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The Kumeyaay People of California Essay

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THE KUMEYAAY PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA by Your Name (boldface) ANTH 100: Non-Western Cultures and the Western Tradition Instructor: Dr. Steven R. James Nov. 10, 2014 INTRODUCTION In my quest to study the life of the ancient California inhabitants, I visited the San Diego Museum of Man which is an anthropological museum situated in Balboa Park, San Diego, California. The museum was established in the year 1915 as a result of the Panama-California Exposition where several exhibits were displayed with ‘The Story of Man through Ages’ being the first. At the culmination of the exposition, San Diego Museum Association sought to retain the available collection and start a permanent museum. As a result, the collection was named Museum of Man in …show more content…

Among the artifacts available on the second floor of the museum there are bows and arrows. Moreover, a visitor can see sharp stones in the collection of artifacts; these are familiar to those that were used in the Stone Age. Most of the stones resemble the Oldowan tools that were found in Lokalalei in Kenya; some other also resemble the Hand axe found in Bose in China. In display were other wooden domestic equipment such as wooden pestle and mortar, a spade and a spear. Pottery was not left out of the exhibition as there were several pots, weaving was represented by the skin thread and a hat. Finally, necklaces and other valuable ornaments were in this part of the museum too. 3) Lifeway of the Kumeyaay People a) Hunters and gatherers In this section, I will analyze the culture of the Kumeyaay people taking into regard the artifacts available in the museum. To begin with, the bow and arrows could have been used for two main reasons. The first is for hunting wild game. Wild game was a source of food to many ancient communities around the world. On one of the printouts in the museum, I read that the Kumeyaay used to hunt along the coast as well as in the inland and rabbit was their main source of meat. The arrows were made from cane and straightened in soap stone. Secondly, bows and arrows were most likely used for protection purposes. The two tools are occasionally made from wood and have been in use for a long period of

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