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05112_gsl_128pg_r8_v8.qxd:Stories of the Land 5/20/09 3:59 PM Page 8 PAGE 8 C h a p t e r 02 Stories of the Land CHAPTER 2 — THE NISENAN: PRE-CONTACT TO THE PRESENT The remnants of the village of Kutba near the Cosumnes where Chief Hunchup lived until the early twentieth century. C. Hart Merriam Collection 1904 (courtesy of Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley). 05112_gsl_128pg_r8_v8.qxd:Stories of the Land 5/20/09 3:59 PM Page 9 PAGE 9 C h a p t e r 02 Stories of the Land CHAPTER 2 — THE NISENAN: PRE-CONTACT TO THE PRESENT California historians have long referred to the time prior to the arrival of Spanish, Mexican, and other European explorers as “pre-history,” essentially associating history with written records alone. Nowadays as archeologists and historians learn more about the indigenous cultures that inhabited the land long before these explorers, they understand that “records” of human history extend much further back in time and come in many forms beyond the written word. ral histories, pictographs, petroglyphs, and other signs left on the land are now floodplains extended from Rancho Cordova through the northern half of Brighton to being studied, and the presence of indigenous peoples is marked indelibly on the downtown Sacramento and south through today’s Land Park region. The people hunted landscape that surrounds us today. We are learning how to see and read what bountiful herds of deer, antelope, and elk that browsed along the river and in these marshlands. they left behind. Increasingly, the term “pre-contact” is replacing prehistory when referencing California indigenous cultures, as it is a more descriptive term for the There is little record left of this first era of the Nisenan, known as the Early Horizon thousands of years aboriginal peoples lived in the Sacramento Valley before (2500 BC–1000 BC). No Early Horizon sites have been found along the American River meeting the first Europeans. and adjacent lands, but archaeologists believe this may be due to the changing river courses and associated silting processes burying the sites over time. They believe most The earliest known human presence in California has been documented as far back as 10,000 first sites existed far from the current river course as indicated by archaeological studies years ago. It is believed that the same ice age that brought the development of the fossil in other portions of the Central Valley. In those areas, they found that the Central Valley rivers and changed the course of the American River through our Brighton area brought people buried their dead in well-organized cemeteries with the deceased placed in the the first people to North America — over the Bering Strait, down through Canada, following ground fully extended with the head oriented to the west. Personal property was buried coasts and rivers that provided them with welcome habitat and bountiful food sources. with them. Shell beads made from abalone and olivella shells (from the Pacific Ocean) were traded from coastal communities and found in all burial sites. In the Sacramento Valley, archaeological research continues to produce a large amount of knowledge about local Native Americans extending back well over 4,000 years. The American From the end of the Early Horizon and stretching well into the Middle Horizon (1000 BC and Cosumnes River watersheds provided ideal land for villages and towns with easy access –AD 300) the population grew significantly. People transitioned from hunting primarily to fish, game, and vegetation for food; wood and tules for housing; and stone and wood for large game to fishing. There were large-scale harvests of salmon and other migratory fish. tools and trade. Among the first inhabitants in the Brighton area were the Valley Nisenan, the These provided a stable food source along the river, and population density increased in southernmost of three groups known as Maidu. Nisenan is a term meaning simply “people.” villages accordingly. Studies of skeletal remains show that adults lived long lives and there was very low infant mortality. Several sites along the American River from this time period When the earliest Nisenan lived in the Central Valley, the American River area looked vastly have been located. different than it does today. Tules and tidal marshes stretched for miles, and the annual 05112_gsl_128pg_r8_v8.qxd:Stories of the Land 5/20/09 3:59 PM Page 10 PAGE 10 C h a p t e r 02 Stories of the Land THE NISENAN: PRE-CONTACT TO THE PRESENT Villages and towns of the Notomusse Nisenan District (above) bordered the north side of Brighton Township along the American River and the Estom Nisenan District (right) bordered the south side (copyright Sheri Tatsch 2008). 05112_gsl_128pg_r8_v8.qxd:Stories of the Land 5/20/09 3:59 PM Page 11 PAGE 11 C h a p t e r 02 Stories of the Land THE NISENAN: PRE-CONTACT TO THE PRESENT Not surprisingly, much more information exists about Late Horizon (AD 300 –1769) peoples in the Protohistoric period, then abandoned and later reoccupied during the American and their communities because of the numerous archaeological sites still in existence. This Period (1850–1900). This was one of only two sites of the Valley Nisenan along the river period is often divided into The Late Prehistoric (AD 300 –1500), the Protohistoric from known to have a Kum or dance-house. As such, villagers for many miles around would AD 1500 to 1769, and the beginning of European influence. Bows and arrows came into come to it for special celebrations. use increasingly in this period along with more intensive use of mortars and pestles, reflecting a growing reliance on acorns as a food source. The dead were often cremated, One of the last remaining Nisenan villages in the American River-Cosumnes region was but burials also remained common. Personal belongings were often burned or destroyed Kutba, near the Cosumnes, where Chief Hunchup lived. Although this was some distance rather than interred. away from Brighton, photographs of the remnants of his village provide an example of how the Kum house along the American River near Watt Avenue probably looked. What The Valley Nisenan territory extended from the Bear and Yuba River watersheds to the we know of the lives of the Nisenan who lived, traveled, and hunted through Brighton Cosumnes, including Morrison Creek, which flows through Brighton to the Cosumnes. comes from interviews with Chief Hunchup and a few other survivors of the epidemics The entire American River drainage was within this area as well, from the confluence of that devastated their communities in the 1800s. the Sacramento River, east into the foothills of the Sierras, ending at an elevation around 3,000 feet. Locating villages close to water sources – rivers, creeks, or running springs — Communication among the villages throughout the region was vital to the well-being of provided easier access to both water and food. To accommodate seasonal flooding associated the villagers. Hunchup had an uncle who was a “carrier of news,” a weda bone’pa. A village with all of the major rivers, the Nisenan often built their villages on knolls. When natural headman would appoint a person to this position based on their powers of observation knolls were not available, they constructed them, carrying earth and raising the elevation and communication abilities. It was through this person that villages learned what was of their town sites 8, 10, 12 and more feet. happening in other villages, who had died, been married, or taken sick. The carrier’s powers of observation were vital because as he traveled between villages he would also note where The homes they constructed on these sites were dome-shaped and built from nearby good acorn crops, berries, and other foods existed (Bibby 2004). materials — frames made of poles that were covered with tules and earth. Large villages also had a ceremonial house called a Kum. Kums were partially subterranean, dug 3 to 4 Through these news carriers and other modes, the Nisenan maintained communication, feet into the earth with large poles erected and beams attached to create a frame that hunting, and trade relations beyond their individual towns and political districts. Long was then covered by tules, brush, bark, and earth. before the arrival of the Spanish and subsequent explorers, the Nisenan had formed a complex society. Valley Nisenan towns commonly had as many as 1,500 inhabitants and Dr. Sheri Tatsch, a linguist and scholar of indigenous cultures, recently completed five years were autonomous, each with a leader. Although leadership was usually hereditary, the researching and mapping Nisenan Maidu and Miwuk town sites throughout the Central Nisenan left themselves the option to elect a non-relative as well. Being a leader required Valley and the Sacramento area. Her maps show multiple Nisenan villages in the Brighton the ability to provide for the people, to negotiate within the town and externally with other vicinity, including Kadema on the north side of the American River near Watt Avenue (2006). towns, to resolve disputes, and to call for and arrange for hunts with other towns. If these A housing development off American River Drive now covers that site, which Tatsch found abilities were beyond the person in line for leadership, the community would select was part of the Notomusse Nisenan District. Notomusse and Estom were the two Nisenan another for the position. This could be either a man or a woman (Tatsch 2008). political districts overlapping the Brighton area. Kadema was a major village first occupied 05112_gsl_128pg_r8_v8.qxd:Stories of the Land 5/20/09 3:59 PM Page 12 PAGE 12 C h a p t e r 02 Stories of the Land THE NISENAN: PRE-CONTACT TO THE PRESENT 1841 hand-drawn map of the Brighton area showing “Tierras Esteriles” or barren lands (courtesy of SAMCC).