THE KUMEYAAY PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA

by Your Name (boldface)

ANTH 100: Non-Western Cultures and the Western Tradition

Instructor: Dr. Steven R. James

Nov. 10, 2014

INTRODUCTION
In my quest to study the life of the ancient California inhabitants, I visited the San Diego Museum of Man which is an anthropological museum situated in Balboa Park, San Diego, California. The museum was established in the year 1915 as a result of the Panama-California Exposition where several exhibits were displayed with ‘The Story of Man through Ages’ being the first. At the culmination of the exposition, San Diego Museum Association sought to retain the available collection and start a permanent museum. As a result, the collection was named Museum of Man in …show more content…

The fact that Kumeyaay people used these tools means that they at times had to protect themselves from rival communities that they came across. Some of the communities that they might have come into war with include the Kiliwa, Havasupai, Yavapai, and the IpaiTipai (Jake & Hoebel, 1979). The Kumeyaay people could have also participated in games where bows and arrows were used as tools. These games involved shooting targets and were common among boys and young men who made up the warrior group whose sole purpose was to protect the members of the community.
Pestles and mortars are used for domestic grinding purposes even in the modern community. The presence of a pestle and mortar in the exhibition signifies that there were domestic grinding activities among the Kumeyaay. These tools were most likely used to grind and crush tubers and other leafy plants for food. It is documented that the agave was the main source of plant food. The thick fiber of the plant was used to make sandals that were precisely designed for long distance journeys.

b) Sharp stones
The presence of sharp stones in exhibition shows that the Kumeyaay People had lived in the south of California for a long period of time since such tools were used many years ago (Gamble & Michael 2008). Sharp stones were used by the ancient communities like modern knives to skin and slaughter the wild game that