Navigation, Trade, and the Tomol
Just the section on the tomol and the island trade network, from the same National Park Service page as “Native Peoples and Settlement of the Channel Islands.”
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The earliest people here made good use of the rich resources of the sea. The islands were cut off from the mainland. So people traveled between the islands, and back and forth to the mainland, in tomols. A tomol was a plank canoe. It was built from redwood logs that floated down the coast. It was held together with yop, a glue-like substance made from pine pitch and asphaltum. It was also held together with cords made of plant materials and animal sinews. A tomol was eight to thirty feet long and held three to ten people. Sharkskin was used for sanding, red ochre for staining, and abalone for inlay and decoration.
The tomol made a detailed trade network possible. It connected the islands and the mainland, Native people and non-Native people, and the island communities themselves. The island Chumash “minted” ’achum, or shell bead money. They shaped small discs from olivella shells. They made drills from Santa Cruz Island chert. They traded the shell bead money to mainland villages. In return they got resources and made goods that they could not get on the islands.
Today, the Barbareño Chumash Tribal Council keeps the tomol tradition alive by making Channel crossings. It works with Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Park.