California Indians Test

1. What was a major staple in the California diet?

A. Pemmican
C. Deer

B. Acorns
D. Salmon

2. What region of California did farmers reside?

A. Northern

B.
D.

Great Central Valley

C.

Southeastern

3.

What region of California did fishermen reside?

A. Northern
C.

Southeastern

Sierra

B.
D.

Great Central Valley

Sierra

4. What region of California did gatherers reside?

A. Northern
C.

Southeastern

B.
D.

Great Central Valley

Sierra

5. What are small independent groups of Native Californians who shared a

language and usually comprised of a principal village?
A.

Settlement

B. Nuclear Family

C.

Tribelet

D.

Clan

6. What was the ritual where the men would act as if he were the one
bearing the child?
A.

Couvade

C.

Spirit Dance

B.
D.

Kuksu Ceremony

levirate

7. What had to be removed so that acorns could be eaten

A. Outer skin

B. Larvae

C.

D. Tannic Acid

Oil

8. What region of California was bordered by the Mojave and Colorado

Deserts and
had an average rainfall of less than 15 inches?
A.

Southeastern

B.

Northwestern

C.

Eastern

D.

Great Central Valley

9. What region of California had Redwood and Pine Fur forest in the
mountains and
had an annual rainfall of 40 inches?
A.

Southeastern

B.

Northwestern

C.

Eastern

D.

Great Central Valley

10. The houses of the Pomo were

A. large plank houses
C.

B.

tule mat shelters

grass dome huts

D.

semi-subterranean

11. What did dentalium shells allow California Indians to show?

A.

their lineage

B. their artwork

C.

how brave they were

D.

wealth

12. Who was dentalium shells traded with?

A.

Shamans

C.

with other tribesmen

B.
D.

Plains to the east

with chiefs only

13. When a baby was born, the parents gave them their name by
A.

how they behaved.

B. asking an elder.

C.

asking the village headman.D.

giving them a dead ancestors name.

14. An example of a tribelet would be

A. a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent.
B. societies organized largely on the basis of kinship.
C. a small kin group, who depended on each other for survival.
D. small independent groups of Native California people which shared a
language and usually comprised of one principal village - larger groups
possibly having several villages all in close proximity.

15. Elders who were unable to care for themselves anymore

A. the chief made you live in a cave. B. your family cared for you.
C.

one of the chiefs servants cared for you. D. you were strangled to death.

16. Pomos subsisted on

A. acorns alone
meat,
C.

seeds

B.

a rich protein diet that included

fish, and insects.

D. roots, berries, tubers, and moose

17. The first phase for male initiation was

A.

tossing boys over a fire.

B.

dunking them in water.

C.

being sent to the woods to survive alone. D. handling hot coals.

18. When would the Ghost Cult occur?

A.

every full moon.

C.

before a hunt.

B.
D.

before acorn harvesting.

once a year.

Short Answer
19. What is levirate marriage?
20. What was the Kuksu ritual?
21. What were Bear Doctors and what did they do?
22. What did men do during the Ghost Cult?
23. Why were acorns important to the settlement of the California Indians?
23. Name a tribe, their language family, and what region they came from?