About the Miwok People

Territory  The people we call the Miwok were speakers of any one of seven distinct but related languages in Central California. Each of the language groups was made up of numerous, independent tribelets. The Coast Miwok lived north of San Francisco Bay, in what is now Marin County; the Bay Miwok resided in a section of Contra Costa County; the Lake Miwok occupied a portion of Lake County; the Plains Miwok were located in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta region. The Northern, Central, and Southern Sierra Miwok occupied the Sierra Nevada foothills and mountains from El Dorado County south to Madera County. Yosemite Valley was home to some of the Southern Sierra Miwok.

Food  The Sierra Miwok hunted deer and small game. Their diet also included a variety of plants, insects, and fish. They gathered mushrooms in the spring and fall, greens in the spring, seeds in late summer and early fall, and acorns from the black oak- their most important food crop- in fall.

Women and children harvested acorns in late September or early October. They were placed first in winnowing baskets, then transferred to burden baskets to be carried home. The acorns would be set in the sun to dry, before being stored in a granary (chuck-ah) for later use. Prior to cooking, the acorns had to be cracked, the kernels cleaned of their inner skins, and the nuts pounded in a mortar. Next the pounded flour was sifted, then the fine flour was leached with water to rid it of the tannins that gave a bitter taste. The resulting dough was mixed with water in a cooking basket and boiled with hot stones to make mush.