Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
three
Big Sur Cultural History &
Lore
I
MAGINE A LAND OF STUNNING BEAUTY
with a wealth of resources, where thousands of
steelhead swim upstream along crystal clear creeks and rivers. Grizzly bears, wolves,
and mountain lions roam sheer mountains that jut toward the heavens. Sea otters, seals,
and whales forage in nearshore waters. Condors, falcons, and eagles soar overhead.
Acorns, wild berries, nutritious herbs, and medicinal plants flourish amid valleys and
hillsides. This vision is perhaps what early Europeans saw as they explored the vast
wilderness inhabited by the American Indians of Big Sur.
American Indians
A
RCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE PROVES
that people have lived along the rugged Big Sur
coast for some 8000 years. When Spanish explorers of the 16th and 17th centuries ar-
rived in Big Sur, the native population numbered nearly 5000 people among three sep-
arate coastal tribes: the Ohlone (from Point Sur north to San Francisco), the Esselen
(from Point Sur south to Big Creek and inland to the upper Carmel River and Arroyo
Seco watersheds), and the Salinian (from Big Creek south to San Carpoforo Creek
and inland from Junipero Serra Peak north up the Salinas River valley). These groups
differed dramatically from one another, adopting different languages, religious beliefs,
customs, and dress.
The American Indians were hunter-gatherers, harvesting a variety of food sources
throughout the year rather than farming. In fall they moved inland to bountiful oak
woodlands to collect acorns, in spring to the valleys and grasslands to harvest nutri-
tious herbs, and in winter to the Pacific to fish and hunt along the rich coastal waters.
Ancient middens speak to this variety in their diet. Lying amid former Indian vil-
lages and encampments, middens are essentially trash heaps, offering a stratified re-
cord of animal bones, shellfish remains, stone tools, weapons, and ornamental artifacts.
