Contents
The Ohlone people occupied the San Francisco and Monterey Bay regions for thousands of years. Part 1 of a 2-part series.
In the first part of this series, we will discuss the Ohlone name, their traditional territory, Ohlone languages, housing, food and clothes.
The Ohlone Name
The greater San Francisco Bay region is home to some of the world’s biggest companies: Apple, Google, Facebook. It is also home to over 7 million people. Yet one thing that is easily forgotten, is that for several thousand years, it has been traditional territory of a people known as the Ohlone.
Today term “Ohlone” actually refers to a number of native groups of the north-central coast of California who spoke similar languages, and who eventually became part of the Spanish missions.
The Spanish referred to these people as costeños (coastal people), and anthropologists later anglicized that to “Costanoan.” Today the term “Ohlone,” is more common, and comes from a village on the San Mateo County coast, whose name was ʔolxon, sometimes spelled Alchone, Olchone, Oljon or Ol-hon.
What Language Did the Ohlone Speak?
The Ohlone spoke many different languages. Scholars today believe that there were around 40 different languages spoken in Ohlone territory when the Spanish arrived. Some of these languages are Karkin, Chochenyo, Tamyen and Rumsen, and they correspond to tribal groups present during the 1770s.
Anthropologists today apply the names Ohlone or Costanoan to people who spoke these related languages. Early explorers noted that there were a great number of different languages among the natives they encountered, though the languages were very similar, like Spanish is to French. Mission records show that at each mission, multiple languages were spoken by the native people there.
First Contact with the Spanish
The first contact between Ohlone groups and the Spanish probably took place in 1602, when Sebastián de Vizcaíno’s expedition arrived in the Monterey area, searching for a safe harbor for Spanish ships. After Vizcaíno, however, the Spanish paid little attention to Alta California, until 1769, when Gaspar de Portola’s expedition arrived in the Monterey area and established the presidio there. That is when continuous contact between the Olhlone and the Spanish really began.
Ohlone Territory
The Ohlone occupied the area from the northeastern extensions of the San Francisco Bay to just south of Monterey Bay, in what are today the counties of Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Cruz, San Benito and northern Monterey.
The Ohlone were a numerous people in the region. Even in the early days of Spanish exploration, travelers such as Pedro Fages and Fr. Pedro Font mentioned seeing a large number of native settlements. In 1775, Juan Bautista de Anza mentioned seeing ten villages in the area between what is today Palo Alto and San José, some with as many as twenty homes each.
Geography
The climate of the north-central California coast is generally mild. It is characterized by cool, rainy winters, and hot summers, though areas closer to the coast are naturally cooler and more moist, while inland valleys tend to be hotter and drier.
Ohlone territory is home to a large variety of geographical features, from mountains such as Mt. Diablo and Mt. Umunum, to valleys like the Livermore and Santa Clara Valley.
Of course one of the most important aspects of this area is a long stretch of the Pacific Coastline. The two main bodies of water are the San Francisco Bay and the Monterey Bay. The Ohlone also lived along a number of river systems, such as the San Lorenzo and the Carmel rivers, as well seasonal creeks and streams.
Ohlone Houses
In pre-mission times, the Ohlone lived in circular dwellings made of branches from willow trees or other plant materials, such as tule. The branches would be lashed or woven onto a framework of thin poles stuck into the ground supported by a circle of stones. In more forested or mountainous areas, they would also make houses out of redwood or other types of bark. Theses houses would usually have an opening in the top to let smoke from the fire escape. During hot periods of the year, families would often construct more open brush huts or ramadas near the ocean or river shores. During colder times of the year, they would move inland.
Ohlone homes were meant to be temporary — when it was time to move to another location, or when the houses became to old and dirty, they would be dismantled and burned.
The Ohlone also built structures for ceremonies, such as the temescal or sweat lodge, or larger buildings for dances or community gatherings.
When the Ohlone came into contact with the Spanish, over time, most joined the mission system. In many of the missions, Ohlone would move their homes close to the mission church. Some families that became more prominent at the mission would eventually build and move into permanent adobe homes.
What did the Ohlone Eat?
Prior to contact with the Spanish, the Ohlone followed a hunter-gather lifestyle, as did most California Indians. They harvested a large variety of plants and animals that grew in northern California.
Plants
Acorns were probably the most important food eaten by the Ohlone. They often used poles to knock the acorns loose from the oak trees. Once they had gathered enough acorns, they could grind them into a paste. Then they could either make a mush or a type of bread. Juan Crespí and Pedro Font, two Franciscan priests who accompanied Spanish explorers and wrote diaries of their expeditions, spoke of the Ohlone making “tamales” out of acorns.
One of the most important things about preparing acorns was to leech all of the bitterness out of them by soaking the paste in water. Otherwise the acorns could be very unpleasant to eat. Some of the soldiers of Gaspar de Portolá’s expedition mentioned getting indigestion and even fever after eating acorns.
In addition to acorns, the Ohlone gathered and roasted a number of different plant seeds, and ate the nuts of the buckeye tree. They also collected berries, roots (like soaproot, and those of the wild onion and cattail), as well as wild carrots. One of the ways the Ohlone kept the land fertile was by doing periodic burns. These burns would allow them to clear away underbrush and permit seeds to germinate.
Hunting
Another advantage of periodic burns was that it could be an effective way to remove hiding places for game. The Ohlone were hunters, and would hunt large animals, such as the grizzly bears that used to roam the hills of Alta California. The would also hunt elk, deer and antelope. When hunting deer, one of their most effective techniques was to wear a deer’s head as a disguise. They also hunted smaller mammals such as rabbits, squirrel and mice.
Waterfowl such as geese and ducks were an important part of the Ohlone diet, and they were masters at making nets to capture the birds. They also trapped or ensnared smaller birds, like quail and mourning doves. When hunting birds, the Ohlone also used decoys: a dead goose stuffed with straw could be very effective for attracting other geese.
In the rivers and streams, the Ohlone caught steelhead, salmon, sturgeon and other varieties of fish. On the coast, they hunted sea lions, or obtained meat from whale carcasses that washed up on the shore. According to early European visitors, the Ohlone were very fond of shellfish, particularly mussels.
During the mission period, the Ohlone became skilled farmers and ranchers, and learned to eat other foods, such as beef, fruits and vegetables and grains, in addition to their traditional foods.
What did the Ohlone Wear?
Thanks to the mild weather, Ohlone clothing prior to contact with the Spanish was fairly simple. Ohlone women often wore skirts that could be made of the skins of animals, such as deer or rabbit, or plant fibers woven together. They would also wear abalone or other types of shells as jewelry.
In warmer weather, men generally went about completely naked. During colder times of the year, they would at times wear a loincloth made of animals skins. Like almost all California native people, they would also wear rabbit skin blankets. Men would dress up by painting their bodies and wearing feathers or other objects for ceremonial dances or other special occasions.
Both men and women would sometimes wear tattoos or other types of body paint. It was customary to wear long hair, but sometimes it would be cut shorter, to about 4 or 5 inches.
When both men and women entered the missions, they were given a shirt with long sleeves called a cotón, and a blanket. Both were made of wool. Women were also given a woolen petticoat and men received a breechclout to cover their groin area. Each year everyone would receive a new set of garments.
Those who took up certain occupations, such as vaqueros or cowboys, would wear clothes appropriate to their jobs. Vaqueros, for example, would wear a broad-brimmed hat, trousers and boots suitable for horsemanship.
As the years passed, and the Ohlone became more accustomed to dealings with soldiers and settlers, many would adopt clothes similar to what was worn throughout Latin America.
Read Part 2 here.
To learn more, I recommend you pick up one or more of the following books:
The Costanoan Indians (Local History Studies Vol. 18)
The Ohlone: Past and Present. Native Americans of the San Francisco Bay Region
Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 8: California
California Indians and Their Environment: An Introduction
Do you have a question? Write it in the comments section below.
Thanks Damian for sharing your knowledge and discoveries with us.