Wealth of history in one place for two tribes

Two Native American tribes claim ancestry to the 174 sets of skeletal remains archaeologists have removed from the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

The Gabrieleno/Tongva and Jauneno/Acjachemen Indians share similar pasts in the area that go back more than 10,000 years.

The Tongvas’ traditional lands stretched from Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles County south to Aliso Creek in Laguna Beach.

The Acjachemen called the land between Oceanside and Long Beach home.

Cal State Long Beach American Indian studies professor Cindi Alvitre said the Acjachemen and Tongva nations were hunter-harvesters. They lived off small game and fish caught at sea.

Both were ocean-going people who traded with villages on the Channel Islands.

“We were a very sophisticated maritime society,” said Anthony Morales, the Gabrieleno Tribal chairman.

Native Americans would row to Catalina or San Nicholas on large wooden boats called ti’atts.

Jauneno officials declined to comment, but the group’s website says the tribes lived in small villages of about 50 to 250 people.

The tribe was governed by a familial clan system.

Alvitre, also a Gabrieleno/Tongva, said the 1700s were a dark time for the tribes.

Franciscan padres led by Juniperro Serra and Spanish soldiers led by Gaspar de Portola colonized California.

Serra founded the mission system to convert Native Americans to Roman Catholicism. Native tribes were forced to build the missions and adopt Spanish names.

Disease ran rampant and people who didn’t conform were killed.

“The missions of California were essentially death camps,” Alvitre said.

The Tongva, which means “people of the Earth,” became the Gabrieleno Mission Indians after the San Gabriel Mission and the Acjachemen became the Juanenos after the San Juan Capistrano Mission.

“That was a bad chapter in history where we were the oppressed,” said Morales, whose native name is Chief Red Blood.

The Juanenos and Gabrielenos now have tribal governments that conduct tribal business.

Morales said the Gabrielenos still celebrate Tongva traditions. The tribe has a dance group that performs for various groups around Southern California.

The Gabrielenos still practice healing and naming ceremonies on top of focusing on other concerns like archaeology.

Morales said that when archaeological discoveries are made, the tribe tries to work with developers to ensure remains are treated with care.

“I’m there as a descendant to make sure the archaeologists and the developers are following the Coastal Commission and that they are doing the excavation in a dignified and respectful manner,” Morales said.

Alvitre said that although it’s important to preserve the Californian Indian past, it’s also important to remember the tribes are still active.