Chumash Indian Museum is a Native American Interpretive Center in northeast

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees pr ...

. It is the site of a former

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

* Pentateuch (dis ...

village, known as Sap'wi (meaning "House of the Deer"). It is located in Oakbrook Regional Park, a 432-acre park which is home to a replica of a Chumash village and thousand year-old Chumash pictographs. The pictographs by nearby Birthing Cave are not open to the public, but can be observed on docent-led tours. Chumash people inhabited the village 10,000 years ago. It became a designated archaeological zone in 1971 after the discovery of nearly twenty caves at the property. It was designated Ventura County Historical Landmark #90 in 1983. It is designated Thousand Oaks City Landmark No. 5.Sprankling, Miriam and Ruthanne Begun (2006). ''Historical Tour of the Conejo Valley''. Newbury Park, CA: Conejo Valley Historical Society. Page 14. . The museum is home to exhibits of various Chumash artifacts, paintings and historical items. Dedicated to preserving the cultural and historical legacy of the Chumash people, the museum was established in 1994 and is operated by the nonprofit Oakbrook Park Chumash Indian Corp. It is owned by Conejo Recreation and Park District. The museum grounds were severely damaged by the 2018 Woolsey Fire.

Pictographs

The

cave paintings In archaeology, cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin. These paintings were often created by ''Hom ...

are found in two nearby rock shelters. The two shelters comprise a few panels, each of which contains one or more red motifs. Notable paintings include that of a broadbill

swordfish The swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as the broadbill in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are the sole member of the Family (biology), family Xiphiidae. They ...

, which until recently, was a common species in local waters. The swordfish was one of the few fish species associated with the

shaman Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

. The pictographs most likely represent a Swordfish Shaman's spirit helper. Swordfish shamanism was truly practiced at the cave for thousands of years. The pictographs are between 4000 and 6000 years old, and can be viewed on docent-led tours.

Exhibits

Indoor

Interior parts of the 5,400 sq. ft. museum contains locally retrieved artifacts such as tools used for grinding acorns, murals, instruments, and games. It also features a reconstructed ''tomol'' (Chumash canoe),

mockup In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''prototype'' if it provides at lea ...

s of cougars and other wildlife, as well as a

diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional model either full-sized or miniature. Sometimes dioramas are enclosed in a glass showcase at a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies like mili ...

depicting life before the Spanish arrived. Items are routinely on loan from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, including woven bowls, grinding tools, and other artifacts.

Outdoor

Outdoor exhibits include several gardens, a reconstructed Chumash village, and a traditional Chumash playing field, known as a ''malamtepupi''. Furthermore, it contains miles of hiking trails, as well as a massive oak tree rumored to be the oldest and possibly largest in the city of Thousand Oaks. It has a 12-foot trunk diameter, a height of 30 feet, and a canopy spread of 60 feet. It is home to 11 archeological sites clustered along the stream-bed, including ancient pictographs and bedrock mortars utilized for grinding acorns and other foods. Behind the museum is a 25-acre nature preserve in a canyon following the Conejo Creek. The shaded trail follows groves of old oak trees dating back 200–300 years, as well as mortar holes, the reconstructed Chumash village, and dramatic rock formations. The trail also goes by the remains of a former house with a brick oven. This was the site where Lang Ranch’ caretaker lived, dating back to the early 1900s. Weather-carved

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

formations can be found after passing Bear Flats Oak Grove and crossing over Crystal Spring. Prominent formations include Elephant Rock, a finely etched rock with a trunk; and Calm Rock, shaped in the form of a partly opened clam.

Ethnobotany Gardens

Four gardens featuring native flora with interpretive signs can be found near the museum. Funding for the gardens was provided by

Edison International Edison International is a public utility A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilit ...

, Eagle Scouts of Troop 787, and museum volunteers.The source used is the booklet ''Guide to the Ethnobotany Garden'', which is published and distributed by Chumash Indian Museum. The booklet lists its sources on page 1 as: http://calscape.org/ and the book ''Chumash Ethnobotany: Plant Knowledge Among the Chumash People of Southern California'' (2007) by author Jan Timbrook, . * Riparian/Basketry Garden: represents species found along the edge of a creek. Many of these plants were utilized for basketweaving and in making fibers. Species represented include Giant Wild Rye ( Ventureño: ), Basket Rush (Ventureño: ), Soap Plant (Ventureño: ),

Mugwort Mugwort is a common name for several species of aromatic flowering plants in the genus '' Artemisia.'' In Europe, mugwort most often refers to the species '' Artemisia vulgaris'', or common mugwort. In East Asia the species '' Artemisia argyi'' ...

(Ventureño: ), Milkweed (Ventureño: ),

Horsetail ''Equisetum'' (; horsetail) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds. ''Equisetum'' is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass Equisetidae, which ...

(Ventureño: ), and Yerba Mansa (Ventureño: ). Basket Rush is mainly represented here as it was the primary component of woven baskets, while Horsetail stems were utilized as sandpaper for wooden arrows and bowls. Roots of Yerba Mansa were boiled into tea, while the Chumash often ate seeds from Miner's Lettuce. Dried stems of Giant Wild Rye were used to make cigarettes, paintbrushes, knives, arrow shafts, and game counter sticks. * Chaparral Garden: represents species found on surrounding hillsides in

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

and

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...

habitats. Plant species represented include Chaparral Honeysuckle (Ventureño: chtu’iqonon), Island Ironwood (Ventureño: ), Toyon/Christmas Berry (Ventureño: ), Islay/Holly-Leaved Cherry (Ventureño: ), Coffeeberry (Ventureño: ), Big Berry Manzanita (Ventureño: ), Coastal Sagebrush (Ventureño: ), California Buckwheat (Ventureño: ), and various other species. Numerous species provided food, such as berries of Laurel Sumac (Ventureño: ) and seeds of Lemonadeberry. Wood from the Island Ironwood (''Lyonothamnus floribundus'') were used for constructing harpoons and canoe paddles, while wood from the Green Bark Lilac (Ventureño: ) were used for offertory poles, digging sticks, awls, plank canoe wedges, and fencing. * Desert Garden: represents species found in drier

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

s, including the Coast Prickly Pear (Ventureño: ), chia sage (Ventureño: ), Thistle Sage (Ventureño: ), White Sage (Ventureño: ), Toloache/Jimsonweed (Ventureño: ), and Chaparral Yucca (Ventureño: ). Seeds from species such as Thistle Sage and Chia Sage were eaten, while fruits were eaten and paint pigment made of the Coast Prickly Pear. The highly toxic roots of Jimsonweed were pounded, soaked and strained in order to make a hallucinogenic drink for initiation rituals and the

. * Fruits and Flower Garden: located by the museum entrance is a garden featuring endemic plants from Chumash lands that produced flowers and/or fruits. Species include Hummingbird Sage (Ventureño: ), Three-Leaved Sumac (Ventureño: ), California Blackberry (Ventureño: ), Yerba Buena (Ventureño: ),

Snowberry ''Symphoricarpos'' is a small genus of about 15 species of deciduous shrubs in the family Caprifoliaceae. With the exception of the Chinese coralberry, ''Symphoricarpos sinensis, S. sinensis'', which is indigenous to western China, all species a ...

(Ventureño: ), California Wild Rose (Ventureño: ), Coast Live Oak (Ventureño: ), and Western Virgin's Bower/Creek Clematis (Ventureño: ). Fruits were eaten raw from a variety of these species, including Golden Currant,

Gooseberry Gooseberry ( or (American and northern British) or (southern British)) is a common name for many species of ''Ribes'' (which also includes Ribes, currants), as well as a large number of plants of similar appearance, and also several unrela ...

, California Blackberry and California Wild Rose (the rose hips). The Coast Live Oak was a preferred source of acorns, but its wood was also used for stirring paddles, firewood, and shoots for the hoop in hoop-and-pole game. Leaves from Hummingbird Sage and Western Virgin's Bower were rubbed on the skin to treat sores or cure illness by sorcery.

References

{{Thousand Oaks, California Archaeological sites in California Petroglyphs in California Former Native American populated places in California Protected areas of Ventura County, California Museums in Ventura County, California Native American museums in California Landmarks in Ventura County, California Culture of Thousand Oaks, California Chumash