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A ''tomol'' or ''tomolo'' (
Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California See also * Chumash traditional ...
) or ''te'aat'' or ''ti'at'' (
Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...
/
Kizh Kizh Kit’c () are the Mission Indians of San Gabriel, according to Andrew Salas, Smithsonian Institution, Congress, the Catholic Church, the San Gabriel Mission, and other Indigenous communities. Most California tribes were known by their com ...
) are plank-built
boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...
s, historically and currently in the Santa Barbara and
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
area. They replaced or supplemented
tule reed ''Schoenoplectus acutus'' ( syn. ''Scirpus acutus, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Scirpus lacustris'' subsp. ''acutus''), called tule , common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of sedge in the pl ...
boats. The boats were between in length and in width. The Chumash refer to the ''tomol'' as the "House of the Sea" for their reliability. Double-bladed
kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...
-like paddles are used to propel the boat through the ocean. Some sources suggest the boats may have origins at Catalina Island and have been in use for thousands of years. The ''tomol'' has been described as "the single most technologically complex watercraft built in North America" and as being unique to "the
New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...
." The boats are still constructed by Chumash, Tongva/Kizh, and
Acjachemen The Acjachemen (, alternate spelling: Acagchemem) are an Indigenous people of California. They historically lived south of what is known as Aliso Creek and north of the Las Pulgas Canyon in what are now the southern areas of Orange County and t ...
people today.


Construction

''Tomols'' were preferably built out of
redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affini ...
that had drifted down the coast. When supplies of redwood were lacking, local native
pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
was used. When splitting the wood with
whalebone Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and re ...
or antler wedges the crafters would seek straight planks without knotholes, then sand them with sharkskin. To bind the wood together, small holes were drilled in the planks so they could be lashed to one another. Finally, the seams were caulked with 'yop', a mixture of hard tar and pine pitch melted and then boiled. A crossplank at midship reinforced the boat and functioned as a seat. Another coat of 'yop' was used to
waterproof Waterproofing is the process of making an object or structure waterproof or water-resistant so that it remains relatively unaffected by water or resisting the ingress of water under specified conditions. Such items may be used in wet environme ...
the boat, followed by a coat of red ochre paint, followed by a final coat of
sealant Sealant is a substance used to block the passage of fluids through openings in materials, a type of mechanical seal. In building construction ''sealant'' is sometimes synonymous with ''caulking'' and also serve the purposes of blocking dust, s ...
. Shell mosaics were often added as decorations. This style of boat is unique in the Americas, though researcher Yorem Meroz notes that a simpler plant is found in
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
and strakes were sewn onto
dugout boat A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek – ''mono-'' (single) + ''wikt:ξύλον, ξύ ...
bases in the
Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...
and
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
. The boats could take up to 500 days to be constructed by an experienced boatmaker. ''Tomols'' are propelled with kayak-like paddles with the user in a crouching position, unlike kayaks where sitting is the norm. They are highly maneuverable.


Significance

Eva Pagaling, a member of the Santa Ynez Band of Samala Chumash Indians, described the process of paddling in 2018 as follows: "During the crossing, a deep memory that’s shared among paddlers is that each pull of the oar is a prayer. And this year, I prayed for my loved ones, as well as everyone else in this world. I prayed for strength and healing for all people, wherever they may be on their path in life. Historically, we are water people and our medicine for the world can be found in the sacred and life-sustaining power of water." The boats were described by Cindi Alvitre (Tongva), co-founder of Ti'at Society, in 2019 as "a vessel that allows humans to connect to the underworld." In the Indigenous worldview, as Alvitre describes, "you have the underworld, which is watery existence, those deities that live underneath the ocean in their caves, the middle world, that's the existence of human beings, to the upper world, that's ancestral space. The ''ti'at'' is like an observation point, it's like you're hovering over the heavens of the underworld and being able to still have that connection to that ancestral space, to the stars, to the
Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...
."


History

''Tomols'' were an integral part of a widespread trading network between tribes who lived at what is now referred to as
Point Conception Point Conception (Chumash: ''Humqaq'') is a headland along the Gaviota Coast in southwestern Santa Barbara County, California. It is the point where the Santa Barbara Channel meets the Pacific Ocean, and as the corner between the mostly north-s ...
,
Santa Monica Bay Santa Monica Bay is a bight (geography), bight of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, United States. Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn betwe ...
, and the
Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
. There were designated shipping routes and signal fires were utilized on the land were used as aides for navigation. Most trade occurred between what are now two of the largest trading ports,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and
Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...
, which was about a day's paddle. ''Tomols'' were so useful as to give rise to a new class in Chumash society: a
guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
known as the 'Brotherhood of the Canoe' which was "responsible for the construction of each new tomol, its boat-building knowledge handed down through the generation from senior craftsman to
apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
." Only male members of leading families were allowed to own ''tomol''.
Grizzly The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...
or black bearskin identified the owners. When carefully maintained, the boats could last for decades and were passed down from one generation to the next. By 650 A.D., it is believed the ''tomol'' or ''te'aat'' was already of central importance to the Chumash and Tongva/Kizh respectively. In 1542, Spanish explorer
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...
recorded that he saw so many ''tomols'' hauled up at a particular wealthy village—a location eventually to be referred to by later
settlers A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...
as Malibu—that he named it ''pueblo de las canoas'' or "town of canoes." Another explorer recorded the brotherhood doing boat carpentry in another village, and named it
Carpinteria Carpinteria (; es, Carpintería, meaning "Carpentry") is a small seaside city in southeastern Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast of California, it had a population of 13,264 at the 2020 census. Carpinteria is a po ...
. Some scholars report that sewn plank technology may have been introduced by early Polynesian
navigators A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...
sometime late in the
first millennium File:1st millennium montage.png, From top left, clockwise: Depiction of Jesus, the central figure in Christianity; The Colosseum, a landmark of the once-mighty Roman Empire; Kaaba, the Great Mosque of Mecca, the holiest site of Islam; Chess, ...
, who had constructed sewn plank boats and had been known to have reached
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
. Scholars state that "three native Californian boat terms are argued to be Polynesian loans: Chumashan ''tomol(o)'', and Gabrielino ''tarainxa'' (or ''taraina'') and ''ti?at''." Some modern Chumash and Tongva/Kizh state that “this is something we have always known happened." This was further explained in a short documentary episode by KCET produced in 2019. Partially intact tomols have been found in ancient Channel Islands
middens A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...
along with dolphin bones, seal and fish bones, and abalone, clam, and limpet shells. The
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in Santa Barbara, California. It reconnects more than 150,000 people each year (including their 5,700 members) to nature indoors and outdoors. Nestled in nature, the museum ...
, the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, and The Chumash Maritime Association of California house reconstructed ''tomols'' created by contemporary Chumash.


Gallery

File:Chumash Tomol 'Elye'wun paddlers, CINMS.jpg, Paddlers making the crossing to Santa Cruz Island aboard the reconstructed ''tomol'' ''‘Elye’wun'', in 2006. File:Tomol Crossing Channel Islands (43101684130).jpg, ''Tomol'' crossing Channel Islands in 2012


References


Resources

{{Commons category, Chumash tomols
"Dark Water Journey: Power of memories guides paddler on historic crossing''"''
by Eva Pagaling
S2 E1: Rethinking the Coast with the Ti'at Society
KCET Native American culture Chumash Tongva Indigenous boats Wood products History of California