Native Peoples and Settlement of the Channel Islands
Who lived on the Channel Islands, where they lived, and how their villages were organized. This excerpt stops before the source page’s account of European contact and the mission system.
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Archeological evidence shows that people have lived on the northern Channel Islands for thousands of years. In 1959, the archeologist Phil Orr dug up human remains at Arlington Springs on Santa Rosa Island. A radio-carbon date recently showed they are over 13,000 years old. Archeological sites on San Miguel Island show that people lived there without a break from 8,000 to 11,000 years ago.
Most of the Native people of the Channel Islands were Chumash. The name Chumash comes from the word Michumash. It means “makers of shell bead money.” Mainland Chumash used this word for the people who lived on the islands. Traditionally, the Chumash lived in an area from San Luis Obispo to Malibu. This included the four Northern Channel Islands. About 148 historic village sites have been identified. Of these, 11 were on Santa Cruz Island, eight on Santa Rosa Island, and two on San Miguel Island. Anacapa Island had no steady source of water. So people likely lived there only during certain seasons. The Chumash were a true maritime culture. They hunted and gathered natural resources from both the ocean and the coastal mountains. This let them keep a highly developed way of life.
Santa Barbara Island is the southernmost island in the park. It was linked to the Tongva people, who are also called Gabrieleno. The Chumash also visited the island. Like the Chumash, the Tongva sailed the ocean. They traded with their neighbors on the northern islands and the coast. Santa Barbara Island had no steady supply of fresh water. So no permanent settlements were ever built there. The Tongva/Gabrieleno people lived mainly on the Southern Channel Islands. These are Santa Barbara, San Nicolas, Santa Catalina, and San Clemente islands. They also lived in and around Los Angeles.
By the time European explorers arrived in the Santa Barbara Channel, there were about 21 villages on the three largest islands. These were San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz. The villages had highly developed social hierarchies. The upper class included chiefs, shamans, boat builders, and artisans. The middle class included workers, fishermen, and hunters. The lower class was made up of the poor and outcast. Fresh water was scarce. So Anacapa and Santa Barbara islands could not support permanent habitation.