MIWOK

California Indians speaking languages of Penutian stock and originally comprising seven dialectally and territorially discrete branches: the Coast Miwok in an area just north of what is now San Francisco; the Lake Miwok in the Clear Lake Basin; the Bay Miwok (or Saclan), living along the delta of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers; the Plains Miwok, living farther up the lower Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers; and, just eastward, three groups of Sierra MiwokNorthern, Central, and Southernin the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The Sierra branches constituted by far the bulk of the Miwok and had more than 100 villages at the time of European contact. The groups near or on the coastthe Coast, Lake, and Bay Miwokgathered acorns, fished, and hunted deer and other game with bow and arrow. They lived in semisubterranean pole- and earth-covered lodges and produced watertight basketry ornamented with beads or feathers. The interior Miwokthose of the Sierra and Plainsremained in the foothills or lowlands and moved into the high sierras only in summer or for hunting. Their main abodes were semisubterranean earth-covered houses, but summer mountain shelters were mere lean-tos of bark. Their chief food staple was acorns, which were stored in basketlike granaries. Various baskets were made but apparently no pottery. Society was organized into lineages and contrasting halves, or moieties, governing such matters as descent and marriage; and it was seemingly ranked. There were chiefs and subchiefs, and women could acquire such titles through the male line. The interior Miwok followed the so-called Kuksu cult, which included various rituals, costumed dances using animal skins, and impersonations of spirits. There remained in the late 20th century more than 100 coastal Miwok and more than 100 interior Miwok.