How did the Yokuts hunt?

Asked by: Heather Morones

Bows and arrows were used in hunting and in warfare. Though some bows and arrows were made by the Yokuts, others were gotten in trade from other groups. The bows were backed with sinew (animal tendons). The arrows had feathers on them.

What did the yokut eat?

acorns

Their main food was acorns. The Yokuts also ate wild plants, roots, and berries. They hunted deer, rabbits, prairie dogs, and other small mammals and birds. They made simple clothing out of bark and grass.

What tools did the Yokuts use?

Yokuts used spears, basket traps, and assorted other tools to hunt a variety of local animals, such as game birds, waterfowl, rabbits, turtles, various fish, mussels, and wasp grubs.

What did Yokut tribe wear?

Clothing was simple: men wore loincloths or went naked, and women wore fringed aprons front and back. Chiefs headed tribes and villages and were generally wealthy as well as knowledgeable in religious matters. The chiefly office was hereditary and could be held by women as well as men.

What did the yokut do?

This was a rite that honored the dead who had passed away during the previous year. The ceremony would last many days. The Yokuts were skilled basketmakers. The baskets were used for many purposes, including storage, cooking, and gathering.

Are the Yokuts still alive?

Today the descendants of the Yokuts live on the Tule River Reservation near Porterville, California, established in 1873, and the Santa Rosa Rancheria near Lemoore, California, established in 1921.

What are Yokut houses made of?

For example, Yokuts houses, some hundreds of feet long and housing several families, were basically long tents made of woven tule grass. Poles with v-shaped forks on top were set upright in the ground in straight lines at intervals of 8 to 10 feet.

How were the Yokuts organized?

The Yokuts and Western Mono in general were organized in exogamous and patrilineal societies which cut completely across tribal groupings, and each tribe comprised totemic patrilineal families.

What language did the Yokuts speak?

Yokuts, formerly known as Mariposa, is an endangered language spoken in the interior of Northern and Central California in and around the San Joaquin Valley by the Yokuts people. The speakers of Yokuts were severely affected by disease, missionaries, and the Gold Rush.

What did the Yokuts use for shelter?

Each village had a sweathouse, dug down into the ground and covered with brush and earth. Only the men used the sweathouse, both for sweat baths and for sleeping. Southern Valley Yokut villages did not have dance or assembly houses, though these may have been used in Northern Valley villages.

How did the Yokuts adapt to their natural environment?

The rich food resources of the area allowed them to build large, permanent villages near the water. They built rows of round, steep-roofed houses which they framed with posts and covered with tule mats.