California Indians and Their Environment: An Introduction (California Natural History Guides)

Lightfoot, Kent G., Parrish, Otis

ISBN 10: 0520244710 / ISBN 13: 9780520244719

Published by University of California Press, 2009

About this Item

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Seller Inventory # ERICA82905202447106

Bibliographic Details

• Title: California Indians and Their Environment: An Introduction (California Natural History Guides)
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520244710
• ISBN 13: 9780520244719
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Book Type: book

About this title

Synopsis

Capturing the vitality of California's unique indigenous cultures, this major new introduction incorporates the extensive research of the past thirty years into an illuminating, comprehensive synthesis for a wide audience. Based in part on new archaeological findings, it tells how the California Indians lived in vibrant polities, each boasting a rich village life including chiefs, religious specialists, master craftspeople, dances, feasts, and ceremonies. Throughout, the book emphasizes how these diverse communities interacted with the state's varied landscape, enhancing its already bountiful natural resources through various practices centered around prescribed burning. A handy reference section, illustrated with more than one hundred color photographs, describes the plants, animals, and minerals the California Indians used for food, basketry and cordage, medicine, and more. At a time when we are grappling with the problems of maintaining habitat diversity and sustainable economies, we find that these native peoples and their traditions have much to teach us about the future, as well as the past, of California.

About the Author

Kent G. Lightfoot, Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, is author of Indians, Missionaries, and Merchants: The Legacy of Colonial Encounters on the California Frontiers (UC Press), among other books. Otis Parrish is a member of the Kashaya Pomo Tribe.