley residents could take advantage of both coastal and desert resources and adaptation. (Indeed they may have become somewhat affluent "facilitators" in the extensive trade networking system during that time.)


Eastgate/Rose Springs Series projectile points, circa CE 500 to 800/900

Rose Springs point

By approximately CE 400 to 500, Antelope Valley residents were more dependent upon gathering than hunting. However, hunting itself had been revolutionized by the introduction of bow and arrow technology, which largely (although not totally) replaced the use of spears and darts. Markedly smaller projectile points (such as the Eastgate/Rose Springs types) were clearly the dominant missiles from circa CE 500 through CE 800/ 900. The abundance and variety of stone implements in general, along with food remains from archaeological sites dating to this period, attest to intensive processing of both plant and animal resources.

The Late Prehistoric Period

Most archaeological accounts of Late Great Basin Prehistory emphasize evidence of a major migration, circa CE 1000, of Shoshonean-speaking peoples (of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family) spreading through the Great Basin and moving south and west through southern California. This movement, which ostensibly displaced prior resident groups and effected dramatic and rapid culture changes, is referred to by anthropologists as the “Shoshonean Wedge." One of the archaeological indicators that support this theory is the proliferation (after CE 1000, in many localities) of distinctive arrow point types known as the "Cottonwood Series" and the "Desert Series."


Cottonwood Series projectile points

However, in the Antelope Valley and many other locations in southern California, evidence does not fit this pattern. Rather, it supports the idea of Shoshonean presence over a much longer period (at least the past two thousand years), characterized by long-established traditions (cultural continuity) and change over time of a more gradual nature. (One suggested possible explanation is that groups of the "Takic" family of Shoshonean speakers began migrations from a common homeland much earlier than did those of the "Numic" family.) These theoretical complexities are the subject of continuous research, debate, and refinement by Great Basin scholars.

In any case, for Late Prehistoric occupants of Antelope Valley, subsistence patterns established in earlier periods--seasonal hunting and gathering, combined with trading, remained intact. The Shoshoneans demonstrated great adaptability and continuously improved and refined their technological skills.

The Antelope Valley was occupied and/or used by at least four distinct groups of Shoshonean speakers:

(1) Serrano (Takic), who lived near the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and were related to valley floor dwellers (sometimes called "Vanyume");
(2) Kitanemuk (Takic), who tended to concentrate in the western portion of the valley;
(3) Tataviam (Takic), located in the vicinity of the Santa Clarita River; and
(4) Kawaiisu (Numic), who were centered near to, and east of, present day Tehachapi.

The groups traded and interacted with each other. Additionally, each group had its own trade and alliance relationships with other groups who lived outside the valley. (For example, there seems to have been much Chumash influence upon the Kitanemuk people.)

The Spanish Arrive

Shoshonean residents of the Antelope Valley were encountered by the Spanish intruders who began exploring Antelope Valley about four hundred years ago. The first fully documented contact came in 1776 when a Franciscan priest, Father Francisco Garces, came through the Mojave Desert on his way to Monterey.


Mission San Fernando in 1865
Courtesy Bancroft Library

Garces's diary of his trip, one of the few such written accounts in existence, has been used extensively by researchers to help identify the cultural and linguistic origins of the people living in the Antelope Valley at that time. Initially, contact with the Spaniards was seemingly limited and benign. Increasingly, however, the people of the valley were being "resettled" to the San Fernando Mission. In 1808, a Spanish military expedition was dispatched to the valley. By 1811, according to Mission records, "resettlement " of at least two entire villages had been accomplished. Disease, forced labor, Spanish occupation of tribal lands, and the Europeans' ruthless disregard of indigenous cultural practices and traditions were all contributors to the dramatic decline of Native American populations and their societal structures, not only in the Antelope Valley, but throughout all of California. By the time California became a U.S. territory in 1848, few Antelope Valley Native American settlers remained.

The Gold Rush and the Push West

The 1849 California Gold Rush, originating in northern California, had further grave consequences for Native American groups throughout California. The rapid decimation of Native American populations in northern locations cut off centuries-old trading relationships. As the influx of gold seekers accelerated, many of these disillusioned immigrant miners filtered into and settled (primarily as farmers) in the Central Valley and southern California. To make the most desirable land available to the European settlers, the U.S. government began a program of relocation of the Native American inhabitants.


An American survey party in the Tejon Pass, around 1854
Courtesy Bancroft Library

In 1854, the Sebastian Reservation and nearby Fort Tejon were built in the Tehachapi Mountains, which form the western border of the Antelope Valley. According to the U.S. Department of the Army, their purpose was to "protect the Indians." By 1864, most of the 1,000 people who had been "relocated" to Sebastian had deserted the reservation. Some individuals and families returned to the Antelope Valley and the Tehachapi vicinity, where they formed small communities and attempted to continue traditional cultural practices to the limited degree to which it was possible. In August 1864, the Sebastian Reservation was closed, and the remaining Native Americans were tranferred to Tule River Reservation.

During the mid to late 1800s, when population of local Native American groups was sparse, peoples of the Chemehuevi Tribe (whose own territory lies further east and north), visited and utilized Antelope Valley and its vicinities to expand their hunting and gathering opportunities, particularly during times of drought.

Recent and Current Times

Spiritual rituals have always been an important aspect of life for Antelope Valley Native American groups. Original drawing by Jonathan Baker.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most Native American residents remaining in the Antelope Valley blended, to some degree, into the European culture expanding all around them. Knowledge of traditional lifeways was passed orally through families, but the binding group ties of pre-contact times had disappeared. Intermarriage with other culture groups further eroded what had been the sustaining cultural base.


Ceremonial Dancer

World War II and its aftermath brought a new migration of Native American residents to the Antelope Valley. Many who had served in the military chose not to return to their former reservation homes and remained in Los Angeles and its surrounding vicinities. In addition, "Urban Indian programs” relocated many people from their homelands into the Los Angeles area during this period. A number of these Native American families migrated from the Los Angeles basin to the Antelope Valley over several decades in search of jobs, affordable homes, and as an escape from problems related to congested city living.

There are no formal reservations or rancherias in the Antelope Valley. However, its Native American population was estimated in the late 1990s to be approximately 16,000. These peoples represent tribes and groups from throughout the United States and other areas in the Western hemisphere. Several intertribal groups have established councils in Antelope Valley. Periodic local cultural events, such as gatherings, powwows, and cultural fairs, highlight the continuing effort by the Native American residents of Antelope Valley to preserve and revitalize their cultural identity.

The Native American people remain an enduring element in this diverse society. We all benefit from their incredible history and tenacity:

  • Their long occupancy marks the landscape with projectile points that date from at least 12,000 to 100 years ago, deep food processing mortar holes in bedrock outcroppings, fascinating petroglyphs and pictographs, and traces of ancient village sites, all attesting to the adaptive ingenuity of these ancestral groups.
  • Their example of cultural perseverance through time, in the face of all odds, is remarkable. Currently, they are working to strengthen their cultural base through legislative, business, and educational efforts.
  • Their ongoing contributions toward maintaining and reinforcing their heritage through music, dance, oral history, gatherings, and many other traditional cultural expressions are tributes to human endurance and continuity.

References and Links

The Reference section provides sources for more comprehensive research of lifeways and cultural practices of the groups addressed. A major goal of this brief guide is to motivate the reader to access the wealth of fascinating and significant existing literature regarding these remarkable peoples.

NOTE: A large number of resources exist, and many were used in the compilation of the information contained in this booklet. The listings below represent a few of the most basic pertinent references.

Bean, Lowell John and Charles R. Smith
1978 Serrano. In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 8, California. William C. Sturtevant, general editor, Robert F. Heizer, volume editor, pp. 570-574. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Bettinger, Robert L.
1978 Alternative Adaptive Strategies in the Prehistoric Great Basin. Journal of Anthropological Research 34: 27-46.

Bettinger, R. L. and M.A. Baumhoff
1982 The Numic Spread: Great Basin Cultures in Competition. American Antiquity 47(3): 485-503.

Blackburn, Thomas C. and Lowell J. Bean
1978 Kitanemuk. In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 8,
California. William C. Sturtevant, general editor, Robert F. Heizer, volume editor, pp. 564-569. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Davis, James T.
1961 Trade Routes and Economic Exchange among the Indians of California. Berkeley: University of California Archaeological Survey Reports 54.

Earle, David
1990-present Personal Communication. (Ethnological/Ethnographic Consultant.)
2001 New Evidence on the Political Geography of the Western Mojave Desert. Lancaster, CA: Antelope Valley Archaeological Society, Occasional Paper No. 2.

King, Chester and Thomas C. Blackbum
1978 Tataviam. In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 8, California. William C. Sturtevant, general editor, Robert F. Heizer, volume editor, pp. 535-537. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Kroeber, Alfred L.
1925 Handbook of the Indians of California. Washington D.C.: Bureau
of American Ethnology, Bulletin 78.

Robinson, Roger W. (editor)
1987 Prehistory of the Antelope Valley, California: An Overview. Lancaster, CA: Antelope Valley Archaeological Society, Occasional Paper No.1.

Strong, William D.
1972 Aboriginal Society in Southern California. Banning, CA: Malki Museum Press.

Sutton, Mark Q.
1988 An Introduction to the Archaeology of the Western Mojave Desert, California. Archives of California Prehistory, No. 14. Salinas: Coyote Press.

Warren, Claude N.
1983 The Desert Region. In California Archaeology. Michael J. Moratto, editor, pp. 339-430. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.

Zigmond, Maurice L.
1981 Kawaiisu Ethnobotany. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
1986 Kawaiisu. In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11, Great Basin. William C. Sturtevant, general editor, Walter d'Azevedo, volume editor, pp. 398-411. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Websites

Anthropology Department, Cabrillo College
Resources on California Native peoples
http://www.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/~crsmith/calindwwwresources.html

National Park Service
A history of American Indians in California
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/5views/5views1a.htm

Native American Cultural Center
California tribal group map
http://www.nativecc.com/CaliforniaMap.html

University of California, Riverside
Bibliographies and links on California Indians, access to archives of early material
http://americanindian.ucr.edu/references/index.html

Other Native American cultural centers, museums and parks to visit in the region

Lancaster Museum and Art Gallery
44801 Sierra Hwy
Lancaster, CA 93534

(661) 723-6250
Miles from AVIM: 20 miles
https://www.lancastermoah.org/

Victor Valley Museum
11873 Apple Valley Rd.
Apple Valley, Ca 92308
(760) 240-2111
(760) 240-5290
Miles from AVIM: 49 miles
www.vvmuseum.com

Haramokngna American Indian Cultural Center
State Hwy 2 and Mt. Wilson Red Box Rd.
La Cañada-Flintridge, CA 91011
Miles from AVIM: 52 miles
www.haramokngna.org

Mojave River Valley Museum
270 Virginia Way
P. O. Box 1282
Barstow, CA 92312
760-256-5452
Miles from AVIM: 68 miles
www.mojaverivervalleymuseum.org

Tomo-Kahni State Historic Park
112 F Street, Suite A
Tehachapi, CA 93561
(661) 822-3720
Miles from AVIM: 68 miles
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=610

Tehachapi Museum
310 S. Green St.
Tehachapi, CA 93561
(661) 822-8152
Miles from AVIM: 69 miles
www.tehachapimuseum.org

Red Rock Canyon State Park
Highway 14
Cantil, CA 93519
(661) 942-0662
Miles from AVIM: 72 miles
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=631

Sherman Indian Museum
9010 Magnolia Avenue
Riverside, CA 92503
(951)276-6719
Miles from AVIM: 74 miles
www.shermanindianmuseum.org

Fort Tejon State Historic Park
4201 Fort Tejon Rd.
Lebec, CA 93243
(661) 248-6692
Miles from AVIM: 75 miles
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=585

Los Angeles State Historic Park
North Spring St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(818) 880-0350
Miles from AVIM: 79 miles
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=22272

Southwest Museum
234 Museum Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90065
(323) 221-2164
Miles from AVIM: 80 miles
www.autrynationalcenter.org/southwest

Ya'i Heki' Regional Indian Museum
Lake Perris SRA
17801 Lake Perris Dr.
Perris, CA 92571
(951) 657-0676
Miles from AVIM: 82 miles
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=651

Malki Museum
P.O. Box 578
Banning, CA 92220
(951) 849-7289
Miles from AVIM: 92 miles
www.malkimuseum.org

Dorothy Ramon Learning Center
P.O. Box 1510
Banning, CA 92220
Miles from AVIM: 92 miles
www.dorothyramon.org

Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center
Via Goleta
Newbury Park, CA
(805) 375-1930
Miles from AVIM: 97 miles
www.satwiwa.org

Maturango Museum
100 E. Las Flores Ave.
Ridgecrest, CA 93555
(760) 375-6900
Miles from AVIM: 98 miles
www.maturango.org

Agua Caliente Cultural Museum
219 South Palm Canyon Dr.
Palm Springs, CA
(760) 323-0151
Miles from AVIM: 110 miles
www.accmuseum.org

Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park
Painted Caves Rd.
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
(805) 733-3713
Miles from AVIM: 155 miles
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=602