Cahuilla Indian ReportBy: Sarah Day

Settlements

Shelter Trade Food Clothes

Tools Language Population Location

SettlementsThe area where Cahuilla lived was crossed by mountain ranges, canyons, and valleys, and desert. The elevation ranged from 11,000 feet in the San Bernardino Mountains to 273 feet below sea level near the Salton Sea.

ShelterThe Cahuilla built several kinds of shelters. They were made by setting several poles in a line in the ground and topping them with a ridge pole.

Trade

Cahuilla territory was crossed by a major trade route, the Cocopa-Maricopa trail, that brought people from the East to the Pacific Coast. They traded food such as corn, melons, squash, and gourds, turquoise, and oxen.

Food

The men hunted deer and rabbits, the people depended more on desert plants for their food supply. Game animals were not as plentiful in much of the Cahuilla area as they were for many early Californians.

Clothes

Unlike many early Californians, the Cahuilla often wore sandals on their feet. The sole of the sandal was held onto the foot by thongs of cord or deerskin.

Tools The Cahuilla used crushed rock mixed with the clay, to make their shelters stronger. They used grass to make baskets and clay to make pots. They cut a few small trees to make the frame for their homes.

Language

Cahuilla Indians speak Ivatim, a Uto- Aztecan language of Southern California. Only a handful of elders still speak the Cahuilla language.

Population

In 1770 the estimated population was 2,500. In 1910 it was about 800.The population is going down.

Location The Cahuilla Indians lived in the Desert region of the united States. The California desert is hot and dry in summer, and few plants grow in its sandy soil.

Works Cited

• Reflections Our Communites. Orlando FL: Harcourt School Publishers, 2007.

• Shelter Slide Picture: http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/curtis/viewPage.cgi?showp=1&size=2&id=nai.15.port.00000014.p&volume=15

• Clothing Slide Picture: rims.k12.ca.us/foot_prints/Files/prehistory_2.htm

• Language Slide Picture: http://www.ceres.ca.gov/nahc/lanuage.html